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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - U 2 Mins Read

    Up the Front (1972)

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    This 1972 British comedy film is the third film spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii! (the previous film being Up the Chastity Belt (1971) set in the Middle Ages which followed on from the Up Pompeii film).

    Directed by Bob Kellett and set during World War I, it stars Frankie Howerd as Lurk (a descendant of the slave Lurcio in Up Pompeii), a lowly servant in the household of Lord and Lady Twithampton (William Mervyn and Linda Gray) who is hypnotised by The Great Vincento (Stanley Holloway) and travels to the Western Front to “save England”.

    Lurk is inspired to bravery, and upon receiving the German master plan for the entire war – which has through an unlikely series of events been tattooed onto his posterior – is pursued across France by German intelligence.

    After breaking into the British military headquarters to deliver the plans into the hands of General Burke (Robert Coote), he is confronted by the sensuous German spy Mata Hari (Zsa Zsa Gabor).

    After foiling Mata Hari’s scheme to relieve him of the plan, a hilarious scene develops in which he is pursued by the nefarious Von Gutz (Lance Percival) and his henchmen Donner and Blitzen (Gertan Klauber and Stanley Lebor).

    Accompanied by the Can-Can, performed by the Famous Buttercup Girls, Lurk is pursued around the Allied headquarters. Finally, disguised as a tree, he is able to present the plans to General Burke and receives a medal of honour and a promotion. He is therefore able to win the love of his beloved Fanny (Madeline Smith) and defeat the machinations of the wicked Sgt. Major Groping (Bill Fraser).

    Bob Hoskins (in his big-screen debut) appears briefly as a recruiting sergeant.

    Lurk
    Frankie Howerd
    Groping
    Bill Fraser
    Lord Twithampton
    William Mervyn
    Lady Twithampton
    Linda Gray
    Nigel Phipps Fortescue
    Jonathan Cecil
    Fanny
    Madeline Smith
    Mallett
    Nicholas Bennett
    Newsboy
    Mike Grady
    Cora Crumpington
    Dora Bryan
    The Great Vincento
    Stanley Holloway
    Velma
    Veronica Clifford
    Von Gutz
    Lance Percival
    Recruiting Sergeant
    Bob Hoskins
    Von Kobler
    Peter Bull
    Muller
    Vernon Dobtcheff
    Captain Hamburger
    Ingo Mogendorf
    Donner
    Gertan Klauber
    Blitzen
    Stanley Lebor
    Coporal Lovechild
    Percy Herbert
    Midgeley
    David Battley
    Monique
    Hermione Baddeley
    Frou Frou
    Bozena
    Mata Hari
    Zsa Zsa Gabor
    Her Maid (Magda)
    Patricia Quinn
    General Burke
    Robert Coote
    El Puncturo
    Derek Griffiths

    Director
    Bob Kellett

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