Christine Painter (Julie Walters) is a working-class single mother struggling to make ends meet who opens her own brothel with the aid of an experienced prostitute and a transvestite RAF officer.
This is a gently witty, if curiously coy, attempt by director Terry Jones to re-create the odd career of real-life “luncheon voucher madam” Cynthia Payne.
Julie Walters is a good choice to portray Payne’s droll matter-of-factness about the sexual proclivities of middle-aged men, but in its jolly, almost seaside postcard approach, the movie loses edge and bite.
Jones and co basically bolster up the one-dimensional image of Walters’s character as a cheery old duck whose early life was hard, but rich in experience, while its truly sad aspects are blithely glossed over.
Christine Painter
Julie Walters Wing Commander Morton
Alec McCowen Shirley
Shirley Stelfox Dolly
Danny Schiller Rose
Victoria Hardcastle Timms
Tim Woodward Sydney
Dave Atkins
Director
Terry Jones
You May Also Like
Breaking of Bumbo, The (1970) Bumbo Bailey (the disarmingly cherubic Richard Warwick), a newly commissioned Ensign of the Household Brigade based…
Bad Blood (1981) Set in the early days of World War II and based on a true story, Australian…
Keep It Clean (1956) Pugnacious publicity agent Bert Lane (Ronald Shiner) approaches wealthy Mrs Anstey (Jean Cadell) for funds to…
Blue Lamp, The (1950) When veteran London policeman PC George Dixon (Jack Warner) is shot trying to arrest a couple…
Trouble in Store (1953) The escapades of a diminutive stock room employee of a large London store, his ambitions to…
Uncanny, The (1977) This British/Canadian horror anthology film directed by Denis Héroux offers three tales of horror all revolving…
Phantom Kid, The (1977) Adam (Michael Tough) and Harmony (Jeremy Kaplan) are hired by President Lincoln to go undercover to…
Dam Busters, The (1955) The Dam Busters follows the conception and implementation of a new British weapon during World War…
This is a gently witty, if curiously coy, attempt by director Terry Jones to re-create the odd career of real-life “luncheon voucher madam” Cynthia Payne.
Christine Painter
