Tashtago This is one funny movie! If you are a fan of Peter Sellers, Terry Thomas or British comedy in general there are a ton of laughs to be found here. Sellers shines as an actor who finds he has to disguise himself in order to foil a black mailer. There are a dozen twists and turns with many great lines. In particular a scene involving Sellers, Thomas and Thomas's wife played by a stunningly elegant Georgina Clarkson. A certain insurance policy is discussed with several mind bending character twists and the immortal line "you mean to say I get all that from such a small premium?" Watch for pre Goldfinger- Bond girl Shirley Eaton in a sexy supporting role. In addition there's a wonderful macabre humour throughout which was a speciality of the British since the days of Agatha Christie. Many fine scenes.

Robert J. Maxwell Great cast in this story of a publisher, Dennis Price, who threatens to publish a tabloid magazine spelling out the peccadilloes of many prominent celebrities, including Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Peggy Mount, and Shirley Eaton. Their reputations and happiness are at stake. Price gives them two weeks to come up with a blackmail sum that none can manage.It has its funny moments but the script isn't what it might be. The story is mostly disjointed because the victims don't know one another, so we wind up with four separate threads of victims trying to prevent Price from implementing his scheme.And the humor is all spelled out. Nothing is left to the imagination. If the mystery writer, Peggy Mount, tries to drown the blackmailer, she knocks the wrong man out and tries to drown him in a pond. The attempted drowning is all drawn out and devolves into slapstick. The sprightly musical score tries desperately to underline the comic features of each scene.Among the funnier scenes is Peter Sellers (in one of several disguises) hiding under the bunk he assumes belong to the blackmailer. Instead, a young couple of newlyweds show up and kick off their shoes and kiss voluptuously. Sellers, scooched back against the wall, looks at the two pairs of feet, glances up at the bed, and stares in exasperation at the camera, breaking the fourth wall. (Dissolve.) The show really belongs to Dennis Price, who plays the role of suave villain with aplomb. Even unconscious he seems to wear a superior smirk. He has the cleverest lines too, at times harking back to his splendid performance in "Kind Hearts And Coronets." "I do hope this isn't an appeal to my better nature because I haven't one." It's Sellers who quotes the happy villain of Richard III -- "Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile" -- but it's Price who embodies him.I wish the script had been more taut and the direction less explicit. As it is, it's not a failure, but it's a loose-limbed and lowbrow success.

Spikeopath The Naked Truth is a funny and wicked satire of the tabloid-press industry and celebrity culture. The story follows four celebrities Sonny MacGregor {Peter Sellers}, Lord Mayley {Terry-Thomas}, Melissa Right {Shirley Eaton} and Flora Ransom {Peggy Mount}. Each of them being blackmailed by unscrupulous magazine reporter Nigel Dennis {Dennis Price}. Who if his demands aren't met will publish damning stories that will kill of the respective careers off the celebrities.Cue a unified target of the four, one thing in common, to kill the oblivious Dennis. This is wonderfully set up for a number of excellent, and well constructed attempts at assassinating the bounder and cad reporter. But naturally, not all is going to go to plan, with the assassins being their own worst enemy at times. As can be expected with this cast list {Joan Sims also appears} it's acted with no little comic gravitas and the direction from Mario Zampi is smooth and at ease with the material. A tidy enough British comedy, that's even black at times, even if it fails to truly reach the great heights that its cast list suggests it should. 6/10

sarah-tarrant Go on we all like to read a bit of gossip about people in the media spotlight. But what if someone has uncovered something decidedly unflattering that the person concerned does not want to be revealed. Welcome to the delightful black comedic premise of late 50s 88 min comedy film "The Naked Truth". With his typical iconic roguish person it's another excellent performance from that British cad Terry Thomas as Lord Mayley. His pivotal scene exemplifying the premise occurs during his conversation with Nigel Dennis (played with well educated, unscrupulous brilliance by Dennis Price) when he looks over a copy of the scandalous publication, initially salivating at the prospect of what he might read. His demeanour soon changes when he finds that surreptitiously he is the main object of intrigue. For me, good though he is, he is easily overshadowed by the acting genius of Peter Sellers whom excels as television audience favourite 'Wee Sonny McGregor' a fake Scots entertainer with an ability to create a wealth of characters. Amongst the ones we see are the elderly canal boat inspector and a quite ridiculous over the top Irishman, no wonder he gets punched by a Dublin pub customer for taking the micky! Also worthy of praise is Peggy Mount as the anxious, desperate authoress Flora Ransom and her extremely nervous daughter Ethel played by Joan Sims. Delighted to finally nab a DVD copy of this bright and breezy comedy (which benefits from a jaunty moving incidental music score) earlier this week and was pleasantly surprised that you also get an approx 2 min trailer which perfectly captures the manic mood of a movie whose premise is as relevant today as it was on its original release. Definitely one of the best black and white British film comedies and is well worth adding to your collection!