Keep it Up Downstairs. Pyramid Films UK. 1976.
Directed; Robert Young.
Written; Hazel Adair.
UK run time: 90 mins 3 seconds.
DVD Extra Features; UK Trailer, Stills Gallery.
Keep It Up Downstairs is being newly released on UK DVD for the first time as part of "The British Film" series of titles, from Network, restored and back from the archives.
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Features a host of well known British film/TV and entertainment regulars within it's cast, resurrected from the archives Network have done a superb job of blowing off the dust from this fine, above average example of a rarely seen and previously unavailable anywhere on DVD, humorously erotic all British Sex Comedy film from 1976. It's quite an important little film, not only because of it's cast and crew with regard to their entertainment careers and what was about to come for each of them, also very relevant to the period of truly all small independent, all British film making in general. Keep It Up Downstairs is but one of hundreds of superb British films that are languishing in the archives, just crying to be let out and seen once more.
It's one of the last of it's kind, from near the end of a golden era of truly all British made Sex Comedy Film making, a few years after this was made home video equipment arrived and all though not the whole reason why the British Film Industry took a temporary but prolonged nose dive, the arrival of vhs tape films figured heavily in cinema attendances. The real death knell for British Sex Comedies came from the removal of the "Eady Levy", this was a form of tax re-payment from the government based on cinema receipts that went back to film producer's from 1957 until Margret Thatchers parliament did away with it in 1985, as by that time more of the tax relief was going to the film's distributors and not as it was originally intended, to film producer's. This move was to prove fatal for the British sex comedy film in particular, and was very possibly also a deliberate action towards assisting in the government of the times, crusade to morally reform the Nation (see more on this below).
David McGillivray is a actor, producer, playwright, screenwriter and film critic.
Originally a critic for Monthly Film Bulletin, McGillivray wrote his first film script, Albert's Follies, for friend Ray Selfe in 1973. Later released as White Cargo the film starred a young David Jason.
David was soon involved in the British sex film industry, writing scripts for I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight and The Hot Girls, two films produced by pornographer John Jesnor Lindsay. He gained attention with scripts for the horror films of Norman J. Warren (Satan's Slaves and Terror) and Pete Walker (Frightmare, House of Whipchord, House of Mortal Sin andSchizo). In the early 1980s McGillivray turned his attentions to the stage where he provided material for comedian Julian Clary, which he still does to this day.
In 1992 McGillivray wrote the book Doing Rude Things which documented the British sex film genre from its nudist camp beginnings to its demise in the video-era.
"Keep It Up Downstairs". Official 1st UK DVD Review.
Directed by Robert Young, ("Vampire Circus", "The World Is Full Of Married Men", "Hammer House Of Horror" TV series, "Minder" TV series, "G.B.H" TV series, "Fierce Creatures", "Bergerac" TV series, "Jeeves and Wooster" TV series. The sex scenes are tame but tasteful, well delivered but very innocent by today's standards, as nothing is seen to be done, only suggested at so don't get the wrong idea, this is a nearly forty year old comedy film, at the time back then they might of been boundary breaking, today they are just plain quaint, just one or two clicks up the titillation factor from a "Carry-On" film and it does seem strange that anyone could really feel offended by the content anyway?
Written by Hazel Adair, creator of "Crossroads", funnily, because it has a female writer, it does seem to have a limitless supply throughout the whole film, of double entendres and some very cheeky visual innuendos, which should have you laughing out loud and keep you laughing, all the way through, as each one-liner comes bounding in, they really are knocked about like tennis balls. I lost count after about 20! I'm not saying that women don't have this kind of a sense of humour it's just refreshing to think it's from a females perspective and from such a prolific and long running creator of British TV soap operas.
Filmed on location in Knebworth House of all places, which is a real stately home in the UK rural countryside, (which is also where several rock festivals were and still are staged) it follows Lord Cockshute, pronounced "Co-shute", a slightly bumbling but likeable old greying Aristocrat, who's very short of any actual cash, he desperately needs to balance the books and to keep his mansion around him and his family, played by Mark Singleton, a character actor who had made a career out of usually portraying important "authority figures" such as detectives, doctors. Lord Cockshute himself, is not shy of a bit of "hanky-panky" with his maid servants when ever and if ever he get's the chance to.
The sizzling Sue Longhurst is Lady Cockshute, who wakes up in the morning "always feeling like it", Sue had been a one time hostess on the tv archery quiz show "The Golden Shot" but who had crossed over into and played quite a few of the more steamier parts in British sex comedy film's, playing the tall dizzy, amorous blond usually, Sue worked extensively through the seventies in such film's but sadly retired from acting in 1979. Sue had appeared in the breakthrough sex comedy classic "Confessions of a Window Cleaner", which had been a large commercial success not just here in the UK but worldwide, her first film appearance was coincidentally in Hammer Film's production of "Lust for a Vampire", also directed by Robert Young, which was one part of Hammer Films "Karnstein Trilogy" of 70's lesbian vampire films based on the novel by Shedridan La Fanu story "Carmilla", based on the life and legend of Countess De Bathory.
Always experimenting in his laboratory is their inventor son Peregrine Cockshute, played by Jack Wilde (The Artful Dodger in director Carol Reed's version of "Oliver"), He has developed a type of rubber, which can expand to accommodate nearly any object but just can't imagine what it could be used for? Of nearly all the main cast it's Jack Wilde's appearance which is the most unusual, one can only imagine that theatre and film work must have been scarce dare I say "drying-up" up as he is most commonly remembered as a wholesome young stage actor of the time and indeed in Keep it Up Downstairs his is probably the most innocent and sexually naive of all the characters portrayed.
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| William Rushton (left) and Olivia Munday. Keep It Up Downstairs |
William Rushton, mega comedian, actor, satirist, cartoonist, writer and co-founder of "Private Eye" magazine, is "Snotty Shutleworth", an Aussie with enough spare cash to keep Lord and Lady Cockshute in Cockshute Towers, so they go along with him and his idea to allow him to move in and pay the bills, even though he and Lord Cockshute are old school rivals. Willy hams it up loads and provides some "Slapstick" comedy to the proceedings as only he could getting himself into quite a few compromising positions, if you get my drift.
The house staff and servants, feature equally as the story is focused on their intermingling daily working lives and also their bedroom activities with Lord and Lady Cockshute. Including the worldly wise and ever-ready to serve Butler, "Hampton", played by Neil Hallett. "Hampton" the butler character, steals the limelight in "Keep it up Downstairs", he is nearly in every scene and is the main character throughout out as he is constantly up to servicing the female staff to their every need and is also called upon by the lady of the Manor frequently for any important, "pressing jobs" that require his "expertise", he is a most handy butler to have around and Lord Cockshute certainly can't make do without him.
Neil will be an instantly recognisable actor to some, he had worked from the very early days of British Television in 1954 right up until the 1990's. Neil had appeared in many feature films including "X-The Unknown", an early Hammer Film sci-fi as well as the film version of Ian Fleming's "Thunderball" with Sean Connery, in 1970 he had also appeared in the massively "cult film" prolific and quite controversial British horror film, "Virgin Witch".
Mimi the French maidservant, played by Françoise Pascal, is as accommodating as can be, not to bright but definitely keen to learn, her character receives the attentions of Lord Cockshute, Hampton the butler and Roger's the stable hand. Françoise, had been discovered as an actress by director Norman J. Warren as early as 1968 and had no difficulty in gaining serious and comedy parts in many cult and mainstream films as well as British Television comedy series's, she carved herself a niche in French nationality roles in film and television, vivacious and unique, Françoise continues to act to this day and is remembered fondly from her appearances in The Dick Emery Show.
Keep it Up Downstairs, is an extremely funny and really quite racy, soft-core British Sex Comedy film from 1976. It has some classic old British Film and TV actors and actresses from the time as well as and including the very fondly remembered glamour model, "pin-up girl" and actress, the lovely and unforgettable, Mary Millington. Mary had featured in many "Top-Shelf" glossy Adult Men's magazines such as "Whitehouse" and "Playbirds" in the late 70's and early 80's and who had turned to adult modelling as a means to help pay for care for her seriously ill mother, who needed constant attention.
David Sullivan's "Whitehouse" men's magazine was intentionally named after Mary Whitehouse, the notorious moral reformer from her "League of Light Brigade", who was responsible for the Video Nasty Scare of 1984 in the UK and who helped to bring about the banning of many important controversial films, home video tapes, magazines and comics of the time, who hounded and tried to prosecute many directors, publishers, alike with an aim to cleaning up this sort of "smut", which she believed was corrupting the British Nation).
I cannot finish this review of Keep It Up Downstairs without mentioning at least three more people from the cast. Firstly Aimi MacDonald, bubbly comedienne and actress, still acting today, recently seen in "Doctors", Aimi's career never looked back and she worked with prolific comedians like Les Dawson and Kenny Everett, as well as keeping down serious non comedy roles to her long lasting credit, Aimi plays alongside the very tall and what we now would call surreally "geeky", Julian Bream, who both show up in the last reel, with a mostly non speaking parts where they improvise with a few little visual and verbal "goofing" naughty slapstick routines.
Highly educated Julian had a huge funny bone, and broke away from being typecast as an "upper class twit" by turning it to his advantage through out his career, Julian was a fine musician also but he sadly died very young three years later in 1979 in mysterious circumstances, great to see him again playing the "Bishop" to Aimi MacDonald's "Actress".
Finally the queen of 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's British film "kitch", Diana Dors in one of her last film roles, as "Daisy Dureneck" bolsters up the cast as a one time showgirl married into to money. Diana was probably the closest an English actress has ever come to what was known as a American style "Blond Bombshell" or "Starlet", sometimes compared to Marylin Munroe and or even Brigitte Bardot, Diana had acted in nearly if not every genre British film had to offer, from Gangsters "Molls" to Horror, to social commentary dramas to wholesome family fare, Diana Dors was probably the biggest film star appearing in Keep It Up Downstairs. There is a little twist in the story with her and "Hampton" the butler, as he instantly recognises her when she arrives for a special function party with her American businessman husband but I will leave that for you to discover.
Worth every penny of it's £9:99 price tag, snap this one up if you see it, the print quality is pixel sharp, from an original negative, wide screen as well, not panned and scanned, I think there might be two or three or so minutes missing from this version, conflicting running times suggest there might have been a version with longer scenes for an "over seas" market, "nudge,nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean, know what I mean, say no more" ie countries with less stringent censor ship but don't let that put you off, getting your sticky little fingers on this sexy bawdy romp in the rural 1970's English countryside with some wonderful larger than life characters.
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