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| Penny Irving, Leigh Lawson and Judy Matheson |
OK. They made a follow up to the film about a man who has
a penis transplant.
The first film had Hywel Bennett as the beneficiary of
the spare part and did very well at the box office reputably making £500,000
profit. I know little about it other than the fact that the Kinks wrote the
theme and that’s how I first heard of it and now I really must watch it. This
follow up features Leigh Lawson as Percy, an altogether more likely leading man
yet perhaps less adept at handling the comedy of Sid Colin, Ian La Frenais (as unlikely
as it seems) and (Harry H. Corbett, the dirty old man…).
It’s a 70’s “sex” “comedy” which focuses less on the
added appendage and more on the virility it has endowed. Percy’s prowess is a
blessing at first but he soon finds it a curse especially after the USA
accidentally dumps a chemical agent at sea which leaves him as the only man
left to stand up for the human race…
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| Elke Sommer and Leigh Lawson |
We start the film with Percy caught in bed with Clarissa (Elke
Sommer), one of any number of married women he is involved with… Jeffcot, a
private dick (ha-hah!) played by James Booth, has tracked him down with enough
photographers to ensure conviction. Percy duly has his day in court – with the
gallery packed with conquests old and new – but escapes justice with the help
of PC 217 (Adrienne Posta), who cannot resist his charms and drives him off to
the coast.
Percy hides away on a yacht for long months, drinking
champagne and trying to forget women even though he can’t escape his dreams and
imagines a pod of dolphins as naked women… but he snaps to in time for the
comely cetaceans to escape his attentions.
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| Perky Posta! |
Meanwhile the Yanks have
unleashed their reverse-Viagra on mankind and it looks like the world will end
with a billion masculine whimpers and not with a bang after all. The human
reproduction line has been halted by the involuntary withdrawal of all members.
Percy can stand amorous abstinence
no longer and lands his yacht at a Mediterranean port where he is able to enjoyed
a free ride (sorry, but you chose to read this ramble!) at the local brothel where
we find a bounteous bevvy of unemployed workers including the stunning Penny
Irving and the stunning Judy Matheson (nee Jarvis) who is clearly having fun with
all this. Judy has spoken warmly about the film recently and it’s easy to
forget that this was a) work and b) a daft comedy with actors who knew each
other having a laugh and entertaining the audience too. It’s not Bergman or
Antonioni but it’s Ralph Thomas alright: director of Doctor in the
House, A Pair of Briefs and Deadlier than the Male to name
but three.
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| Anthony Andrews, Harry H Corbett and Leigh Lawson |
News gets out that there’s a functioning man left and the
search begins for Percy with Harry H. Corbett popping up as a British Prime Minister,
not unlike Harold Wilson, complete with a Yorkshire accent and mutterings about
"thirteen years of Tory misrule" – you never had it so good mate, try
2019 for size! The PM devises the plan to pimp out Percy and a competition is
launched to find a line of women to, erm, work with him in furthering the
species.
Meanwhile a team of doctors works hard on finding a lift
for humanity’s hopes, led by a mad Dr. Anderson (Barry Humphries who also
doubles – of course - as an Australian TV Lady) and Dr. Klein (Milo O'Shea) who
is assisted by Dr. Fairweather (played by Judy Geeson equipped with over-eager American
accent and a character surely founded on one of Dr Kildare’s more admiring assistants).
The list of talent goes on with Denholm Elliott as Percy’s
transplant surgeon, Sir Emmanuel Whitbread, Vincent Price as multi-millionaire,
Stavos Mammonian and T. P. McKenna as a news editor.
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| Madeline Smith and Alan Lake, surprisingly cast as the compere at a beauty pageant |
Joining the queue for Percy are Madeline Smith as Miss UK,
Jenny Hanley as Miss Teenage Lust (natch) and Minah Bird as Miss America… Julie
Ege and Carol Hawkins are, to no great surprise, in there too… consenting
adults all and, actually, I think the balance in this film is away from the
saucy/smut and towards Carry on… there is a story and Thomas paces things well
around the utter lack of seriousness.
Dusty Verdict: You’ll still enjoy this if you’re
in the mood and even if it’s only for spotting the talent. The idea of a man so
irresistible to women he has to hide away is accentuated by the device of his
being the only choice available and it’s maybe making a point about something.
For the life of me I can’t quite work out what it is… but, never look a gift dolphin
in the mouth.
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| A dolphin, yesterday |
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| Jenny Hanley, Leigh Lawson and Carol Hawkins |
