The Iron Petticoat (1957)

Wonderful Movie

Nice effects though.

Just perfect...

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I give up, was this supposed to be a comedy? You would think with Bob Hope and Katherine Hepburn in a film that it would be worth seeing but this is simply a travesty. Actually, I don't think I've ever run into a film in which all the posts for it in the reviews section on IMDb uniformly call it a bad picture. The movie merits a 5.6 rating from all (710) viewers as I write this, but just for the heck of it I did a quick average of the 'stars' given by the folks writing comments on it, and I come up with a 3.25. My rating isn't going to sway that either way.I can't even imagine what the film makers might have been thinking, before, during, and after this picture was made. Hepburn's Russian was fingernails on chalkboard to my ear, and try as they might, the chemistry that was supposed to exist between the stars just didn't work for me. The gags fell flat and even Hope's one liners lacked punch. At least he managed to invoke Crosby when the Judo Sleepwalker (????) Sutsiyama (Tutte Lemkow) called him 'Dog Nose', but even that wasn't funny.Quite honestly, and I make an effort at this, but I can't think of any redeeming feature of the film that might even remotely recommend it. But even as incomprehensible a romantic match that Hope and Hepburn seemed, Major Chuck Lockwood's fiancé Lady Connie (Noelle Middleton) might have even been worse. Considering how bizarre the whole concept of the story was, you'd think she could have cracked a smile now and then. You know, I'm beginning to think it might have been true when Captain Kovelenko (Hepburn) said at one point - "This would not have happened if Stalin were alive".

Abysmal Bob Hope-Katharine Hepburn film of 1956 that fails to achieve its takeoff on "Ninotchka."Why does it fail so badly? It essentially becomes a Bob Hope vehicle with many of his corny one-liners. He even brings in the Democrats to lighten things up.This is a story of a Soviet military lady who flies to the west when she is passed over for a promotion. What follows is sheer lunacy where our government brings military man Hope into the picture to soothe the lady.The scene of trying to get Hepburn back to the Soviet Union by utter duplicity becomes tiresome at best.The ending tries to depict a change for moderation at the Soviet government. No wonder writer Ben Hecht was disillusioned by this farce and wanted his name removed from the credits. A colossal bomb.

Hard to believe this was written by Ben Hecht but he gets sole screenplay credit on screen though IMDb throws in a nod to Harry Saltzman, not previously known to me as a writer but had he written the whole thing it would be quite believably. Neither is Hecht celebrated as a gag-writer and it's crystal clear that Hope used his clout to insert typical Hope-type one-liners from his stable of writers. The film was shot in 1956 and perhaps significantly Silk Stockings (Cole Porter's last Broadway musical), a musical version of 'Ninotchka', opened on Broadway in 1955. Whilst it's true the main plot has been jettisoned there are still links notably a strong Russian female venturing into the West and being 'Westernised' via an item of clothing, in Garbo's case a hat, in Hepburn's a negligee. Apart from the two leads the film is fleshed out with a B-team of British journeymen, Sid James, Richard Wattis, etc with the seriously wooden Canadian Paul Carpenter in a hefty supporting role. More value as a novelty entry than anything else.

You can't say that about many movies!"The Iron Petticoat" is a bizarre relic of the 1950s with a smug Bob Hope hogging the limelight and a grimly determined Katherine Hepburn fighting a rearguard action with a pantomime Russian accent and a very smart wardrobe. Mr Hope is the USAF officer to whom Miss Hepburn - a pilot in the Soviet air force overlooked for promotion - defects,and he is tasked with her "Americanisation".Cue lots of dated one - liners from him and conspicuous displays of cheekbone from her. The plot concerns the efforts of the Russians who understandably regard her as a traitor to take her back and the Americans who regard her as a propaganda coup to hang on to her. In later years of course they would have simply killed her with a poisoned umbrella,but the comparative naivety of the Russians as they try to kidnap Miss Hepburn gives us ample opportunity to relish the joys of the splendid British supporting cast,notably Mr J.R.Justice,chain - smoking,cold and calculating,and Mr Sid James with a preposterous wig and a vaguely "foreign" accent who turns out to be a wizard on the dance floor in contrast to Mr Bob Helpmann the great choreographer and dancer who,like John Travolta 40 years later in "Pulp Fiction" insists he is unable to dance at all. Miss Noelle Middleton remains rather aloof from it all as Mr Hope's betrothed. The movie is being given a run on "Film on Four" at the moment and is worth watching if only for the moment when Mr James,displaying nifty footwork,twirls Miss Hepburn towards certain death at "The Russian Bear" nightclub.Keep that back straight Sid,and the elbows just a little higher,please.