Steviardo The play - and screenplay - by Peter Nichols is primarily based on his own experiences of his life in an army entertainment troupe (Combined Services Entertainment) in Singapore and on the characters in the troupe with him.(In this troupe were also British Comedy legends-to be,Stanley Baxter and Kenneth Williams) He covers the poor conditions that the artistes had to entertain under,the poor performances given by sub-standard amateurs and how it was all led by an army man with no understanding or taste for 'theatricals'.In reading the negative reviews,the points most criticised are John Cleese's performance and the 'High Camp' element.In the original stage production,the Cleese role was played by Nigel Hawthorne and one would prefer to see him in the film as Cleese seems too close to his Basil Fawlty characterisation to really fit in with the rest of the ensemble.But he still turns in a good performance - most notably in his scenes with Elphick and Quilley.As for the 'High Camp' element,this is a story about an entertainments unit where army personnel had to don drag for their troop shows.Add to that any theatrical setting - whether it be amateur backstage dramatics or the Moulin Rouge - and the story will have by it's very nature theatrical/camp elements.These are part and parcel of the scenario and should be accepted and expected in such a storyline.The entire ensemble is perfectly cast.The performances are well observed and far from stereotypes.They are realistic and likable.When they are homesick,we feel it.When they are injured or killed,it is genuinely heartbreaking.Bruce Payne especially is tear-jerking as the handsome lad who can't wait to get home so he can finally make love to his girl but at the end is returning home in wheelchair and will never have sex again.The standout performance is unquestionably the late Denis Quilley as Terri Dennis (a character loosely based on the drag performer Barri Chatt).His performance,as the only professional 'aritiste' in the company is both funny and moving.Terri is the star of the shows and his scenes as Dietrich,Vera Lynn and Carmen Miranda are brilliantly comedic,as is most of Quilley's performance as the very camp fish out of water.But it is NOT a one-note performance and Terri's character also shows incredible depth,warmth,vulnerability,strength and perhaps the most well-rounded character as a whole.It is an award-worthy performance and a good one to be remembered for.So in a nutshell,this a comedy film that has effective dramatic moments because the acting is so flawless.It has an impressive and memorable star turn,but it still doesn't eclipse the rest of the excellent cast.It is entertaining,heart-warming and very human.And most of all,it deserves to be better known and more widely appreciated

didi-5 The main problem with this movie is the over-dominating personality of John Cleese, doing his authoritarian idiot stuff as he did in Fawlty Towers and earlier in Monty Python. Trouble is, in the context of a 1940s Army entertainment unit, this characterisation is just not right. A similar scenario could be seen a decade or so earlier in TV show 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', with Windsor Davies in what is approximately the Cleese role here. Very different and much more effective.'Privates' does however have other compensations - good within the cast are Michael Elphick, Simon Jones, Joe Melia, David Bamber, and Nicola Pagett. Best of all is the much-missed Denis Quilley as Terri, that painted captain cavorting about and by far the funniest thing on screen.

zpzjones I enjoyed this comedy of wits and one liners. The play was recently resurrected here in the U.S. but I didn't get a chance to see it. So I ran across this movie/video not because of John Cleese of Monty Python fame but Nicola Pagett who I had seen in PBS's Upstairs Downstairs. Cleese and the other cast members win me over in this spoof of the British occupying of Malaysia in 1948. Cleese & company are a scratch lot of misfits, some veterans from WW2 others are newbies and as for Nicola Pagett she's not in the military at all even though she wears a uniform. She's called 'Acting Lieutenant' Sylvia Morgan. Very funny since being former military myself I've never heard any rank in any army designated 'Acting Lieutenant'. They are a British example of the American USO called here SADUSEE. The leader and organiser of the troupe is Denis Quiley who operates under Cleese's authority. Quiley & co. perform drag queen skits for the Brit soldiers as well as for friendly Malaysian troups. These skits are hilarious. To see Quiley(who recently passed)dressed as a Carmen Miranda type will make you rewind the tape over & over again just to believe what you had seen. Quiley is marvelous as the outrageous sissified Terry. (The end of the film is ironic but I won't give it away). Some fine Brit character actors, such as a young Bruce Payne, Michael Elphick(great as the double agent Sergeant) & John Quayle (from some Masterpiece Theatre programmings) in a brief appearance as an officer with a truck full of shot up men.Cleese is given some great lines here as is Quiley and their performances stand out. Much of this film is sort of reminiscient of any episode of M.A.S.H. if you will. Just think of Klinger in one of his drag skits. Or even a Bob Hope series of skits gone awry. This flick sticks in your mind longer and longer after each viewing. So open your mind, dim the lights, set the popcorn(that's what I did) and let Cleese, Quiley and their band of cutups crack you up.(** this film has a lot of profanity even though it's supposed to be an old fashioned military comedy that takes place in the 40s. The dialogue is quite spicy. And also Pagett has one bare breasted sex scene while seducing a young new intelligence recruit.)

Bernie-56 This film might have proved funnier if the plot hadn't been ripped from "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum", which is about a gay song a dance troup in Malaya and their straight RSM. Trouble, It Ain't Half Hot was genuinely funny whereas POP can't decide whether it's British High Camp or a war film. (Of course, being High Camp, it will go straight over the heads of US audiences.)It succeeds as a camp comedy in the beginning but fails as as a war movie. Some of the editing is risible -- looks as if the editor got a new wipe effects machine for Christmas. John Cleese reprises his role as Basil Fawlty, now in the army; he even gives us his Funny Walk from Python. Sheesh. Unfortunately he is just not a patch on the great Windsor Davies in the identical role in It Ain't Half Hot. The troup of actors is great and there are many famous faces therein.Blooper: Although supposedly set in Singapore the actors are 'huffing' in several night scenes. Hmmm. Must have been cold at Pinewood those nights.Summary -- Can't make up its mind what it wants to be and falls between two stools. Starts well and finishes disagreeably. A time filler only/