The Naked Truth (1957 film)
The Naked Truth is a 1957 British film black comedy starring Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers and Dennis Price. Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Joan Sims also appear.[1] It was produced and directed by Mario Zampi and written by Michael Pertwee. It was released in the U.S. as Your Past is Showing.[2]
| The Naked Truth | |
|---|---|
 UK film poster | |
| Directed by | Mario Zampi |
| Produced by | Mario Zampi |
| Written by | Michael Pertwee |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Stanley Black |
| Cinematography | Stanley Pavey |
| Edited by | Bill Lewthwaite |
| Distributed by | J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
Nigel Dennis (Dennis Price) is a blackmailer who threatens to publish embarrassing secrets in his magazine The Naked Truth. After attempting to blackmail a famous scientist (who commits suicide), and an MP (who suffers a heart attack in parliament, and probably succumbs), his latest targets are Lord Henry Mayley (Terry-Thomas), television host Sonny MacGregor (Peter Sellers), writer Flora Ransom (Peggy Mount), and model Melissa Right (Shirley Eaton). Several of them decide independently that murder would be a better solution than paying. However, it is Mayley who by sheer bad luck nearly ends up the victim of both MacGregor and Ransom's schemes. The four eventually join forces and try again. That attempt also fails, but Dennis is then arrested for an earlier crime.
When Dennis threatens to reveal all at his trial, Mayley comes up with a scheme to break him out of prison and send him to South America, with the help of hundreds of his other victims. They phone in numerous fake calls for help, distracting the London police, while Mayley, MacGregor, and MacGregor's reluctant assistant Porter (Kenneth Griffith), disguised as policemen, whisk Dennis away. Knocking Dennis unconscious periodically, they finally end up in the cabin of a blimp on the way to a rendezvous with an outbound ship. To their dismay, when he comes to, Dennis refuses to go along with their plan, as he in fact never wanted to reveal any of their secrets in court. He was, in fact, optimistic about the trial anyway, and reveals that the evidence was his copies of "The Naked Truth" which had been destroyed by the plotters earlier. Happy to have outsmarted his opponents again, but unaware of where he is, Dennis then steps out for some air and plummets to the ocean below. When MacGregor celebrates by shooting his pistol, it punctures the blimp, which shoots away into the distance.
Cast
- Terry-Thomas as Lord Henry Mayley
- Peter Sellers as Sonny MacGregor
- Peggy Mount as Flora Ransom
- Shirley Eaton as Melissa Right
- Dennis Price as Nigel Dennis
- Georgina Cookson as Lady Lucy Mayley, Henry's wife
- Joan Sims as Ethel Ransom, Flora's daughter and reluctant accomplice
- Miles Malleson as Reverend Cedric Bastable, Flora's fiancé
- Kenneth Griffith as Porter
- Moultrie Kelsall as Mactavish
- Bill Edwards as Bill Murphy, Melissa's rich Texan boyfriend
- Wally Patch as Fred - paunchy old man
- Henry Hewitt as Gunsmith
- John Stuart as Police Inspector
- David Lodge as Constable Johnson
- Joan Hurley as Authoress
- Peter Noble as Television Announcer
- Victor Rietti as Doctor
- Wilfrid Lawson as TV Contestant
- Ronald Adam as Chemist
- Michael Ripper as Greengrocer
Critical reception
Allmovie wrote, "A prescient satire of tabloid journalists and celebrity culture, The Naked Truth, is a well-acted British comedy that doesn't quite succeed in melding its black and broad comedy";[2] whereas Radio Times wrote, "This black comedy supplied Peter Sellers with some of his funniest, and finest, pre-Hollywood material. It's based - as the best British humour often is - on class and sex...Mario Zampi directs the gags in Michael Pertwee's satisfying script with superb timing."[3] and Leonard Maltin noted, "Sellers (cast as a television star) is a special treat in this amusing satire."[4]