Not Now, Comrade (1976) Movie Review Movie Review

Not Now, Comrade (1976)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Michele Dotrice and Roy Kinnear in Not Now, Comrade (1976)

Not Now, Carry On

Barbara Wilcox (Carol Hawkins - Bless This House) is helping her Russian ballet dancer friend, Rudi Petrovyan (Lewis Flander), to defect. But things go wrong and rather than hiding in the boot of her car he gets in to the boot of Commander Rimmington's (Leslie Phillips - Crooks Anonymous) and ends up back at his country home where his daughter Nancy (Michele Dotrice) is waiting to introduce her father to her intended Gerry (Ian Lavender - Dad's Army). It is just the start of the confusion as the Commander's gardener, Hoskins (Roy Kinnear - Heavens Above!), learns that the defected Russian is in the car and asks Nancy to help.

"Not Now, Comrade" starts with a scene of Barbara trying to distract the press by dancing in just her panties and nipple tassels so her Russian friend can defect. Yes that does sound like some thing you might have watched in a "Carry On" movie and with other busty outfits, innuendos and confusion comedy "Not Now, Comrade" is very much in that "Carry On" style. But this doesn't rely on titillation quite as much as the "Carry On" movies of the 70s and instead focuses on the confusion comedy as various people try to hide Rudi from the authorities whilst dealing with the language differences. It definitely makes "Not Now, Comrade" tamer than the "Carry On" movies of the 70s but no less entertaining if you are a fan of that era of British Comedies.

Ian Lavender in Not Now, Comrade (1976)

What works in the favour of "Not Now, Comrade" is that it features plenty of familiar faces such as Leslie Phillips, Ian Lavender, Roy Kinnear and Michele Dotrice with all delivering plenty of laughs and some genuinely funny lines. That is one thing which this movie isn't short on as the witty lines certainly run fast with some good innuendos thrown in to the mix as well.

What this all boils down to is that "Not Now, Comrade" is a fun little British comedy from the 70s, in many ways similar to a "Carry on" movie but not as reliant on the titillation which was common place in the Carry On movies of the 70s, with a greater focus on the confusion comedy.


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