Rising Damp has always been regarded one of ITVs better sitcoms of the 1970s even though the series was full of casual racism.As soon as the series ended, work started on a feature film spin off and this is the dismal effort.Of course the producers were not helped by the premature death of actor Richard Beckinsale who played one of the main characters. He is replaced by Christopher Strauli who plays a new character, art student Alan and a new tenant in Rigsby's house.The main part of the film is seedy Rigsby attempting to keep fit as he is envious of African chief Philip's success at the rugby field. Rigsby hopes if he can beat Philip at boxing he can win the affections of Miss Jones. (Ironically Leonard Rossiter who died at a relatively young aged was a top ranked amateur squash player.)The final part of the movie is Denholm Elliott playing suave new tenant Seymour who may be not all he seems to be but Rigsby thinks he is a gent because Seymour went to public school. Then Seymour starts to woo Miss Jones much to Rigsby's chagrin.The film is episodic because it is three episodes stitched together. I think Henry McGee played the part in the television show better than Elliott here because his character revealed a nasty vile side, especially when he talked to Philip.The film has several dream sequences including a Grease pastiche and a reference to the Cinzano ads which Leonard Rossiter was famous for at the time with Joan Collins.The film just fails to capture the essence of the television sitcom, it comes across as crass and unfunny. Despite Rossiter doing sterling work as Rigsby, the script and direction were poor.

Obviously, the the responses here were written many years after the film was released and cannot be taken in context. Back in 1980 in post labour England, this film was bloody funny. We were glad of something to laugh about and Rising Damp, with its sympathetic mockery of a complete social strata, was one of the best British sitcoms of its period, if not ever. It struck a chord in almost everybody and in true British fashion, we laughed at the Rigsby in ourselves. America had nothing to touch this type of humour because self debasement was not amusing to our overseas cousins. Leonard Rossiter was one of Englands finest actors, on stage, on TV and in Movies. His commitment and professionalism were second to none. Richard Beckinsale was, although young, a perfect comedic foil to Rossiter and should, by all rights, be classed as an all time great. Had he not been taken so young, I feel sure he would, by now, be classified as one of Britains greatest comedy actors. Frances De la Tour found her finest television moment in Rising Damp and, for me, never quantified her undoubted ability with further roles. If you did not see the film at the time of its release, you are not qualified to comment, simply because you cannot understand why it was funny, the humour of the moment.

RISING DAMP is a classic comedy which starred Leonard Rossiter as a landlord who rented his flat out to three people : Miss Jones a rather plain woman who Rigsby has the hots for and a couple of students Alan and Philip . It should be pointed out that Philip is black and Rigsby is while not exactly racist rather condescending to anyone different from his little Englander mentality .As with a great number of successful ITV sit-coms RISING DAMP was made into a feature length movie , though it should be pointed out this seems rather belated since it was made in 1980 with most of the other cinema versions of ITV sitcoms being produced in the early 1970s . It should also be mentioned that in the TV series Alan was played by Richard Beckinsale who died before this movie went into production so his role as Alan is played by Christopher Strauli with the other three regular cast members reprising their rolesNo attempt is made to change or modify the strong points of the television series and everybody stays in character mainly because much of the screenplay is directly lifted from the TV series , bits like the draught blowing into Miss Jones ear and the love wood which featured in an episode of the TV series . There is a thin plot featuring a guest called Seymour played by Denholm Elliot which does give the opportunity of showing what a sycophantic snob Rigsby really is and for not changing the formula the film version deserves some credit . Check out the film version of GEORGE AND MILDRED to see what a really bad adaptation looks like

Rigsby rents rooms in his house to Miss Jones and African chief Philip. When a room becomes available in his house he gets art student Alan to share Philip's room. This causes tension in the house as Rigsby continues to compete for Miss Jones' affections. When they see Philip on the rugby field a fitness craze goes through the house leading to a boxing match between Rigsby and Philip. With Philip and Alan sharing the upper room Rigsby rents the middle room out to English gentleman Seymour who may or may not be who he claims, leading to more tension as Miss Jones begins to fall under Seymour's spell.This is essentially three episodes worth of stories rolled into a film - the first episode is the new tenant moving into the house, the second episode is the all the fitness thing leading to the boxing match, the third episode is the Seymour incident. In fact each lasts about 30 minutes, although they are nicely rolled into each other so it's not as clear cut as three separate strands. The stories are about as good as the TV show was - so if you like that then you'll probably like this. The best bit is really the final 30 minutes due to Denholm Elliott's presence but there is 1970's style fun to be had with the other sections.From the horribly disco theme song, you know where you are - happily the racist jokes aren't as bad as other 70's sitcoms but it's still there. It's not too offensive because Philip is allowed to rise above the stereotypes and only Rigsby is the one who makes the jokes (and he's made to look stupid and backward). It's not really funny but it's quite amusing. The saving grace is Rossiter as Rigsby - he really is so good in the role to the extent that he rises above the material and makes it better than it is. De la Tour is also good in her well rehearsed role and Don Warrington brings a lot of dignity to the black character who could easily just have been a punching bag for racist jokes. "Only When I Laugh's" Christopher Strauli makes a good addition to the house and Elliot brings a great deal of class to what is essentially a sitcom.Overall this isn't fantastic but it's amusing and entertaining. It does feel like three episodes rolled together but if you're a fan of the series then I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing.