Black comedies don't get much funnier than "The naked truth". The plot is both witty and inventive and there are memorable characters and lines. I've got a weak spot for the hapless Ethel, a citizen of the most blameless moral character, who gets dragooned into crime in order to defend her mother's honor, or what's left of it. (Watch out for the scene where Mumsy describes her Youthful Indiscretion : "I fell into a wrong crowd, times were easy and so was... Never mind.")The performances range from good to excellent. Peter Sellers, for instance, shines as a cunning bastard who divides his waking hours between hosting maudlin, patronizing TV-shows for the elderly on the one hand and exploiting the innocent as a slum landlord on the other hand. (One of the shows, by the way, includes a very special treat for opera lovers : a rendition of "Ombra mai fu" on a cheap whistle flute.)A very British work of the polished and urbane school. Much recommended.

Released in America as 'Your Past Is Showing,' this amusing black comedy concerns a group of English celebrities and nobility who are being blackmailed by Nigel Dennis, an unscrupulous tabloid reporter. Four of these people, a Lord (Terry-Thomas,) a television host (Sellers,) an author (Mount,) and a model (Eaton) decide to fight back and kill their blackmailer. The catch is, none of them are aware anyone else is targeting Dennis. What follows is a series of humorous attempts to off Nigel Dennis.Peter Sellers gets to dress up in various disguises and do impressions. Watching him is watching a true genius at work. But the movie is stolen by Peggy Mount, who plays the daffy author. She and her hilariously skittish daughter, played by Joan Sims, concoct a plan to poison Dennis, lock him in a trunk and dump him in the river. But things go wrong on several levels, and the way these two cope is hilarious.As all the characters come together for the final act, things escalate and become even funnier. So if you enjoy British comedy, a fan of Peter Sellers, or just in the mood for a laugh, then don't hesitate to watch this film.

Michael Pertwee penned this original screenplay about a British blackmailer threatening to expose celebrity secrets in a new publication inspired by the American scandal sheets. Comedy begins well, but doesn't have an incisive nature...nor a desire to bring out the darkly humorous ideas hinted at in the premise. Peter Sellers--cast as a popular television personality with blue-hairs--has his patented maniacal gleam and nervous smile, but not many jokes to work with, while hammy Terry-Thomas is mostly held in check (both actors might have been better used portraying the blackmailer). Supporting players are equally at a loss, though everyone tries hard. Picture doesn't look especially good, and it fails to give us a persuasive sense of time and place, falling apart after 20 minutes in. Released Stateside as "Your Past Is Showing". *1/2 from ****

This film solidified Peter Sellers' stardom as a comic actor of the first rank. He had appeared in other films prior to it, but THE LADYKILLERS was the only one prior to this that showed him to any advantage, as an inept "teddy boy" type. Here he is "Wee Sonny MacGregor" a popular young entertainer on television, whose variety show has mostly elderly viewers who think of Sonny as the son or grandson they always dreamed about. Unfortunately for Sonny, one Nigel Dennis (Dennis Price) publishes "THE NAKED TRUTH", a tell all scandal sheet like "Confidential" or (despite their disclaimers) "The Enquirer". Mr Dennis has a nice, somewhat legal, offer. If you will help defray the expenses of his magazine, he will refrain from publishing details of what you don't want known. In his best, intelligent scoundrel style, Price reveals to dear "Wee Sonny" that he knows about the large amounts of rent money "Wee Sonny" has been making with some rotting tenements in London. The audience for "Wee Sonny" would not feel very comfortable with his image knowing about this.Price has similar pieces of information regarding Peggy Blount, playing an "Agatha Christie" novelist - apparently one of her plots may not have been so original. Also Terry-Thomas, as Lord Mayley, is not as respectable as he lets on - he seems to have had several affairs his wife does not know of (although Georgina Cookson - Lady Mayley - has her occasional suspicions). Soon all three are considering the last resort for dealing with blackmail - doing in the blackmailer. Their problems are more than dealing with a brainy adversary. Blount tries to commit a murder (after all she's an expert in killing as a creative writer), only to come a cropper (all I'll say is Price ups his demands for payment as a result). Terry-Thomas seems to keep stumbling into the schemes of Blount and Sellers, to his own discomfort.Best is Sellers though - he is certain he can commit the perfect murder because he is a "master of disguise". His assistant Kenneth Griffith keeps warning him that he has a tendency to overact, but "Wee Sonny" dismisses this. He tries to spy out Price playing an elderly dock expert, and only annoys the latter and makes Terry-Thomas suspicious. He flusters a gun shop owner by appearing as an Edwardian style country squire ordering enough ammunition for a regiment, not for a hunt. My favorite moment is when he tries to impress possible IRA members by speaking to them (as a fellow member) in perfect Welsh.How they finally get rid of Price and his demands is as funny as one can expect, given the rest of the film. It is a comedy that will pay handsome dividends of laughter.