Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively
confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue
.
I had high hopes for this
get this
it was written by Python's Chapman and Cleese, with contributions from satirists Wells and Fortune (who still works with Rory Bremner). It has a lot of famous TV faces (Sinden, Griffiths, Keith, Briers) and has involvement from Goons Milligan and Michael Bentine. With this type of quality involved I assumed that the product would be good.
But this never rises above the standard set by all 1970's British comedy which rely on bawdy farce rather than humour to get by. It has plenty of little surreal touches that make it rise slightly above the pack, but really this isn't carried across into the dialogue or plot. It even builds to a keystone cop style chase typical of the period. None of the cast really get into it the cameos are OK, but you can't help feel the waste.
Overall this is pretty poor. It's better than the raft of smutty 1970's comedies that this is related to, but with the talent on board you can't help feel that greater things were possible.
