The Iron Petticoat

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Steve D 07/03/2023 Hepburn is so bad she should be forced to return her Oscars after this. See more 07/06/2018 Katharine Hepburn stars as a Russian pilot who defects to the West because she is passed over for a promotion in favour of an incompetent male. She is paired with American officer Bob Hope who is tasked with convincing her to stay in the West. She, in turn, endeavours to convert Hope to Communism. Hope is engaged to a wealthy aristocratic woman in England, so he finds a pretense to take Hepburn to London so he can work on her while romancing his British fiance. While in England, Soviet agents try to retrieve Hepburn. This is a terrible film that all the major participants basically disavowed. Ben Hecht wrote this loose remake of "Ninotchka" as a vehicle for Hepburn. They were looking to cast a romantic comedy lead like Cary Grant or William Holden, but only Hope was interested. When Hope was cast, he essentially brought in a crew or writers to convert the film into his kind of film. Nobody comes out ahead. Hepburn is terrible with her absurd attempt at a Russian accent. Hope seems lost and lacking his usual energy. The two hated each other ... and it shows. The film is not funny and the stars have no chemistry. Hecht tried to have his name taken off it, and Hope suppressed the film completely after it's original theatrical release, See more Frances H 06/13/2017 Just doesn't do much to entertain, even with these two great stars and Ben Hecht's writing talents. See more 04/01/2013 Typical Hope matinee - he plays second banana. This time to the girl that Spenser couldn't tame. Hepburn's Soviet accent is ridiculously annoying; appropriate for a punchline but not for a 90 minute movie. Bob & Kat displayed great bravery following this Marxian (brothers) script rather than improvising through the scenes - our loss. See more 12/07/2012 More of a curiosity than a quality Hope or Hepburn film. Bob Hope had a very public feud with the film's original writer, Ben Hecht, who took out a full page ad in Variety accusing Hope of ruining the film. Once Hope got back the film's rights in 1970, he took the film out of circulation in the US until it's recent airing on TCM just this past month (November 2012). It's a Ninotchka-like romance between US pilot Hope and USSR pilot Hepburn, featuring both romantic and cold war tensions in equal comedic amounts. Considering the film was supposedly going to be Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn with the original Hecht scrip, you can definitely see how this film became primarily a Bob Hope vehicle. Hepburn seems underused in the film (which was Hecht's main complaint), Hope is not as funny as his best films, but there is kind of an odd chemistry between Hope and Hepburn that kind of work and manages to keep the film alive. It's worth watching, but probably only for Hope and/or Hepburn fans. See more 11/26/2012 It really is as bad as lore would have it. See more Read all reviews

The Iron Petticoat

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