Rising Damp (1980)

That was an excellent one.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Rigsby manages to scam his lodgers Cooper, an arts student, and Philip, an African jock, making both pay for a room they must share. However Rigsby's favourite lodger, miss Jones, now flirts with both boys rather than the old man, despite his pitiful attempts to be generous. She actually prefers an affair with slick veteran Seymour, who is really only interested in her money.....Plot wise, there is nothing of any relevance to speak of here, but the film is divided into many sub plots, Rigsbys advances on Jones, the two lodgers and there little troubles, and later on Elliott makes an appearance to inject a bit of mystery into the film.And its as you would expect, seaside postcard humour, Rossiter doing what he does best, being sarcastic and sympathetic at the same time, and chock full of people you recognise from the TV.Its not the greatest thing ever made, and you can see the jokes coming from a mile off, but around this time in the UK, there was a spate of successful TV sitcoms turned into movies, and the majority of those were pitiful.Its breezy, throwaway stuff, that is unashamedly un-PC, and watching it, you realise that writers got away with a lot of cultural reference that couldn't happen today.

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

"Rising Damp" is now generally regarded as the finest sitcom produced by ITV, the BBC's main commercial rival, during its 50 years on air. Granted, that is not a hard title to win. But the claustrophobic saga of a boarding house where a stingy, nervy, clumsily lecherous landlord, two students and a fluttery but oddly alluring spinster play out an endless round-dance of mutual attraction is one of the perennial, timeless joys of British TV.Like most hit comedies of the 1970s, "Rising Damp" earned a big-screen adaptation. The main cast stayed intact, except that Christopher Strauli subbed for the late Richard Beckinsale. Unfortunately Joe McGrath, a comedy specialist used to altogether broader material (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, The Goons) directed. Farce is played up at the expense of quieter and subtler pleasures. McGrath, who helmed "The Magic Christian" and "The Great McGonagall", goes for a quick fire approach which Eric Chappell's screenplay-- like so many of these filmed sitcoms, it smells of three TV episodes scrambled together-- does not inhibit. Feeling one must open up the action and exploit a marginally larger budget, Chappell lets the film slip away too much from the house. To aficionados, even seeing the back garden and the street are a little shocking. However, scenes in pubs and restaurants echo the original, and the chief pleasure, Leonard Rossiter as Rupert Rigsby, is undimmed. Some well-loved schticks, such as Rigsby blowing in Miss Jones's ear after being told it's an erogenous zone, are reprised.Rossiter broke the rules of modern screen acting. He mugged, twitched, grimaced, muttered semi-audibly and shamelessly hogged the camera, instead of underplaying stone-facedly and letting his confreres share the work. Yet he gets away with it every time, simply because Rigsby is a towering character in the great tradition of British "downer" comedy: the frustrated middle-aged male fantasist who is not quite up to living in the real world. That line began with Will Hay and ran through Hancock, Harold Steptoe, Captain Mainwaring and Basil Fawlty to Rigsby, with Derek Trotter and Victor Meldrew to come.Guest star Denholm Elliott is a smooth ex-RAF conman after the gorgeous Miss Jones's modest savings. He may seem like another cinematic concession, but he is not unlike Peter Bowles's theatrical charmer of a lodger in the series. Elliott's underplaying is in fitting and masterful contrast to the spluttering sycophantic Rigsby. Don Warrington, the black student "chief's son with ten wives" patronised and envied by Rigsby, is gloriously suave, though victim of a disconcerting plot twist at the end.This potted version is not the best of its breed, but for condensing Rossiter's tour de force it is worth catching.

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.