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| THE IRON PETTICOAT (1956) |
A Benhar Production
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release
In VistaVision and Technicolor, 87 minutes
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CAST
Chuck Lockwood: Bob Hope
Vinka Kovelenko: Katharine Hepburn
Colonel Sklarnoff: James Robertson Justice
Ivan Kropotkin: Robert Helpmann
Dubratz: David Kossoff
Colonel Tarbell: Alan Gifford
Lewis: Paul Carpenter
Connie: Noelle Middleton
Tony Mallard: Nicholas Phipps
Paul: Sidney James
Senator: Alexander Gauge
Maria: Doris Goddard
Sutsiyawa: Tutte Lemkow
Tityana: Sandra Dorne
Lingerie Clerk: Richard Wattis
Sklarnoff's Secretary: Maria Antippas
Grisha: Martin Boddey
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CREDITS
Director: Ralph Thomas
Producer: Betty E. Box
Scenarist: Ben Hecht (name removed from credits)
Based on an Original Story by: Harry Saltzman
Photographer: Ernest Steward
Art Director: Carmen Dillon
Set Decorator: Vernon Dixon
Editor: Frederick Wilson
Sound Recorders: John W. Mitchell, Gordon K. McCallum
Musical Score: Benjamin Frankel
Sound Editor: Roger Cherrill
Production Manager: R. Dennis Holt
Costumer: Yvonne Caffin
Makeup Artist: W.T. Partleton
Camera Operator: H.A.R. Thompson
Assistant Director: James H. Ware
Continuity: Joan Davis
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SYNOPSIS
Captain Vinka Kovelenko, of the Russian Air Force, angered at being passed over for military awards, flies a MIG to an American base in Germany. Flier Chuck Lockwood is assigned to convert her to democracy but she tries, simultaneously, to show him the advantages of communism. They go to London where she succumbs to the fleshpots of capitalism and soon abandons her uniform for frilly feminine things, drinks champagne and vodka, and ends up falling in love. Alerted to the situation, the Russian Embassy arranges to have her kidnapped and take her back to Moscow.
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CRITIQUES
"There were rumors that some of Miss Hepburn's stuff was cut out, and there were reports of feuding between Hope and Hecht, who was originally engaged for the screenplay. At any rate, the screenplay credit on the picture goes begging. Everyone else is on hand to face the music."
- Hollis Alpert, The Saturday Review, 1956
"'Vy you are smilink?' Katharine Hepburn asks Bob Hope, trying her best to sound like a Russian, in The Iron Petticoat. Nobody's smilink. In fact, for Hepburn and Hope fans, this should be a day of cryink. They seem amazed to find themselves in a comedy that has no humor, and they go through the motions grimly, like children at dancing school, hoping it will all be over soon. When Miss Hepburn, encased in an army uniform that does nothing for her lissom figure, turns to Hope and says 'I was vorried,' she has good reason."
- William K. Zinsser, New York Herald Tribune, 1956
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COMMENTARY TRACK
"This dame is terrific - and expert in her craft and so electrifying on set that if you don't watch out, you're likely to wind up as part of the scenery."
- Bob Hope
"Although her magnificent comic performance has been blow-torched out of the film, there is enough left of the Hepburn footage to identify her for her sharpshooters. I am assured by my hopeful predators that The Iron Petticoat will go over big with people 'who can't get enough of Bob Hope'."
- screenwriter Ben Hecht (who asked to be removed from the credits),
in an advertisement he took out in The Hollywood Reporter, c1957
"We got to England and started work. Bob Hope was added to the package as her co-star; I think she liked the challenge of working with a professional comic. She was marvelous to work with. I wish I had made the picture when I was a little more experienced, because of the problem of handling these very diverse personalities. Really, they were playing in two different pictures: she was a mistress of light, sophisticated, romantic comedy, he was much broader, and eventually I didn't so much direct the picture as watch them in action, with a strong bias in her favour. She understood all the problems, she gave everything she had, she is the most cooperative person that ever breathed, and even when it was obvious the picture wasn't working out, that we were headed for disaster, she never lost her spirit. She played with total truth, but it was very difficult for her to perform with someone whose stock in trade was telling funny stories."
- Ralph Thomas
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HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
Links are provided for information only, and are not endorsements. Please ensure that your player is compatible with the region or standard before purchase.
Region 2:
Region 4:
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope
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Katharine Hepburn
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