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Privates on Parade (UK)

This historical film is set in a troupe entertaining British troops in Southeast Asia fighting against the communist insurgents. Musicals have not been my scene and even thought this is a famous film and well reviewed throughout, somehow the film just failed to capture my attention in any space. One of the main problems is that this cannot seem to make up its mind on what to be; a comedy or a war-drama. Neither of them are achieved particularly effectively, separate from each other, and whenever the two are attempted at the same time, it's even worse.

It is 1947, the year of the communist rebellion in Malaya and the British army’s SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) are called to the Malayan Jungle to entertain the troops. The eccentric, bible-bashing Major Giles Flack is in command of the unit. Flack is accompanied by an ageing, theatrical drama queen, Terri Dennis who hopes to entertain the troops with his flamboyant impressions, but the bored troops find other ways to enjoy themselves. This is pretty much the synopsis of the film, which is largely an autobiographical play that was scripted by Nichols himself and directed by Michael Blakemore.

One the one hand, this is a peculiar blend of farce, satire, anti- establishment jokes, musical high-jinks, exaggerated character studies and ridiculously camp impersonations, with – on the other hand – romance, tragedy, realism, death and mutilation. Nevertheless, the sexual innuendo rippling through every second phrase to the point of monotony certainly gives a pointer to the overall movie's intended audiences. Another problem is that the musical pastiches are supposed be second-rate, and this is how they are actually played – with enthusiasm, but also with a degree of amateurishness. And most importantly, this is the kind of film, which is just not my scene. I was so confused at so many places as to what this film is trying to be. The characters started to get mixed up in my head and after a while I completely lost interest in absolutely anything that was unfolding on my screen. I am sure there is a whole big section of people out here who are huge fans of this film, unfortunately, this is not the kind of genre that I particularly enjoy. (2/10)

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