The Iron Petticoat (1956)

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writer:

Ben Hecht (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 January 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Bob and Kate...Simply Great

Plot:

Captain Vinka Kovelenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman...

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Capitalism | American | Aviatrix | Army

Cast

Bob Hope	...	Major Charles "Chuck" Lockwood
Katharine Hepburn	...	Captain Vinka Kovelenko
Noelle Middleton	...	Lady Connie Warburton-Watts
James Robertson Justice	...	Colonel Sklarnoff
Robert Helpmann	...	Ivan Kropotkin
David Kossoff	...	Dr. Anton Dubratz
Alan Gifford	...	Colonel Newt Tarbell
Nicholas Phipps	...	Tony Mallard
Paul Carpenter	...	Major Lewis
Sid James	...	Paul (as Sidney James)
Alexander Gauge	...	Senator Howley
Sandra Dorne	...	Tityana
Richard Wattis	...	Lingerie Clerk
Tutte Lemkow	...	Sutsiyawa
Olaf Pooley

Also Known As:

Not for Money

Runtime:

87 min | UK:106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U | Italy:T | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company:

London Film Productions

Quotes:

[Chuck tells Vinka how he plans to talk Colonel Tarbell into letting Vinka go to London]
Vinka Kovelenko: Do you think the Colonel would be fooled by such a ridiculous statement?
Major Chuck Lockwood: If he'll eat Army food, he'll swallow anything!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000) (V)

Odd Cold War comedy buoyed by its stars

This movie is by no means one of the classics in any sense: it's entertaining, occasionally LOL-funny, but nothing spectacular. Bob Hope plays Chuck Norwood, an English captain eager to marry into the British upper class; Kate Hepburn plays Vinka Kovelenko, a tough-as-nails Russian flying ace who defects because she feels discriminated against in Communist Russia.

What's odd, and possibly most positive, about this Cold War comedy (written and produced at the height of tensions between the US and the USSR) is that there is no moralising or preaching. No propaganda. In the end, it's simply a romantic comedy about opposites attracting.

And such opposites! Hepburn is great as Vinka--her trademark energy barely reined in, her Russian accent a little OTT but passable. Watch for the moment when she sits on a cushion in front of Chuck--she gives her one unguarded smile in the film, and it becomes obvious why Chuck (and everyone else) falls in love with her so quickly. Hope was on fine wisecracking form, although this is marred by the fact that he tried to dominate the movie from behind the scenes, bringing in his own team of joke-writers to increase his own footage. (Hepburn kept quiet as her role shrank proportionately, the most comedic scenes apparently landing on the cutting room floor--ever the professional.)

Bizarre, but interesting if you want to see Hepburn speaking in a Russian accent and examining a pushup bra with a look of utmost disdain on her face.