The Iron Petticoat (1956)

Captain Vinka Kovelenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman. Captain Chuck Lockwood gets the order to show her... See full summary »

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writer:

Ben Hecht (screenplay)

Stars:

Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, Noelle Middleton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Captain Vinka Kovelenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman. Captain Chuck Lockwood gets the order to show her the bright side of capitalism, while she tries to convince him of the superority of communism. Naturaly, they fall in love, but there's still the KGB, which doesn't like the idea of having a defected Russian officer running around in London.

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Plot Keywords:

russian | capitalism | female spy | kidnapping | barnstorming | 

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Taglines:

Bob and Kate...Simply Great

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Not for Money

Filming Locations:

Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hope Enterprises, London Film Productions, Remus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min 94 min (TCM print) (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was largely unavailable in the U.S. for more than fifty years. Bootleg versions existed throughout that time but the film was not released in American markets due to its box-office and critical failure. Turner Classic Movies broadcast the film on November 29th, 2012 and released it on Blu-ray/DVD less than a month later.

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Goofs

The enlisted men in the radar room at the beginning are wearing Army insignia of rank, not Air Force.

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Quotes

Vinka Kovelenko: It's too dangerous!
Major Chuck Lockwood: Marriage?
Vinka Kovelenko: Moscow! We're going to live in Indianapolis, Indiana!

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Connections

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000)

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Soundtracks

"The Knightsbridge March"
(uncredited)
Music by Eric Coates

User Reviews

For die-hard Hope or Hepburn fans only.

I was born too late to appreciate Bob Hope, since his talent showed mostly in presenting and stand-up. He has mostly left behind a less-than-stellar movie career, as evidenced by his highest rated movie (in IMDb) being The Muppet Movie, and even that's not nearly high enough to be in the Top 250. I enjoyed his Fancy Pants, but I have to say that was largely due to the presence of Lucille Ball.

I am, however, a mad fan of Katharine Hepburn and eagerly devour all of her movies. But great as she is, she still has some clunkers in her repertoire, and unfortunately this is one of them.

Egads, the Russian accent. I think that once she realized how bad it sounded (not for lack of trying), she just went all out to ham up the performance. There's chemistry between the two legends that are Hepburn and Hope, but the script lets them down, and the lines mostly fall flat. It doesn't even venture into camp, in which the movie's worth a watch just because you want to see Hepburn play Chinese (Dragon Seed) or a mountain girl (Spitfire). I would pretty much only recommend this for die-hard Hope or Hepburn enthusiasts (like me).