The Naked Truth

Directed by Mario Zampi (1957) **1/2

The first of four films Peter Sellers made with the very different but equally funny comedian Terry-Thomas, The Naked Truth captures Sellers just before his breakthroughs as a major feature film star. As with Sellers’ earlier The Ladykillers, The Naked Truth is a wickedly morbid comedy. It begins with several public figures trying — and some succeeding — to commit suicide. These events are preceded by visits from a tall man dressed in black. The figure isn’t the personage of death but Nigel Dennis (Dennis Price), a blackmailer looking for victims to exploit in his scandal magazine, The Naked Truth: Pay up or your worst secrets will be published for all to read.

Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this. ~Peter SellersThe lives of Dennis’s next four victims become intertwined over time: insurance executive Lord Henry Mayley (Terry-Thomas), a pompous goof with a rambunctious past and a very suspicious wife, Lucy (Georgina Cookson); popular and inane TV host Sonny MacGregor (Sellers); model Melissa Right (Shirley Eaton); and mystery author Flora Ransom (Peggy Mount), who’s especially concerned that her past not be revealed as she’s soon to marry a Reverend (Miles Malleson) — and whose past indicates her knowledge of murder may be more than secondhand.

Already honed in his previous films and on the concurrent radio show, [h3]The Goon Show, Sellers’ abilities for mimicry and parody are judiciously used here. When he arrives at the conclusion that murdering Dennis would be a better solution than paying his demands, MacGregor takes on several disguises to thwart the blackmailer, including a policeman, a country squire, an Irishman and a grimy old dock inspector.

The Naked Truth‘s scenarios are delightfully strengthened by Joan Sims as Flora Ransom’s very nervous daughter and partner-in-crime, and Lucy’s spiraling suspicions of Lord Henry’s ever more odd behavior when he sneaks home at night after his murder attempts (frequently drenched in water).

Screenwriter Michael Pertwee had a long career writing for film and television, but The Naked Truth isn’t his strongest hour. The script and its pace don’t allow Mario Zampi’s directing or the actors much room for improvisation (and when using talent of this caliber, it’s essential to allow them to roam free). While consistently amusing, the film rarely, if ever, becomes laugh-out-loud funny. The group’s amateurish attempts to murder Dennis, becoming ever more elaborate and destined to failure, are entertaining enough if your expectations of the film are tempered. The story’s conclusion is also a bit of a let-down, as it starts as too rushed and then descends into contrived silliness in its last shot.

The Naked Truth is newly released on VCI DVD in its original British incarnation. It was originally released in the U.S. as Your Past Is Showing.

—Michael R. Neno, 2021 Apr 11