If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

good back-story, and good acting

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Very surprising that this has such a low IMDb rating. I suspect that has less to do with the quality of the film than with viewers prejudices and preconceptions.Based on Peter Nichols real life experiences it is It Ain't Half Hot Mum meets Virgin Soldiers, only much more nuanced than the one and more subversive than the other. Imagine an episode of IAHHM where Windsor Davies and Michael Knowles are running guns, Donald Hewlett has got religion, Melvyn Hayes is talented, Don Estelle has coupled up with Ken MacDonald, John Clegg is aggressively heterosexual, Stuart McGugan is a serial shagger, and Dino Shafeek is female and seduces Christopher Mitchell.The casting of Cleese as the uptight officer is problematic, and perhaps puts the tone off kilter, but he plays the role straight (other than the surreal and cathartic scene at the end where he joins the performers to launch into his silly walks).Patrick Pearson is effective as the young recruit, and Joe Melia, David Bamber, Bruce Payne and Simon Jones all hold their own (difficult to avoid double entendres with this review). Michael Elphick is also excellent as the tough sergeant while Nicola Pagett's Indian accent lapsing deliberately into Welsh resolves some of the criticism that might otherwise be levelled for playing blackface. The film though belongs to Dennis Quilley, the queen of the jungle.

The play - and screenplay - by Peter Nichols is primarily based on his own experiences of his life in an army entertainment troupe (Combined Services Entertainment) in Singapore and on the characters in the troupe with him.(In this troupe were also British Comedy legends-to be,Stanley Baxter and Kenneth Williams) He covers the poor conditions that the artistes had to entertain under,the poor performances given by sub-standard amateurs and how it was all led by an army man with no understanding or taste for 'theatricals'.In reading the negative reviews,the points most criticised are John Cleese's performance and the 'High Camp' element.In the original stage production,the Cleese role was played by Nigel Hawthorne and one would prefer to see him in the film as Cleese seems too close to his Basil Fawlty characterisation to really fit in with the rest of the ensemble.But he still turns in a good performance - most notably in his scenes with Elphick and Quilley.As for the 'High Camp' element,this is a story about an entertainments unit where army personnel had to don drag for their troop shows.Add to that any theatrical setting - whether it be amateur backstage dramatics or the Moulin Rouge - and the story will have by it's very nature theatrical/camp elements.These are part and parcel of the scenario and should be accepted and expected in such a storyline.The entire ensemble is perfectly cast.The performances are well observed and far from stereotypes.They are realistic and likable.When they are homesick,we feel it.When they are injured or killed,it is genuinely heartbreaking.Bruce Payne especially is tear-jerking as the handsome lad who can't wait to get home so he can finally make love to his girl but at the end is returning home in wheelchair and will never have sex again.The standout performance is unquestionably the late Denis Quilley as Terri Dennis (a character loosely based on the drag performer Barri Chatt).His performance,as the only professional 'aritiste' in the company is both funny and moving.Terri is the star of the shows and his scenes as Dietrich,Vera Lynn and Carmen Miranda are brilliantly comedic,as is most of Quilley's performance as the very camp fish out of water.But it is NOT a one-note performance and Terri's character also shows incredible depth,warmth,vulnerability,strength and perhaps the most well-rounded character as a whole.It is an award-worthy performance and a good one to be remembered for.So in a nutshell,this a comedy film that has effective dramatic moments because the acting is so flawless.It has an impressive and memorable star turn,but it still doesn't eclipse the rest of the excellent cast.It is entertaining,heart-warming and very human.And most of all,it deserves to be better known and more widely appreciated

This film might have proved funnier if the plot hadn't been ripped from "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum", which is about a gay song a dance troup in Malaya and their straight RSM. Trouble, It Ain't Half Hot was genuinely funny whereas POP can't decide whether it's British High Camp or a war film. (Of course, being High Camp, it will go straight over the heads of US audiences.)It succeeds as a camp comedy in the beginning but fails as as a war movie. Some of the editing is risible -- looks as if the editor got a new wipe effects machine for Christmas. John Cleese reprises his role as Basil Fawlty, now in the army; he even gives us his Funny Walk from Python. Sheesh. Unfortunately he is just not a patch on the great Windsor Davies in the identical role in It Ain't Half Hot. The troup of actors is great and there are many famous faces therein.Blooper: Although supposedly set in Singapore the actors are 'huffing' in several night scenes. Hmmm. Must have been cold at Pinewood those nights.Summary -- Can't make up its mind what it wants to be and falls between two stools. Starts well and finishes disagreeably. A time filler only/

A bad film. It can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a goofy comedy about flamboyantly gay showtune performers or a tragic and realistic war movie. Any attempts on its part to be both at the same time are unsuccessful, in my opinion.Big fans of John Cleese might be tempted to watch this movie thinking that Cleese is enjoyable to watch whatever he's in, but he really has nothing to work with in this material. He plays it very straight (in more ways than one) and the filmmakers don't even manage to squeak much humor out of this contrast with the other members of the performing troupe.Skip this film.