Keep It Up Downstairs

1976 British film by Robert Young

  • 29 July 1976 (1976-07-29)
Running time
94 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

Keep It Up Downstairs (also known as Can You Keep It Up Downstairs? and My Favorite Butler), is a 1976 British period sex comedy film, directed by Robert Young and starring Diana Dors, Jack Wild and William Rushton.[1]

Plot

The film follows the adventures of the sex-crazed inhabitants of the bankrupt Cockshute Castle in 1904, and the attempts of Lord and Lady Cockshute to find a rich wife for their uninterested inventor son Peregrine.

Cast

  • Diana Dors as Daisy Dureneck
  • Jack Wild as Peregrine Cockshute
  • William Rushton as Snotty Shuttleworth
  • Aimi MacDonald as Christabelle St. Clair
  • Françoise Pascal as Mimi
  • Neil Hallett as Percy Hampton
  • Mark Singleton as Lord Cockshute
  • Julian Orchard as Bishop
  • Simon Brent as Rogers
  • Sue Longhurst as Lady Cockshute
  • John Blythe as Francis Dureneck
  • Carmen Silvera as Lady Bottomley
  • Seretta Wilson as Betsy-Ann Dureneck
  • Anthony Kenyon as Mellons
  • Olivia Munday as Lady Kitty Cockshute
  • April Olrich as Duchess
  • Sally Harrison as Maud
  • Mary Millington as Polly

Production

It was shot at Elstree Studios and on location at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. A version exists with hardcore inserts; these were shot with body doubles for the main stars.[2]

Music

The score was by Michael Nyman, his first for a commercially released film.

Critical response

Monthly Film Bulletin said "A joyless 'romp' that is soporifically heavy-handed with its phallic imagery and double meanings (endless references to "big ones" and "getting it off"), Keep It Up Downstairs bungles the tempting possibility of a ribald melange of Upstairs Downstairs and The Go-Between [1971] school of sensitive historical drama. The cast, required to bare breasts and buttocks at regular intervals, is able to make no headway against the inane script and consistently mistimed direction."[3]

References

  1. ^ "Keep It Up Downstairs". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  2. ^ Sheridan, Simon (2011). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. Titan Books Ltd
  3. ^ "Keep It Up Downstairs". Monthly Film Bulletin. 43 (504): 102. 1976 – via ProQuest.

External links

  • Keep It Up Downstairs at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Keep It Up Downstairs then-and-now location photographs at ReelStreets
  • Keep It Up Downstairs at BFI
  • Keep It Up Downstairs at Letterbox DVD
  • Keep It Up Downstairs at TCMDB
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Films directed by Robert Young


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