Privates on Parade

Privates on Parade (1983)

Malaysia, 1947. Some fought. Some danced.

It is 1947, the year of the communist rebellion in Malaya and the British army's SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) are called to the Malayan Jungle to entertain the troops. The eccentric, bible-bashing Major Giles Flack (John Cleese) is in command of the unit. Flack is accompanied by an ageing, theatrical drama queen, Terri Dennis (Denis Quilley) who hopes to entertain the troops with his flamboyant impressions, but the bored troops find other ways to enjoy themselves.

Date of release
1983-03-18
TMDB
4.9 / 10 (22)
Runtime
1h 53m
Genres
Comedy, Drama, War, Music
Director
Michael Blakemore

Casting

Interesting facts

Privates on Parade is a 1983 British black comedy film directed by Michael Blakemore and starring John Cleese, Denis Quilley and Nicola Pagett. It was written by Peter Nichols adapted from his 1977 play of the same name about a fictional and mostly gay military entertainment group, the "Song and Dance Unit South East Asia (SADUSEA)" assembled to entertain the troops in the Malayan jungle during the Malayan Emergency.

Production

The original stage play debuted successfully in 1977. Film rights were bought by HandMade Films which financed the movie. According to Ray Cooper of HandMade, the film was a passion project of Denis O'Brien, who owned the company with George Harrison.

O'Brien wanted to star all members of Monty Python in the lead roles. They refused except for John Cleese, who agreed to play the part originated by Nigel Hawthorne on stage. Cleese said "Nichols has the gift for making audiences rolling in the aisles one second and hovering on the verge of tears the next."

The budget was originally reported being £1.5 million. Many people associated with the stage production were brought on to the film, including actors Denis Quilley, Joe Melia and Simon Jones, writer Peter Nichols and director Michael Blakemore.

Blakemore said the script made some key changes from the play (which he called "a series of music hall sketches") by "taking up one stray narrative thread that was just hanging there in the play." This was the plot about a sergeant major who was selling weapons to the communists. "The music sketches now make more sense," said Blakemore. "The tighter construct makes stronger the points that Peter wanted to make in the play.

Filming started May 1982. It was entirely shot in England, locations including Alderton Army base, and studio work done at Shepperton. Filming coincided with the Falklands War. Blakemore later said "we made what amounts to a war musical, including action sequences, in 11 weeks for less than £2 million."

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