The Iron Petticoat
| The Iron Petticoat | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ralph Thomas |
| Produced by |
Betty E. Box executive Harry Saltzman (uncredited) |
| Written by | Ben Hecht |
| Starring |
Bob Hope Katharine Hepburn |
| Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
| Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
| Edited by | Frederick Wilson |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Independent Film Distributors (UK) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $509,000 |
| Box office | $1,385,000 |
The Iron Petticoat (aka Not for Money) is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn and directed by Ralph Thomas. The screenplay by Ben Hecht became the focus of a contentious history behind the production and led to the film's eventual suppression by Hope. Hecht had been part of the screenwriting team on a similar themed Comrade X (1940).
Hepburn plays a Soviet military pilot who lands in West Germany and, after sampling life in the West in the company of Hope's Major Chuck Lockwood, is converted to capitalism. Subplots involve Lockwood trying to marry a member of the British upper class and Communist agents trying to get Hepburn's character to return to the Soviet Union.
The main story borrows heavily from Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo, and very closely resembles Josef Von Sternberg's Jet Pilot with Janet Leigh as the Russian pilot and John Wayne as the US Air Force officer, which completed principal photography in 1950 but was not released until 1957, after The Iron Petticoat. The latter was also inspired by real life incidents of Cold War pilot defections.
Captain Vinka Kovelenko (Katharine Hepburn) lands a Russian jet in West German territory, to the surprise of US armed forces, who take her prisoner. She is neither on a mission nor defecting, however, just upset about a personal matter back home.
Capt. Chuck Lockwood (Bob Hope) is eager to leave for London and visit his wealthy fiancée Connie (Noelle Middleton). A superior officer named Tarbell (Alan Gifford) cancels his furlough, ordering Chuck to sell the Soviet aviatrix on everything that is good about America and convince her to permanently come over to their side. The colonel even dangles a $100,000 bonus if Lockwood succeeds.
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Wikipedia