Lock Up Your Daughters (1969 film)

Lock Up Your Daughters! is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Peter Coe and starring Christopher Plummer, Susannah York and Glynis Johns. It is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical of the same name set in 18th-century Britain, which in turn is based on the 1730 comedy, Rape upon Rape, by Henry Fielding It lacks all the songs from the original stage production. It was one of a number of British costume films released in the wake of the success of the Tom Jones (1963).

Plot
A bawdy yarn concerning three sex-starved sailors on leave and on the rampage in a British town.

Production
The musical ran for four years in England but never had a major production in the US. It had a run at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1967.

It was Christopher Plummer's first musical since The Sound of Music (1959). Filming started in Ireland in March 1968.

Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A lively cast, impeccable production values (notably Peter Suschitzky's camerawork and Alan Barrett's costumes) and confident direction contribute to an entertainment in the tradition of Tom Jones, with the raffish Restoration world of rakes and doxies, beggars and rogues, social-climbing tradesmen and deceitful ladies, depicted with bawdy zest. ... Susannah York is excellent as the tomboyish Hilaret, while Jan Bannen, Tom Bell and Jim Dale provide clearly contrasted portraits of masculine frustration. But it is the riper roles which provide the best opportunities: Christopher Plummer as the ineffable Foppington, all towering wigs, ribbons and painted Cupid's bows; Fenella Fielding as Lady Eager, whimpering scarcely audible cries for help when about to be boarded in her bedroom; Fred Emney as a chairborne nobleman whose insolent demand for right of way provokes a magnificent battle with wet codfish."

In his review in The New York Times, Roger Greenspun wrote: "...a three-strand plot that has been so smothered in atmosphere, activity and authenticity that even the great traditions of theatrical untruth cannot breathe life into it. The production values of Lock Up Your Daughters! are ambitious enough to fill three movies, but they are not sufficient to substitute for one."