I don't know how she did it, but Peggy Mount created a very likable loudmouth cockney char woman in this delightful movie expropriating the best of the Ealing tradition of clever farcical comedy. The 'ladies' are all excellent, but above all one finds oneself eager to rally behind the lead righteous cleaner with her fag dangling down, and piercing but remarkably accessible Estuary English delivered with the sonorous theatrical gusto of a music hall performer. She commands the sound stage with a wry eye towards the audience and as I say wins you over pretty instantly. The film presages Nine to Five by decades to present themes like female empowerment, (nice but) wicked property developers, insider dealing & short selling, insensitive government & town planning, potty socialism and hard hearted conservatism -- all making it quite relavent yet in the current age. The plot is far from complex but the movie just whisks along at a great pace pausing with enough time for the various ensemble actors to provide some fantastic performances along the way. The writing is excellent and takes care to make sure that even the bad characters are given enough to like them for, making this quite benign in nature, but with enough political, economic and cultural references to the 1960s in Britain to make this quite a fascinating film from an historical perspective as well.
Review of Ladies Who Do
