Just before he died Dick Emery in a television interview lamented his forays into film were not successful, commercially and critically and it was now too late.
Emery died several months later. Ohh... You are Awful is now a rare chance to see Dick Emery's comic creations as his shows are so rarely repeated.
This is a saucy caper comedy with Emery playing chirpy con man Charlie Tully who is always on a swindle which includes persuading the son of a wealthy Italian family that marriage to Princess Anne is available at a price or a dowry.
With the aid of his womanising friend Ronald Fraser they swindled £500,000 out of the Italians who have hotfooted to the Mafia for revenge.
Charlie gets arrested at the Airport as he tries to sell a bulldog to some American tourists when he meets up with Fraser after his release from prison all he knows that Fraser deposited the money in a Swiss bank account before the Mafia henchmen knock Fraser off.
Charlie needs to track down some tattoos on some ladies Fraser has had in recent months which is actually on their rear and will tell Charlie the actual bank and account number. As he tries to track down the ladies he also falls foul of a local cockney gangster.
Emery gets to play his famous comedy characters such as Mandy and Lampwick during his quest.
For non Emery fans this would just be a dated British comedy with plenty of Carry On innuendo. Some of it really feels icky. Ronald Fraser looks revolting with all those poor tattoos supposedly with the names and phone numbers of his conquests.
Only in the mind of a desperate casting agent would Fraser ever be regarded as a ladies man. Derren Nesbitt who plays the cockney gangster would had been more suitable in that role.
Emery is having a hoot playing his comedy characters but really it is not funny enough despite a decent story.