{{Short description|1956 British film by David Paltenghi}} {{For|the ''Australian Playhouse'' episode|Keep It Clean (Australian Playhouse)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Keep It Clean | image = "Keep It Clean" (1956).jpg | caption = Original British trade ad | director = [[David Paltenghi]] | producer = [[Maxwell Setton]]<br />[[John R. Sloan]] | screenplay = Carl Nystrom<br />[[R. F. Delderfield]] | based_on = | starring = [[Ronald Shiner]]<br>[[Joan Sims]] | music = [[Edmund Crispin|Bruce Montgomery]] | cinematography = [[Wilkie Cooper]]<br />Bernard Lewis (camera operator) | editing = John Pomeroy | studio = A Setton-Sloan Production | distributor = [[Eros Films]] (UK) | released = {{Film date|1956|5|1|UK|df=y}} | runtime = 75 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | gross = }} '''''Keep It Clean''''' is a 1956 British [[black-and-white]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[David Paltenghi]] and starring [[Ronald Shiner]] and [[Joan Sims]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Keep It Clean |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150029620 |access-date=24 November 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay was by Carl Nystrom and [[R. F. Delderfield]].

==Plot== Advertising agent Bert Lane plans to market his brother-in-law Peter's new miracle cleaning machine. However, Bert's boss Mr. Bouncenboy wants him to advertise Mrs Anstey's famous crumpets, but Bert's cheesecake advertising slogans incur the wrath of Mrs Anstey and her Purity League, as well as that of his boss.

==Cast== {{div col}} * [[Ronald Shiner]] as Bert Lane * [[James Hayter (actor)|James Hayter]] as Mr. Bouncenboy * [[Diane Hart]] as Kitty * [[Ursula Howells]] as Pat Anstey * [[Jean Cadell]] as Mrs. Anstey * [[Colin Gordon]] as Peter * [[Benny Lee]] as Tarbottom * [[Joan Sims]] as Violet Tarbottom * [[Denis Shaw]] as Slogger O'Reilly * [[Tonia Bern]] as Colette Dare * [[Gerald Campion]] as Rasher * [[Mark Daly (actor)|Mark Daly]] as Stage Door keeper * [[Albert Whelan]] as Gregson * Violet Gould as Lady Pecksniff * Bert Brownbill as George Buxton * [[Tony Sympson]] as Little Tailor * Pauline Winter as Bridget * Lillemor Knudsen as Audrey * [[Henry Longhurst (actor)|Henry Longhurst]] as magistrate * [[Roger Maxwell (actor)|Roger Maxwell]] as General Ponsenby-Goreham * [[Arthur Goullet]] as loan service official * [[Norman Rossington]] as Arthur, the bearded ad artist * Humphrey Kent as Pat's escort * John Wadham as loan service driver * Harry Purvis as Charlie * Richard George as Police Constable * [[Frank Forsyth]] as Inspector at Court * [[Howard Lang]] as Police Sergeant * Robert Moore as theatre attendant * The Kelroys as acrobats * Maya Koumani as showgirl * Yvonne Burke as showgirl * Lynn Shaw (Jacqueline Jones) as showgirl * Christina Lubicz as chorus girl * [[Anne Lynn]] as chorus girl * Yvonne Olena as chorus girl * Pat Spencer as chorus girl * Thais Jobbling as chorus girl * Glynne Raymond as chorus girl * Eve Kenney as chorus girl * Diana Satow as chorus girl {{div col end}}

==Reception==

=== Box office === The film was a commercial disappointment.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harper|first1=Sue|last2=Porter|first2=Vincent|year=2003|title=British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UyYTDAAAQBAJ&q=vincent+porter+sue+harper&pg=PA386|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=178–180|isbn=978-0-19-815934-6}}</ref>

==== Critical ==== ''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' said "A dispiritingly unfunny farce, which lacks surprise in its story, timing in its slapstick and humorous appeal in its players. Several competent performers are embarrassingly and unhappily involved in the affair."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1956 |title=Keep It Clean |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305816530 |journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=77 |id={{ProQuest|1305816530}}}}</ref>

''[[Kine Weekly]]'' said "The picture takes a crack at Mrs. Grundy, a henpecked window cleaner, members of the aristocracy and non-stop striptease variety shows, but does not always hit its mark. What's more, some of its quips are crude, but by and large the fun is reasonably clean, if not clever. Ronald Shiner, who always enjoys his own jokes, never lets up as Bert, Jean Cadell is shrewdly cast as the austere Mrs. Anstey, and the others make eager stooges."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=3 May 1956 |title=Keep It Clean |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2676991435 |journal=[[Kine Weekly]] |volume=469 |issue=2542 |pages=99 |id={{ProQuest|2676991435}}}}</ref>

''[[Picturegoer]]'' wrote: "It's a pity to see such a first-rate comic as Ronald Shiner running riot over a puny comedy that at best has the makings only of a rowdy music-hall sketch. ... Shiner and James Hayter ham it up outrageously. No bewhiskered gags or comedy characters are spared. If there's a bucket of water around someone is sure to fall into it.&nbsp;... There are lodgers, window cleaners, striptease girls, old lady firebrands, impoverished aristocrats . . . the lot."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 June 1956 |title=Keep It Clean |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1771137332 |journal=[[Picturegoer]] |volume=31 |issue= |pages=16 |id={{ProQuest|1771137332}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''[[Picture Show (magazine)|Picture Show]]'' called the film "Lively slapstick comedy."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=26 May 1956 |title=Keep It Clean |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1879635902 |journal=[[Picture Show (magazine)|Picture Show]] |volume=66 |issue=1730 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|1879635902}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' [[David Quinlan (film critic)|David Quinlan]] rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Shiner floundering outside auspices of big studios, time-honoured slapstick situations litter unfunny comedy."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=[[Batsford Books|B.T. Batsford Ltd.]] |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=332}}</ref>

==References== <references/>

== External links == * {{IMDb title|0049400|Keep It Clean}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Keep It Clean}}

[[Category:1956 comedy films]] [[Category:1956 British films]] [[Category:1956 English-language films]] [[Category:British black-and-white films]] [[Category:British comedy films]] [[Category:Eros Films films]] [[Category:Films directed by David Paltenghi]] [[Category:English-language comedy films]]

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