The Iron Petticoat

The Iron Petticoat is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn and directed by Ralph Thomas. Hepburn plays a Russian aviatrix who lands in West Germany and is quickly converted to capitalism after sampling life in the West in the company of Major Chuck Lockwood (Hope). Subplots involve Lockwood trying to marry Connie (Noelle Middleton), a member of the British upper class, and Communist agents trying to get Kovelenko to return to the U.S.S.R.

The film was heavily influenced by the popular 1939 comedy Ninotchka.

Plot

Captain Vinka Kovelenko lands a Russian jet in West German territory, to the surprise of U.S. armed forces who take her prisoner. She is neither on a mission nor defecting, however, just upset about a personal matter back home. A high-ranking American officer named Tarbell cancels the furlough of Captain Chuck Lockwood, who is eager to leave for London and visit his wealthy fiancee Connie. The colonel wants Chuck to sell the Soviet aviatrix on everything that's good about America and permanently come over to their side. He even dangles a $100,000 bonus if she does.

Vinka is pursued by her former lover, Ivan, an engineer. She shows no interest in Chuck and is just as determined to sell him on Russian virtues as he is on influencing her. He describes her as cold and unappealing, but when Connie makes a surprise visit, Vinka strolls into Chuck's room wearing little else but a pajama top and her military medals. Connie is getting increasingly angry with Chuck, more so when she finds out that he isn't as well-off financially as he has pretended to be.

Vinka begins to dress more and more in an enticing manner. One night at a Russian restaurant, comrades come to kidnap her. A sleeping potion meant for Chuck ends up in Tarbell's drink instead. Connie is mistaken for Vinka in a cloak room and taken captive. In time, the Russians misunderstand Vinka's intentions and charge her with treason. Chuck leads a daring escape in the air and they end up falling in love. Money doesn't matter as much to Vinka as it did to Connie, but, just the same, she takes the $100,000.

Production

The original story Not for Money was written by Ben Hecht with Hepburn in mind to play the female lead. The main story borrows heavily from Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo, and Josef Von Sternberg's Jet Pilot with Janet Leigh as the Russian pilot and John Wayne as the U.S. Air Force officer. It is based on real life inicidents of Cold War pilot defections.

When Hope had concerns that Hecht's script was unfinished, he turned the script over to his own writers to tailor it to his style (as was his usual practice).^[1] Many of Hepburn's best scenes were cut, and the title was changed from Not For Money. Hope played his role (that was first offered to Cary Grant) in the manner of a handsome leading man rather than his usual wise cracking coward.

As Hecht later told Mike Wallace, "the movie was written for a lady, Miss Katharine Hepburn, and ended up instead as a role for the hero, Mr. Bob Hope, Miss Hepburn was removed from it by fifty percent. I got irritated and took my name off it -– it had nothing to do with the movie I wrote."^[2] Hecht printed an open letter in the film trade journals disclaiming the picture and offering Hepburn and her fans an apology. Hope replied with an open letter apologising that Hecht had a hit on his hands and hoped they would keep up corresponding in public. The film's credits ended up saying it was "Based on an Original Story by Harry Saltzman." Saltzman often joked that his first motion picture production was the only Bob Hope film that failed at the box office.

References

External links

• The Iron Petticoat at the Internet Movie Database