Ooh, You Are Awful (1972, UK)
Dick Emery was an entertainer and drag actor in the music hall tradition, and had a long run on British television during which he developed some female characters with very definite personalities. A recurring sketch was one in which he plays a more or less naive but brassy woman; a man makes an innocent remark capable of misinterpretation; s/he then thinks about it for a moment, and pushes the man playfully and says, "Ooh, you are awful ..."
The opening sequence of the film replays exactly that, done as a sketch. (From the very poor recording quality, I think this might be a reprise of a sequence originally broadcast on television.)
The body of the film is a thinly constructed tale of petty criminality, in which Emery's character has to pretend to be women for disguise. Here, looking at his least feminine, he has collected some ashes from a funeral director.
He joins the police as a woman as part of the subterfuge. But the physical training session in the gym is rather stressful. (When he jumps a vaulting horse he lands heavily on his genitalia, in an all-female setting.)
Towards the end of the film he is travelling from London to Southampton Docks, in a Ladies-only compartment on the train. But the gangsters have thought of that ruse, and have dressed accordingly.
The film was also released as Get Charlie Tully.
HF 2000
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Ooh, You Are Awful
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