I love the paradoxical way British comedy can build an outrageous farce upon understatement. The Naked Truth is a great example of that. At first the laughs come out of nuances of character and behavior, but, almost before we realize it, outward chaos has erupted, and the world goes mad.

The set-up to the proceedings is deceptively simple: a blackmailer makes his rounds, threatening important (or at least self-important) people in turn. They plead and panic, but their desperation leads them to take matters in their own hands. The trouble is, they refuse to work together, and their various elaborate plans of retribution run afoul of each other in hilarious ways.

Among the cast are such luminaries of British comedy as Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Joan Sims, and Shirley Eaton.