Rising Damp (1980) – Nostalgia Central

The incredibly successful television series (1974 – 1978) did not translate well into a feature film.

Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby, the sleazy owner of a run-down London boarding house, holds the film together admirably, but after a fast-moving, witty opening, the plot and dialogue soon become predictable and tedious.

Rigbsy still nurses an unfulfilled passion for his tenant, Miss Jones (Frances de la Tour reprising her role from the series).

The other long-suffering tenants are played by Don Warrington as black medical student Philip (also returning from the series) and Christopher Strauli as an art student named John, a new lodger brought in to share digs with Philip in replacement of the character of Alan, following Richard Beckinsale’s untimely death.

Producers Roy Skeggs and Joe McGrath resort to dream sequences, a bit of sex, and a few racist jokes, just to keep viewers amused – but none of those sequences really fit.

The film was obviously made on a shoestring budget. It is filmed almost entirely in three or four different interior sets with just four central characters and another 10 supporting players.

Denholm Elliot puts in an appearance to lend some weight to proceedings as a new tenant – a con man with an Old Etonian accent and a Battle of Britain air, who is determined to relieve Miss Jones of her Post Office Savings Book.

Rigsby
Leonard Rossiter
Miss Ruth Jones
Frances de la Tour
Philip Smith
Don Warrington
John
Christopher Strauli
Charles Seymour
Denholm Elliott
Sandra
Carrie Jones
Cooper
Glynn Edwards
Bert
John Cater
Alec
Derek Griffiths
Italian Waiter
Ronnie Brody

Director
Joe McGrath

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