Foreign Body

Synopsis: A comedy which manages to be both unfunny and offensive. Victor Banerjee stars as Indian immigrant Ram Das, who gets a job as a bus conductor in England until he is convinced by his cousin (Warren Mitchell, complete with blacked-up face) to pose as a private doctor. Despite an impressive best-of-British cast (including Geraldine McEwan, Denis Quilley, Anna Massey and Trevor Howard) this is fumbled at every turn and comes across as one of those bad, mid-1970s comedies.

Blame can be attached to scriptwriter Celine La Frenière for watching far too many episodes of Mind Your Language, and to an out-of-his-depth Banerjee, but one wonders why director Ronald Neame (best known for The Poseidon Adventure and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) ever signed on for this one.

Cast: Victor Banerjee, Warren Mitchell, Denis Quilley, Amanda Donohoe.
Runtime: 111 min