Auntie

Year releasted: 1973

by Nathan Rabin
September 20th, 2000

Like colonialism, bad teeth, and terrible food, comical cross-dressing is a beloved British institution, a cherished tradition that has helped the nation survive world wars, the loss of an empire, and the popularity of both Mr. Blobby and gold-toothed comedian Ali G. In 1973, Auntie (originally titled Keep It Up, Jack) proudly continued England's humorous-transvestite heritage, casting Mark Jones as a London-based "man of a thousand faces." In one night, Jones suffers twin indignities when he catches his fiancée in a compromising position with a man in a clown suit and is fired from his one-man show of Oliver Twist. His situation begins to improve, however, after his aunt dies in a car crash, leaving him her upscale brothel. Exploring his new home for the first time, Jones stumbles upon pneumatic blonde Sue Longhurst masturbating on a red-satin waterbed. After being properly introduced to the future star of such films as Teenage Tickle Girls and Confessions Of A Window Cleaner, Jones learns that Longhurst doesn't know his aunt has died. He decides to impersonate her, a process made easier by his aunt's strong resemblance to an ugly man in drag. After a pseudo-lesbian tryst with Longhurst--who conveniently mistakes Jones' genitalia for a remarkably life-like simulation--Jones meets his sex-crazy, uniformly bisexual, oft-topless new "girls," who include a helium-voiced, childlike vixen who arrives at the brothel toting an enormous pink teddy bear and services her clients in a giant crib. Putting his questionable gifts of mimicry to good use, Jones dons a variety of vaguely offensive disguises--a Japanese gentleman, a bullfighter, and an Arab sheik--to get closer to a neophyte prostitute (Maggi Burton) to whom he has taken a shine. Burton and Jones eventually develop the sort of deep, abiding love that can only be shared by a moralistic, transvestite pseudo-madam and a frequently nude orgy enthusiast. Eventually, Jones gives up his brothel, secure that he's fully earned his place in Great Britain's distinguished pantheon of raunchy, cross-dressing comic actors.