The Iron Petticoat (also known as Not for Money) is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, and directed by Ralph Thomas. The screenplay by Ben Hecht became the focus of a contentious history behind the production, and led to the film's eventual suppression by Hope. Hecht had been part of the screenwriting team on the similarly themed Comrade X (1940).
Hepburn plays a Soviet military pilot who lands in West Germany and, after sampling life in the West in the company of Hope's Major Chuck Lockwood, is converted to capitalism. Subplots involve Lockwood trying to marry a member of the British upper class and communist agents trying to coerce Hepburn's character to return to the Soviet Union.
The main story borrows heavily from Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo, and very closely resembles Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot with Janet Leigh as the Russian pilot and John Wayne as the US Air Force officer. Jet Pilot, inspired by real-life Cold War pilot defections, completed principal photography in 1950 but was not released until 1957, after The Iron Petticoat.
Plot
Captain Vinka Kovalenko (Katharine Hepburn) lands a Soviet Air Force jet in West German territory, to the surprise of the United States Armed Forces, who take her prisoner. However, she is neither on a mission nor defecting, just upset about a personal matter back home.
Capt. Chuck Lockwood (Bob Hope) is eager to leave for London and visit his wealthy fiancée Connie (Noelle Middleton). A superior officer named Tarbell (Alan Gifford) cancels his furlough, ordering Chuck to sell the Soviet aviatrix on everything good about America and convince her to permanently come over to their side. The colonel even dangles a $100,000 bonus check made out to Vinka to be given if Lockwood succeeds.
Vinka is pursued by her former lover, engineer Ivan (Robert Helpmann). She shows no interest in Chuck, and is just as determined to sell him on Russian virtues as he is on influencing her. He describes her as cold and unappealing, but when Connie makes a surprise visit, Vinka strolls into Chuck's room wearing little else but a pajama top and her military medals. Connie becomes increasingly angry, more so when she finds out that Chuck is not as well-off financially as he has pretended to be.
Vinka begins to dress in an increasingly enticing manner. One night, at a Russian restaurant, comrades come to kidnap her. A sleeping potion meant for Chuck ends up in Tarbell's drink instead. Connie is also mistaken for Vinka in a cloakroom and taken captive.
The Russians misunderstand Vinka's intentions and charge her with treason. Chuck leads a daring aerial escape, and they end up falling in love. Money does not matter as much to Vinka as it does to Connie. As she and Lockwood are leaving for America, a Russian agent runs up, offering her the $100,000 check. She declines, but Lockwood grabs it.
Cast
Bob Hope as Capt. Chuck Lockwood
Katharine Hepburn as Capt. Vinka Kovalenko
Noelle Middleton as Connie
James Robertson Justice as Col. Sklarnoff
Robert Helpmann as Ivan Kropotkin
David Kossoff as Dubratz
Alan Gifford as Col. Newt Tarbell
Olaf Pooley as Maj, Osip Feodor Ganovich
Nicholas Phipps as Tony Mallard
Paul Carpenter as Maj. Lewis
Tutte Lemkow as Sutsiyawa
Sid James as Paul
Alexander Gauge as Senator Howley
Sandra Dorne as Tityana
Richard Wattis as Lingerie Clerk
Doris Goddard as Maria
Production
Development
The original screenplay, Not for Money, was written by Ben Hecht from a story by producer Harry Saltzman. The two men formed a company called Benhar to produce the film. Hecht wrote the film specifically as a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn.
Hepburn was pleased with the original script and personally selected Ralph Thomas as the director because she liked his film Doctor in the House (1954). She contacted Thomas and Doctor in the House producer Betty E. Box while they were making Doctor at Sea, and they agreed to take part. "I had no idea what dramas were to descend on us as a result of that call," Box later wrote.
"We accepted the job because Miss Hepburn agreed to do it, and because we liked the Ben Hecht script," said Thomas. Box and Thomas were under contract to the Rank film organization, but were allowed to make outside films. "They [Rank] turned very sour," wrote Box. "But we stuck to our guns – we wanted to work with Hepburn, on top of which we were to be paid much larger fees than those guaranteed under our Rank deal."