Very Important Person (U.S. title: A Coming Out Party[1]) is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and written by Jack Davies and Henry Blyth.

His excellent command of German causes him to be suspected of being a spy, but when his real identity becomes known to Group Captain Travers, the senior British officer, he informs the men in his hut of his importance and that his escape is a top priority.

When the Germans eventually assume he has succeeded in getting away and lose interest, he will walk out of the camp, disguised as one of three visiting Swiss Red Cross observers, along with Cooper and Baines (which has echoes of a real Second World War escape from Spangenberg by RAF officers Dominic Bruce, the "Medium Sized Man" of Colditz fame; Pete Tunstall; and "Useless" Eustace Newborn, who escaped dressed as Swiss Red Cross doctors[citation needed]).

Returning to the television programme, Pease is reunited with Baines, now a leading designer of ladies' foundation garments; Cooper, a missionary in India; Everett, a West London undertaker; and Stampfel, who has become a popular entertainment manager at a British holiday camp.

[5] The film had its world premiere on 20 April 1961 at the Leicester Square Theatre in London's West End and went on general release in late May on Rank's second string National circuit.

[citation needed] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The comedy doesn't quite dare to satirise the sacrosanct schoolboy heroics of the typical British P.O.W.

A cod "This Is Your Life" programme, which precedes the flashback story and casts Godfrey Winn as a nervous chairman with James Robertson Justice (Pease) as the bad-tempered victim, is funny enough to survive the lukewarm treatment.

"[6] The New York Times described the film as "trifling, even as modest British comedies go," and "burdened, rather than helped, by the presence of James Robertson Justice in a ponderous role," though Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter were found to be "particularly droll.

"[1] The Radio Times noted a "winning comedy" with "witty script", "polished playing" – "Stanley Baxter gives one of his best film performances" – and "deft comic support from Leslie Phillips, Eric Sykes and the deliciously deadpan Richard Wattis.