1980, Guy Hamilton, 105 mins, TV, PG
A star-studded cast and the director of Battle of Britain, Goldfinger and three other Bond films can't raise this adaptation of an Agatha Christie Miss Marple mystery far above the level of an '80s TV movie.
There are some good lines, and it's a Christie so obviously the fundamental story is good, but the direction is flat and lacks suspense, half the cast phone in their performances, and Angela Lansbury, lumbered with a sprained ankle and premature aging, seems to be in a dry run for Murder, She Wrote. The lack of involvement by the main character is something I always find problematic with Marple stories, even when the actress involved has the necessary twinkle. Edward Fox is her match as the detective who actually does most of the detecting for once (but is still robbed of the final revelation, of course).
The best bit, which I'll just take a moment to highlight, is the opening. It's a black & white murder mystery, the scene of the final revelation... and the print burns up just before the killer is revealed. The film cuts to a village hall, where the film was being screened and the projector's just died. Miss Marple proceeds to explain what will happen to everyone, based on what she's deduced from the film so far. A man at the back who's seen it confirms she's right. Much better than this summary makes it sound, this is bar the film's highlight, one of the few whole scenes that rises above the pervading flaws.
Despite a few commendable elements, this is a good tale that's not told as well as it could be.
2/5
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
4) Churchill: The Hollywood Years
2004, Peter Richardson, 84 mins, TV, 15
What if the Americans made a movie of Winston Churchill's life, prone as they are to re-write World War 2 history to show they won it all by themselves? This is ostensibly the premise of this spoof from some of the team behind Channel 4's The Comic Strip. I say ostensibly, because the film is bookended (for padding, I suspect) with scenes that suggest that the real Churchill was an American GI, and the British simply re-wrote history using a somewhat chubby actor called Roy Bubbles. Sadly, the joke was funnier when it was riffing on those US historical re-writes.
The problem with killing that joke is, it's the best one the film's got. It's also just about suitable for a five-minute comedy sketch, or, at a stretch, a series of sketches. The strategy for drawing this out to movie-length seems to have involved those bookends, as well as bunging some outtakes at the end and including a bunch of ridiculous, irritating, and unfunny subplots with Hitler and his entourage. It's a shame to see the talents of actors such as Antony Sher and Miranda Richardson frittered away on such material.
This is all being a tad harsh, because Churchill actually has its fair share of amusing moments. The supporting cast of British TV comedians are mostly very good, Neve Campbell's posh English accent (usually such a stumbling block for Americans-as-Brits) is as good as anything a British actress could have delivered, and Christian Slater and Romany Malco make for a likable pairing. But, again, most of the best bits are of sketch length, and so wind up spread out among the padding. In that respect it's quite a shame, because there's a good idea, good potential, and some good laughs in here.
2/5
What if the Americans made a movie of Winston Churchill's life, prone as they are to re-write World War 2 history to show they won it all by themselves? This is ostensibly the premise of this spoof from some of the team behind Channel 4's The Comic Strip. I say ostensibly, because the film is bookended (for padding, I suspect) with scenes that suggest that the real Churchill was an American GI, and the British simply re-wrote history using a somewhat chubby actor called Roy Bubbles. Sadly, the joke was funnier when it was riffing on those US historical re-writes.
The problem with killing that joke is, it's the best one the film's got. It's also just about suitable for a five-minute comedy sketch, or, at a stretch, a series of sketches. The strategy for drawing this out to movie-length seems to have involved those bookends, as well as bunging some outtakes at the end and including a bunch of ridiculous, irritating, and unfunny subplots with Hitler and his entourage. It's a shame to see the talents of actors such as Antony Sher and Miranda Richardson frittered away on such material.
This is all being a tad harsh, because Churchill actually has its fair share of amusing moments. The supporting cast of British TV comedians are mostly very good, Neve Campbell's posh English accent (usually such a stumbling block for Americans-as-Brits) is as good as anything a British actress could have delivered, and Christian Slater and Romany Malco make for a likable pairing. But, again, most of the best bits are of sketch length, and so wind up spread out among the padding. In that respect it's quite a shame, because there's a good idea, good potential, and some good laughs in here.
2/5
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