The Lady's Not For Burning (1974. dir: Joseph Hardy) Filmed plays are problematic. Not only do they tend to feel static, the actors often haven't made that full jump to a cinema-friendly style. This one has those faults, plus the added hardship of a bicontinental cast (Brits and Yanks don't always play well in the same theatrical sandbox. Results are too often wildly unbalanced, if not in quality, then in style).
For about ten years, from the end of the thirties until the kitchen-sinkers stole all the theatrical thunder in the early fifties, verse drama made a gangbusters comeback with T.S. Eliot at the forefront of the poetical revolution. Christopher Fry was one of the most popular in his wake, and this was his grandest success. John Gielgud originated the lead, here played by Richard Chamberlain. Chamberlain and costar Eileen Atkins (and, in fact, McHattie in a secondary but delightful role) give lovely and strong performances, making most others in the cast look like high school kids in comparison. It's a tough play to do, a whimsical and melancholic comedy set in a peculiarly nonrealistic medieval village, but it's a charmer when it comes off right, and this production ultimately does. Hard to find and not recommended for the jaded, cynical, or anyone with a short span of attention.
MOVIE: 4 stars
MCHATTIE FACTOR: 5 stars
Roughnecks (1980. dir: Bernard McEveety) Dull, awful and overlong outing about oil-rig drillers. McHattie is young and gorgeous, still dolled-up in his James Dean charisma, but most of the acting here is bad (including performances by Vera Miles and Harry Morgan) and the production values are maybe one step up from a Walker, Texas Ranger episode.
MOVIE: 1 star
MCHATTIE FACTOR: 2 stars
James Dean: the Legend (1976. dir: Robert Butler) For a guy who looked like nobody else in the world, Dean has managed to inspire some dead-on performances, including this one by McHattie, who puts all his joy and elan into it. This is probably the centerpiece performance of McHattie's early TV years, a great success, far outweighing the mediocre screenplay that supports it. Bill Bast was a college roommate of Dean's and wrote one of the early memoirs about my-life-with-Jimmy, culminating in this TV movie. It's got some bad acting (by Brooke Adams and Michael Brandon, to name a few who ought to know better) but a few successful set-pieces that linger in your mind afterwards: Bast's reaction the night of the East of Eden premiere rings true, there's an interesting if melodramatic dream sequence at the outset, and there are lovely moments in which Dean reads from the Little Prince or takes Bast out for seedy adventures. A must-see for McHattie aficionados.
MOVIE: three stars
MCHATTIE FACTOR: five stars
POSTSCRIPT: Sorry if this one seems a little rushed. No doubt I'll seem distracted for the next few weeks until Euro 2008 is done. Who can get excited about movies when La Furia are playing their gorgeous, mercurial, and bewildering brand of football? If you like, follow along with us at a pretty move...
No comments:
Post a Comment