Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs
There were 43 curtain calls lasting 40 minutes at the premiere in 1965 of Kenneth Macmillan’s spirited, highly dramatic and deeply moving version.
Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn were the star-cross’d lovers.
He was a very boyish 26, a dazzling star turn, and she was 46, proof that by the time you are ready to play Juliet you are old enough to play the nurse. The sumptuous costumes and set were by Nicholas Giordias.
The film is absolutely essential viewing for anybody interested in the history of ballet. (Not known at the time was that Macmillan had created the roles specially for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable and they, all three of them, felt “their ballet” had been hijacked).
The perfect robbery is foiled by a sweet little old lady in lavender (played by 87-year-old Katie Johnson) who lives in a quaint lopsided house full of bric-a-brac, which the amateur crooks have made their headquarters, whilst masquerading as a string quartet.
The mastermind is played by Alec Guinness who, with his lank hair, protruding teeth and wild eyes, looks like Kenneth Tynan and sounds like Alistair Sim. The casting is perfect. His gang includes Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Danny Green and Peter Sellers, who all get the chop one by one. The tea scene with the little old ladies is one of many delights.
The script describes his relationship with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her 11-year-old son (Milo Parker). This spoof of Conan Doyle is original, subtle and intriguing; possibly too subtle for popular audiences.
Who is your favourite Sherlock Holmes? William Gillette was the first actor to create him. Who is the definitive Holmes? It must, surely, be either Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett, mustn’t it? It can’t be Robert Downey Jr or Benedict Cumberbatch, can it? Ian McKellen is certainly the oldest.
A noted banker decides to die and be reborn. John Randolph transforms into Rock Hudson (amazing what plastic surgery can do!) and wakes to find he is a painter and partying and having an orgy with other reborns.
The film’s long opening sequence right up to the operation is the best. There are excellent performances by Will Geer and Jeff Corey as the oddballs who run the reborn organisation and by Wesley Addy as the minder.
The action is set in 1457 and there is a lot of artificial fighting and a lot of bad acting to match. The good guy (Chin Shi) is a swordsman with noble looks. The bad guy is an emperor eunuch (Pai Ying), who may not have you-know-what but he fights as if he has.
You can buy any of these DVDs by following the links below:
