I have been following the promos for this Noel Coward story and frankly I couldn’t wait for it to open. What a disappointment! Worse than that. It was terrible. I usually love period pieces. I love to view the old English mansions with the vast grounds. The clothes and the large extravagant rooms are fascinating. Noel Coward was a good author. So what went wrong? My friend Elaine and I disliked it from the very beginning. I had to step on her foot to keep her from leaving. She wanted out. We had quite a laugh when we left the theatre and two lovely senior ladies said,” Wasn’t that marvelous?” We spared them our views and just smiled. In spite of it being so bad we did spend the next few hours over dinner discussing the film and trying to understand why we didn’t like it.
The film was meant to be a farce and therefore it should have been funny. I just felt the characters were foolish and their portrayal became boring. I blame the director. There were several silly scenes. We did get a laugh when two of the characters were dancing the Can Can at a big party and it was revealed one dancer was not wearing underpants.
John is the son of a family living in a grand manse in the English countryside. John has just married the beautiful American widow. John is bringing her home to meet the family. She is totally different from the English in-laws. She is a racing car driver and a free thinker. She believes in talking with the kitchen help and smoking. This beautiful, well dressed free spirited lady just didn’t fit in. The only good part of the film was appreciating her magnificent body in those great clothes.
The mother was stodgy and snooty and always sticking to her English traditions. She is in an unhappy marriage. Her quite handsome husband came home from the war and just didn’t relate anymore to the silly way of life. He was happiest in his garage working on his motorcycle. Both daughters are pathetic.
The new bride doesn’t fit in at all. She does relate to her father-in-law because he understands her and accepts her for being different and fresh.
The bride just wants to leave this unhappy house. She wants to go to live in London. John is weak and takes his responsibility of looking after his mother and the house as his first priority.
In a good farce the comings and goings mock the mores and the events taking place. This film tries to do this but misses the boat.
It is not a musical but from time to time a few lines of a song are sung. The story tries to portray the English standards of the day and show how difficult it was for an American girl to come and try and fit in with this society. We also learn that the family is in debt and will have to sell off some of the land. In these times of recession I could certainly relate to the economic problems.
Maybe the acting was overdone. I still think the story line could have been fun and interesting.
There are many films that are much better. Why waste your time?
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