DVD/150: MAGGIE SMITH AT THE BBC - THE MERCHANT OF VENICE / THE MILLIONAIRESS / A BED AMONG THE LENTILS / SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (various. tv)

An uneven quartet of BBC productions starring Maggie Smith.

Cedric Messina produced the PLAY OF THE MONTH series but also directed their 1972 version of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE; Portia's mix of humour and drama was perfect for Maggie but she struggles with a leaden studio-based production and a subdued Frank Finlay as Shylock.

She starred in another 1972 POTM, Shaw's THE MILLIONAIRESS where she is pure Smith: her fur stole wealded like a weapon, imperiously all wrists, cheekbones and shoulders but it's another underwhelming production.

Also included is her unforgettable Susan, the depressive vicar's wife whose secret drinking leads to the arms of an Asian shopkeeper in TALKING HEADS, written and directed by Alan Bennett.

Last is Richard Eyre's adaptation of Tennesee Williams' Southern Gothic SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER.  Maggie was ill during the filming but her subdued Mrs Venable exudes a patrician power rather than all-out madness.

Shelf or charity shop?  Half of the productions might be underwhelming but Maggie's performances make it onto the shelf. Interestingly, the extras make it more of a keeper: there is her episode from the 1967 series ACTING IN THE 60S where she is interviewed by Clive Goodwin and they are later joined by her longtime friend Kenneth Williams to discuss playing comedy.  A 1973 apperance on PARKINSON is a great addition when, again joined by Kenneth Williams, they read John Betjemin's "Death In Leamington" to the obvious pleasure of Betjemin.

 

DVD/150: EVIL UNDER THE SUN (Guy Hamilton, 1982)

Guy Hamilton, who delivered the flat Vimto flavour of THE MIRROR CRACK'D two years earlier, proffered a cheeky glass of fizz with EVIL UNDER THE SUN, the fourth and last EMI Agatha Christie adaptation.

Hamilton had the advantage of a script by Anthony Shaffer who also wrote the earlier DEATH ON THE NILE.

The cast glitter like the sunlit sea of the Majorca locations, tongues firmly in cheek.  It plays like a weekend murder mystery; you suspect the actor playing the victim is sunning themselves on a terrace somewhere just out of sight of the sleuthing.

Peter Ustinov returns for his second outing as Hercule Poirot who is investigating who faked a large diamond brooch.  While staying at an exclusive Adriatic clifftop hotel, one of the guests is murdered in broad daylight - and while all the other guests had a reason for doing it, they also all have unshakeable alibis.

 

 

Shelf or charity shop?  With the cast all popping like champagne corks, Anthony Powell's delicious costumes, John Lanchbery's effervescent Cole Porter-influenced score and charming title water-colours by Hugh Casson, it's sunning itself on the shelf.  Best supporting performance?  Maggie Smith as hotel owner Daphne - she delivers definitive Mag! Her wrists and elbows contribute as much to her performance as her dry delivery, landing her lines with the timing of death.  Sadly she has too few scenes with her character's nemesis Diana Rigg - one of her few successful film appearances.  Best unsupporting performance?  Nicholas Clay's swimming trunks...

 

DVD/150: DEATH ON THE NILE (John Guillermin, 1978)

The second of EMI's Agatha Christie adaptations was based on her 1937 novel and featured a new Poirot.

Albert Finney was unable to repeat his Hercule Poirot so Peter Ustinov replaced him and gives a more humane performance of the character and does not over-pitch it as he tended to do.

Heiress Linnet Ridgeway steals her best friend Jacqueline's boyfriend Simon, but Jacqueline appears on their Egyptian honeymoon, taunting them at every turn.

They elude her by boarding a Nile cruise whose passengers all bear Linnet a grudge: a German doctor she has ridiculed, a widow jealous of her pearls, the widow's companion whose family was ruined by Linnet's father, a romantic novelist sued by Linnet for libel, Linnet's embezzling lawyer - even her maid!

Jacqueline suddenly reappears and joins the cruise.  That night, in drunken hysterics, she shoots Simon in the leg.  The next morning, Linnet is found dead...

Shelf or charity shop? A much-loved film of mine so one for the shelf.  The pace sometimes seems to match the leisurely cruise - in ORIENT EXPRESS, Sidney Lumet's suspects appeared to have no connection to the victim, here Guillermin has to have each of his confront Linnet with their grievance and then, when questioned by Poirot, he shoots possible scenes of each one killing her; it does get a bit repetitive.  But any time spent watching Angela Lansbury's gloriously drunk novellist, the delicious sparring of Bette Davis and Maggie Smith, and Mia Farrow's quite remarkable performance of the playfully obsessive Jacqueline, is marvellous. Added to this, Anthony Powell's Oscar-winning costumes, Nino Rota's sweeping score and Jack Cardiff's lush cinematography makes it a joy to experience.  Guillermin's best sustained sequence is the build-up to the attempt on Linnet's life in the Karnak's Hypostyle Hall as the suspects slowly drift from sunlight into the shadows, seemingly circling Linnet and Simon, in echoing silence...

 

DVD/150: RICHARD III (Richard LoncraIne, 1995)

Richard Eyre's 1990 RICHARD III at the National Theatre starring Ian McKellen was set in the 1930s, finding a natural setting against the rise of Fascist dictators and five years later, Richard Loncraine based his screen version on this production using an adaptation by himself and McKellen.

As good as McKellen is, eventually he becomes wearing; being so close to the script-writing means few other characters get a look in.

Loncraine's film however is excellent: the action is wonderfully thought through to fit the 1930s concept and the production design and costumes won BAFTAs and were nominated for Oscars.

As I said, it's a struggle for the cast to get round McKellen but there is fine work from Annette Bening as Queen Elizabeth. Maggie Smith as the Duchess of York, Nigel Hawthorne as Clarence, Jim Broadbent as Buckingham, Kristen Scott Thomas as Lady Anne and Adrian Dunbar as Tyrell.

Shelf or charity shop?  Alhough McKellen's Richard is ruling from the DVD limbo of a plastic storage box, it is definitely one to keep for it's ingenuity, dazzling cast and the wonderful location use of Battersea Power Station. St Pancras Station, Brighton Pavillion, Senate House and the former Bankside Power Station, now the Tate Modern building.

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The 13th ANNUAL CHRISSIES - I liked 'em, I really liked 'em

The Chrissies are now in their 13th year...  I don't think 2019 was the most spectacular year in theatre-going it must be said but all worthy winners...

BEST DRAMA (Original/Revival) - A GERMAN LIFE - Christopher Hampton  
(Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURIOUS CHILD (Palace) / NINE NIGHT (Trafslgar Studios) / THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE (Dorfman, NT) / PRESENT LAUGHTER (Old Vic)

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BEST MUSICAL (Original/Revival) - GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
  - Bob Dylan / Conor McPherson (Gielgud Theatre)

 Nominees:

BLUES IN THE NIGHT (Kiln) / BRIDGES OF MADICON COUNTY (Menier) / 

 COME FROM AWAY (Phoenix) / FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Playhouse)

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BEST CLASSICAL PRODUCTION - GISELLE (Sadler's Wells)

 

 

 Nominees:

MANON (Covent Garden) / THE RED SHOES (Sadler's Wells) /
ROMEO AND JULIET (Covent Garden) / THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Covent Garden)

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BEST ACTOR (Drama) - ANDREW SCOTT - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 

Nominees:

ROGER ALLAM (Rutherford & Son) / JONATHAN HYDE (Gently Down The Stream) /
ALEX JENNINGS (Hansard) / DENIS O'HARE (Tartuffe The Imposter)

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BEST ACTRESS (Drama) - MAGGIE SMITH - A German Life (Bridge Theatre)

Nominees:

LINDSAY DUNCAN (Hansard) / NATASHA GORDON (Nine Night) / 
 JUSTINE MITCHELL (Rutherford & Son) / MARTHA PLIMPTON (Sweat)

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BEST ACTOR (Musical) - ANDY NYMAN - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 
Nominees:

ARTHUR DARVILL (Sweet Charity) / ALEXANDER HANSON (Follies) / 

DONALD SAGE MACKAY (Girl From The North Country) / LAYTON WILLIAMS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie)

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BEST ACTRESS (Musical) - JENNA RUSSELL - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

Nominees:

CHRISSIE BHIMA (Once On This Island) / KATIE BRAYBEN (Girl From The North Country) / SHARON D CLARKE (Blues In The Night) / JOANNA RIDING (Follies)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Drama) - JONATHAN CASE - Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace)

 

 Nominees:

JOE ARMSTRONG (Rutherford & Son) / JOSHUA HILL (Present Laughter) /

JUSTIN SALINGER (The Ocean at The End Of The Lane) / LUKE THALLON (Present Laughter)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Drama) - SOPHIE THOMPSON - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

 Nominees:

MICHELLE GREENIDGE (Nine Night) / DOROTHEA MYER-BENNETT (While The Sun Shines) / INDIRA VARMA (Present Laughter) / ANJANA VASAN (Rutherford & Son)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Musical) - DALE RAPLEY - The Bridges of Madison County (Menier)

 Nominees:

PETER FORBES (Follies) / ROY HAYLOCK (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / 

ROBERT HANDS (Come From Away) / JACK McBRAYER (Waitress)

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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Musical) - RACHEL JOHN - Girl From The North Country (Gielgud)

 

Nominees:

REBECCA McKINNIS (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) / CLAIRE MOORE (Follies) / 

GLORIA OBIYANYO (Girl from The North Country) / RACHEL TUCKER (Come From Away)

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BEST CLASSICAL MALE - VITTORIO GRIGÓLO - Tosca (Covent Garden)

Nominees:

ADAM COOPER (The Red Shoes) / HERMAN COMEJO (Trio ConcertDance) / 

STEVEN McRAE (Manon) / BRYN TERFEL (Tosca)

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BEST CLASSICAL FEMALE - STINA QUAGEBEUR - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

CORDELIA BRAITHWAITE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

ALESSANDRA FERRI (Trio ConcertDance) / ERINA TAKAHASHI (Giselle)

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BEST DIRECTOR - MATTHEW WARCHUS - Present Laughter (Old Vic)

Nominees:

JONATHAN KENT (A German Life) / CONOR McPHERSON (Girl From The North Country)  / JOHN TIFFANY (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / ROY ALEXANDER WEISE (Nine Night)

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BEST DESIGNER - ROBERT JONES - Fiddler On The Roof (Playhouse)

 

Nominees: 

LEZ BROTHERSTON (The Red Shoes) / ANNA FLEISCHLE (A German Life) / 

CHRISTINE JONES (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / TAKIS (Ain't Misbehavin')

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BEST LIGHTING - MARK HENDERSON - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

 Nominees:

NEIL AUSTIN (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child) / JON CLARK (A German Life) / 

PAULE CONSTABLE (Romeo + Juliet) / TIM LUTKIN (Fiddler On The Roof)

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BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Musical) - OTI MABUSE - Ain't Misbehavin' (Southwark Playhouse)

Nominees:

MATT COLE / JEROME ROBBINS (Fiddler On The Roof) / STEVEN HOGGETT (Harry Potter and The Curious Child) / LEE PROUD (Once On This Island) / SAM SPENCER-LANE (Maggie May)

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BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (Classical) - AKRAM KHAN - Giselle (Sadler's Wells)

Nominees:

MATTHEW BOURNE (The Red Shoes) and (Romeo & Juliet) / 

KENNETH McMILLAN (Manon) and (Romeo & Juliet)