Dir.
Stephen Frears, UK 2005, 103 mins
Cast:
Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kelly Reilley
This film is cleverly adapted and telescoped from the true life story of Laura Henderson, the woman who had the then outrageous idea in the thirties of putting naked girls on stage in a non-stop revue at the Windmill Theatre, which "never closed" throughout the Second World War.
Judi Dench as Mrs Henderson and Bob Hoskins as her theatre manager Mr Van Damm, as they always formally address each other, share a brilliantly funny and complex confrontational relationship, which makes for a very entertaining double act. Writer Martin Sherman has given them some great dialogue, which they play to the hilt. Only Dench could get away with the woman's supreme rudeness and arrogance and still charm us and make us laugh. She is totally outrageous, a model of upper class eccentricity and at times very moving. Bob Hoskins for once without a cockney accent is effective as the urbane and worldly impresario, who always vehemently denies his Jewishness, as the rife anti-semitism of England in the thirties makes prudent, until events in Germany cause him to reveal the loss of members of his family in Holland to Mrs Henderson in a poignant scene. Kelly Reilley, who plays Maureen one of the showgirls, brings an effectively wary, knowing yet vulnerable quality to her role and pop star Will Young is good, shrewd casting as Bertie, the company's compère and song and dance man. His singing is spot on for the period and I reckon he would well be worth casting in a West End musical.
The musical numbers are well staged and well used in the context of the story and director Frears has given the whole thing an authentic sense of the period. While the first part of the film is primarily a largely comic period romp, once the war years arrive it effectively switches to a more melancholy mood with some very moving scenes. Oh, and the nudity is of course very tastefully done throughout!
Carol Allen |
