Been watching movies previously seen, “Cabaret” which holds up really well. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s autobiographical stories, Berlin 1931, the year of my birth and the burgeoning of the Nazi party. Almost strange to think all that horror took place nearly eighty years ago. It would seem that emblem, the swastika, had half a nation in its thrall. There was just enough of what was going on to give one the shudders without overdoing it; for example ash blonde youth singing a beautiful waltz “Tomorrow belongs to me,” the song intensifying as it moves along and everyone joining in, camera panning down to swastika on the boy’s arm, the song ending with the Nazi salute. Strange also, the one and only stage production I’ve seen of this musical I did not take to at all.
Next was “Total Eclipse”, what the Americans might call a bio-pic I suppose, about the affair between the French poets, Verlaine and Rimbaud: David Thewlis playing Verlaine and Leonardo di Caprio playing Rimbaud. Great performances apart, For once amazingly good look-alike casting. Okay, with Verlaine, the baldness is half the battle but what about the adolescent Rimbaud? I really knew nothing about these two, not their lives or their work but, having watched the film again, I looked them up on the internet. I don’t think one exaggerates when calling di Caprio beautiful. There are no two ways about that, but looking at photographs of the eighteen year old Rimbaud the resemblance is amazing, except that Rimbaud’s face was much thinner, this despite Verlaine referring to it as chubby. The features though are strikingly similar to di Caprio’s except I would say Rimbaud was pretty rather than beautiful.
Leaving aside obvious shows like “La Cages Au Folles” there was a time not so very long ago when no actor, let alone a big star, would dream of playing a gay character, especially in a film showing actual love making, but how things have changed. Hugh Grant, James Wilby, Rupert Graves all did it in "Maurice." Naturally a film about Oscar Wilde and Bosie demands it, so Jude Law had no compunction about stripping off and getting down to it, if you’ll pardon the expression, but Russell Crowe has done it in an early movie (this aspect of the character in” A Beautiful Mind” was avoided though), di Caprio has done it, Michael York in Cabaret did it (bisexual) and now it is the turn of Colin Firth evidently who is starring in another Isherwood based work “A Singular man”.
Last evening I watched “Finding Neverland” which is a lovely film but I would have enjoyed it that much more if I had been able to hear the dialogue. I’m fed up with mentioning this so will out of charity put it down to our television set causing sound to be muffled though, in truth, Mrs Barrie was telephoning in her performance it was that dull. Playing a little grey mouse is a very difficult thing to do and not be dull. Next time I will watch it with sub-titles.
Seymour Hicks has wise words to say about critics so – next time.