Long before Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy, there was this lavish sprint through the lives and comic operas of the creators of The Mikado. Not all Gilliat's hopes were realised - he wanted more social history, and an easier flow between music and drama. But there's plenty still to feast on: winning performances, spectacle, the script's glancing wit, and the authentic G&S magic. Many hands shaped this Technicolor romp, with Alexander Korda-fueled creative disagreements to rival those of the film's subjects. Ultimately, however, the wit, spectacle and performances are a feast for the senses.
When one of four teenage friends goes through a break-up, the gang decide the time is right for a Mediterranean holiday. Expecting the trip to be ripe for sexual escapades, the lads are sorely mistaken, and what instead results is them falling head-first into numerous crude and embarrassing antics.
Shown on the set of `Mary Reilly', Frears hosts a guided tour through seventy-five years of British cinema from Hitchcock's `Blackmail' (1920) through to Mike Newell's `Four Weddings and a Funeral' (1994).
A drama based on the book by Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country is a vital film in the history of black British cinema. With black stars in all of its leading roles, the film is not only Candy Lee’s last, but gives an early role to a young Sidney Poitier.
