On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 18/60 |
Les Winan |
Judi Dench is, as always, outstanding. Bob Hoskins is also great, as are the various naked chicks. But something's still missing here... |
| 23/85 |
Kim Hollis |
It's a charming, funny little film. Dame Judy Dench is wonderful, as is Bob Hoskins. |
| 25/166 |
David Mumpower |
Delightful combination of Hoskins and Dench proves to be the best duo of the year. Film does a wonderful job balancing comic hijinks with the decimation of war. Coincidentally enough, Dench's charact |
Director Stephen Frears follows up his dark thriller Dirty Pretty Things with this true-life story that is sure to be considered awards bait as the Weinsteins release it via their new company over the Christmas holidays.
The story centers on one of England's most eccentric and well-known society figures, Laura Henderson, a woman who founded the historic Windmill Theatre. Mrs. Henderson was regretful of the decline of the music hall, which came about because of the advent of "talking pictures". With great desire to bring these old-time halls back into vogue, she joined forces with the determined theatre manager Vivian Van Damm. Although the pair argued frequently and were polar opposites, their partnership became quite important in the course of British entertainment history.
It seems that Mrs. Henderson's societal influence allowed her to take advantage of a certain legal loophole that ultimately led to huge success for the partners' Windmill Theatre. She discovered that it would be permissible for them to show entirely nude models on stage as long as the people involved stayed perfectly still and did not move a single muscle. From there, they were easily able to move forward to a musical extravaganza known as the "Nude Revue", which placed the Windmill as one of the more critical developments in the development of the entertainment industry. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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