User Reviews

As hilarious today as it was in 1971, this much loved comedy is probably to musicals what Blazing Saddles is to westerns. I know that might sound odd but the analogy describes how much of a very funny send up of Busby Berkeley musicals and wobbly British seaside theatre this film really is. I saw the longer 139 min version in a 1997 reissue in Australia, and it actually is not as tidy as the shorter 109 min version originally released, It is too excessive and impromptu (cast laughing etc) whereas the shorter version does work better. However it does allow for 2 more songs and some extras in the dance numbers that you will want to see... Twiggy is gorgeous, the art direction superb and the end result hilarious and charming. Interestingly it was made because MGM fumbled the possibility of a straight stage reworking with Julie Andrews (she made Thoroughly Modern Millie instead), and by 1968 the world went to hell in the Vietnam war and street riots. The Boyfriend has aged well, and so has Twiggy. Alert viewers will see some of the same clothes previously in Women In Love because Shirley Russell used to buy the real 1920s garments from London markets and used them in several films her husband made. BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS is a good 2003 equivalent in art direction and style.

After the demented excesses of The Devils this comes as a sharp contrast, lacking in the sexual and bombast that mark his other films. This is a unique film that will probably not find many modern viewers. Telling the duel story of a production of The Boyfriend and stage manager Polly, these two threads will occasionally intersect in the mind of a director named De Thrill who sits and watches from a box seat, imagining how it might look on the silver screen with a bigger budget. It sets off a series of sequences that gets us away from the low-rent stage performance. It is a charming film with a wonderful cast. The chemistry between Twiggy and Christopher Gable is very sweet. For the casual Ken Russell fan it might seem very light and superficial but he was a director one always expect the unexpected. He defied any attempt at being pigeonholed as many other directors, finding a comfortable niche to crank out a repetitive series of films. The Boyfriend is that curve ball that catches you off guard. It's a among a handful of musicals I can tolerate and the songs actually add something of value to either the story or characters.

Never content to do anything by halves, Ken Russell has made a movie musical that fascinated and frustrated me in nearly equal measure. This is a film within which a musical unfolds in real time that then has dream/fantasy sequences which, as the film goes on, tend to go on for too long. Actors in the play try to trip each other up while also mugging for the Hollywood talent scout. The songs are cliche bordering on parody but are often paired with the most sumptuous, opulent visuals. This is a film that revels in its excess and "muchness." Fortunately, this is-or-isn't-it-a-joke had a knee-slapper of a punchline-ending. (And theater kids would probably get a laugh or dozen out of this.)

Wonderful music and terrific English performers make this spoof of 30s musicals a must. Twiggy is wonderful as the understudy who must fill in for the injured star (Glenda Jackson in a funny cameo). And a Hollywood big shot is in the audience.... Hmmmm. Superb turns by Antonia Ellis as Maisie, Christopher Gable as Tony, and the rest: Max Adrian, Georgina Hale, Moyra Fraser, Barbara Windsor, Bryan Pringle, Catherine Willmer, Tommy Tune, and Murray Melvin. Great sets and costumes and all those musical numbers. Twiggy (yes, she can sing and dance) and Tune teamed up on Broadway years later in Me and My Girl. And this is the show that made a star of Julie Andrews on Broadway in 1954. Great Sandy Wilson show made into a glorious film by Ken Russell. His gentle spoof of 30s musicals, including the famous Busby Berkley dance routines and many inside jokes and lines from 30s musicals make this a total treat for fans of the genre. Jackson's "now go out there and be so great.... you'll make me hate you," is a direct quote from 42nd St, where Bebe Daniels says the line to Ruby Keeler. Also with Graham Armitage, Caryl Little, Sally Bryant, Brian Murphy, Vladel Shaybal as DeThrill, and Peter Greenwell as the pianist (who won an Oscar nomination for his orchestration). What fun! And one of Russell's best films.

Ken Russell takes a straightforward show and adds layers by having characters imagine bigtime Hollywood versions of the small touring company's musical numbers. This opens up the movie and makes for a dazzling spectacle of music, dance, and color. But without terrific performances, this would all be for nothing. Twiggy is really good as the shy Polly the stand-in. She and Christopher Gable make a nice dance team in several numbers. Max Adrian and Catherine Willmer are hilarious as the troop manager and his wife Hilda, as are Moyra Fraser and Bryan Pringle as the haughty star and his wife. My favorites are Antonia Ellis as the ferocious Maisie, Georgina Hale as the fog-horn voiced Fay, and Barbara Windsor as busty Hortense.

The music is great. Twiggy gets to sing "You Are My Lucky Star" and "All I Do the Whole Day Through." Hale and Adrian are memorable in "Never Too Old to Fall in Love." Fraser and Pringle are fun in "You Don't Want to Play with Me Blues," and the closing "Doing the Riviera" is a fond homage to Berkley with the famous chorus girls on winged plane number. Also love "The Boy Friend," "We're Perfect Young Ladies," "Nicer in Niece," "A Room in Bloomsbury," "Fancy Your Forgetting," and "Sur La Plage."

THE BOY FRIEND is a fond and loving spoof of old-time musicals and beautifully done. A must-see for all fans of classic musicals. Amazingly, Shirley Russell didn't get an Oscar nomination for the fabulous costumes.

2011 UPDATE: Warners has issued a remastered DVD and the color is spectacular!

While not among my personal favourite musicals or films, The Boy Friend was immensely entertaining in almost every sense and certainly unlike any movie musical we've seen before. The dog scats on your spats joke would have been better left out because it did wear thin and it was more tasteless than funny. But actually that is the only thing in The Boy Friend that came across as that to me, particularly for a director like Ken Russell who has been known to resort to excess and have material that people can be easily offended by. Russell always was a controversial director who fascinated a lot of people and repulsed others, no matter what you thought of him there is no denying that his directing and style was unique. So how does Russell's direction fare here? Brilliantly actually(for an unlikely choice of director for a musical), the style he brings is extravagant as can be seen in the sets, lighting and costumes that burst with primary colours and the purposeful and interesting camera shots(sweeping and a case of awkward working in its favour) showing a virtuoso at work. The spectacle is big and very eye-catching but, despite how this sounds, for Russell while not restrained as such it's not excessive either. The musical numbers are all delightful and always catchy whether in a humorous or emotional way, and they're staged with a Busby Berkeley influence that is always engaging and over-the-top to a delicious degree. Where else in a musical would you find leprechauns in a world of mushrooms, nurses pushing their patients in kaleidoscopic circular fashion in wheelchairs, aeroplane dancing in the snow and swimmers in the ocean in identical attire? The Grecian Nymph fantasy and the nymphs being led off to save the day by Tommy Tune are also great touches that provide plenty of amusement. Despite all this visual spectacle, The Boy Friend is surprisingly also brilliantly written, the satire is sharp and the backstage intrigue is intriguing and insightful. You do have to love Maisie's ad-libbing and attempts at seduction as well, and there's a fair share of emotional impact too, at the end Polly is very easy to root for. The story may sound clichéd and concept-wise it is but execution-wise it was surprising at how unconventional and breaking-new-ground the storytelling was and it's all done with fun as well as non-stop charm and nostalgia. The cast really give their all, even if Christopher Gable's acting and singing doesn't impress as much as his excellent dancing. The best being Twiggy who is charming to the hilt, Antonia Ellis who will leave you in hysterics with her ad-libbing and seduction attempts and Russell regular/favourite Glenda Jackson whose hilarious performance is one that is not easily forgotten in the long run. Barbara Windsor is always great value too. All in all, a fascinating and immensely enjoyable movie musical unlike any other that you've seen before. It's not for everybody, like Russell himself it will delight numbers of people- where I fit in- and perplex others, both viewpoints of which are totally understandable. 9/10 Bethany Cox

There are no great singing voices in this musical, but all of the songs, dance numbers and skits are good. Comedy is properly billed first for "The Boy Friend," and it clearly carries the film. But the song and dance is an integral part of the plot. Because it's a story about people involved in a theater production. The production itself closely resembles the old-fashioned type of musical stage reviews, with lots of dance numbers (including chorus girls), songs and skits. The plot is a very thin thread that ties it all together.

This is a film version of a very successful British play of 1954. Julie Andrews made her American debut in the Broadway production of the musical that same year. The musical quality of the stage productions probably equaled or trumped the comedy that is foremost in this film version.

Some film fans might remember Twiggy when she first became known as a top model in the late 1960s. I didn't recall that she had a film career at all, until coming across this musical. She's quite funny and her singing voice is passable. Still, one can see why she had only a sparse acting career after this.

Probably the best known of the rest of the cast is Tommy Tune, a superb dancer. He appeared two years before this film as a co-star in "Hello, Dolly." Tune has appeared in only three films and four TV series in five decades. But he has a lengthy career on stage. Besides his dancing he has choreographed and directed many Broadway musicals. He has nine total Tony awards in four different categories. This film has just a couple of short dance numbers for Tune as Tommy.

The rest of the cast contribute to the comedy in their one-upmanship efforts as they play directly to a Hollywood scout who has come to watch their stage production. The humor is in the obvious hamming it up and back-stabbing of one another in their songs and comedy routines.

The producers put a lot into this film, with superb props and examples of live stage supports for theater. In itself, that recommends the film for viewing by those who might yearn for a theater career.

Outside of the stage performances within the film, the story is a little hard to follow. There are two or three subplots overlaid here. "The Boy Friend" is an amusing and fun musical romance that most should enjoy.

Ken Russell's homage to Hollywood Musicals of the early years, while outrageous as usual, is remarkably enjoyable. It was ruined in its American release by MGM's James Aubrey's hack job--he cut almost 30 minutes out of the film. Not merely content to cut entire numbers, he laid his heavy hand on every single number and scene, eliminating 30 seconds here, 2 minutes there, until nothing had been spared his hatchet. His reasoning was that no one wanted to see a two and a half hour musical. Besides he could get another showing in if he cut it. Wasn't it a surprise when the film bombed in the States?! Elsewhere it was a smash hit. With the cut footage restored, the VHS print shows, particularly, the salutes to Busby Berkeley and other early musicals. Twiggy is charming; Tommy Tune as the giant American hoofer is wonderful; and Russell's "stock" company of English actors carry off the zaniness with just the right touch. Oh, please, release the Widescreen version on DVD. I need to use it to end my History of the Film Musical class.

This film is an oddity in the outlandish Ken Russell catalogue. Now seen on DVD in its full length, this joyful spoof collapses under its own weight by the time it's over. Unfortunate, because there's so much going for it: Twiggy and Tommy Tune both rise to the occasion. The cast of Russell regulars excels in their characterizations of third-rate theatrical denizens. The big production numbers are indeed eye-popping, so much so that it's easy to overlook Peter Maxwell Davies' superbly arranged music. Tony Walton's set designs and Shirley Russell's costumes are top-notch. So what's the problem? While the comic backstage machinations are spot on, the love story becomes tiresome and maudlin and brings down the pace considerably. Some of Russell's fantasias (the Grecian-inspired escapade, the colorful elves) are out of place, taking up too much time and distracting from the flow of things. Though "The Boy Friend" is a polished work of art, Russell can't help casting a jaundiced eye over the entire production. Viewers will either love it or hate it. Proceed at your own risk.

Oh, how I love this film! It is my favourite musical. I adore how it takes place in a run down, almost empty theatre with unknown actors who are all hungry to be discovered. They aren't above deceiving their colleagues in order to shine a little extra in front of the film director sitting in the audience! I adore the cast of British actors who really bring these second rate theatre actors to life! It's still charming to watch after all these years. My favourite character is Maisie played by Antonia Ellis.

I first saw it on German television in the long version and recorded it on video. Lucky I did because the film was unavailable for so many years and when I did find a copy it was a much shorter version without many of my favourite scenes. The ones with the "Nicer in Nice" and "I got the you don't want to play with me blues" were missing. The musical numbers in the forest and when they are leprechauns were much shorter.

Thank goodness that Warner Brothers have finally released the whole film in a complete remastered edition with all the scenes restored in a 136 minute version!! The picture quality is pristine. The DVD really could have benefited though from a commentary track with Ken Russell and Twiggy. I'm dying to hear how the film was conceived! It is such an imaginative and inventive film.

It is a joy to watch. I am aware that some people can't bear to watch it or understand it. I enjoy every "overlong" minute of it! The dancing is amazing. Twiggy is so sweet and perfect for the part of Polly. She is a good dancer and has a nice pleasing voice. I wonder why she didn't make more films after the Boy Friend. I wish it had been more of a hit. A year later another backstage movie was released showing the shoddiness and decadence of theatre life. Cabaret is well known but the Boy Firend is a film no one has ever heard of…

Please take the time to discover this light hearted gem!

A long homage to seemingly every famous musical from the late 1920s and early 1930s with careful over-the-top scene stealing from Busby Berkeley, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rodgers, Ruby Keeler, and everyone else of the era. Everything is parodied to the point that it's hard to tell if the director, Ken Russell, actually liked those movies, or if it's just a game of "Look at what I can do."

The film grew on me late during the 2:20 runtime. The first hour I couldn't take all of the winking at the camera, much of it literal.

Twiggy is very good. Everyone else is (intentionally) overacting to great distraction.

Amusing, weird, trippy, long, and colorful, most of the dance routines and top-down kaleidoscopic cinematography are not as inspired as the originals. It's as if Terry Gilliam and Monty Python did an endless 1930s musical skit. It's surely a spectacle. But unfortunately it's less than great.

Filmmaker and British madman Ken Russell takes the popular Sandy Wilson stage musical--about a backstage nobody with a theater troupe in the 1920s becoming a star when the leading lady breaks her leg--and turns it into a head-trip (without much of a heart and very little soul). This ode to Hollywood showman Busby Berkeley (whose era was the 1930s, not the 1920s) goes giddily over-the-top, yet does so in a way that alienates the material (never mind the audience). Twiggy is appealing in the lead, Christopher Gable also fine as her on-stage suitor, but it's Glenda Jackson as the former star who really shines (too bad her role only amounts to a cameo). The nearly non-stop production numbers become wearisome, turning the picture into grotesque camp. After a solid, likable start, the editing flags, leaving sequences to go on and on (the movie runs a less-than-grand 2 hours and 20 minutes). Russell, a sort of uncelebrated undergraduate of the Stanley Kubrick school of excess, does have a twisted visual style which is unlike anyone else's; he gets some moments right, and when a scene of his comes up a winner it can be a startling winner. But Russell just doesn't know when to quit. The results here are curious, but also frequently tedious. ** from ****

I'm delighted to read of people discovering and praising this film right through to the present, and I'm both amused and appalled by those who find this film somehow terrible. Since I first saw it in 1971, I've always considered it an absolutely brilliant tour de force; how many musicals in the last 40 years have matched its unique energy and visual inventiveness? Sure, it kind of ransacks the original Sandy Wilson musical, but I think a conventional, strictly faithful film version would not have worked as well. This one has a streak of genius throughout, thanks to director Ken Russell, cast and crew. Twiggy is the charming heart of the film; kind of like an Alice in Wonderland amid all the colorful backstage madness. She emotionally anchors the film with her vulnerability. Practically every scene has a memorable flourish, and it's consistently witty. So few musicals capture this kind of spirit. It's a shame it isn't on DVD, but maybe there's hope for Blu-Ray? Ignore the naysayers. Try and catch it on TCM.

This quirky movie puts the original play - a parody of 20s stage musicals - and tucks it within a movie that is a parody of 30s movie musicals. It's an interesting conceit, with an uprepared understudy taking over for an injured star while a supporting player does her best to sabotage everyone in a bid for the attention of a famous film director who has just wandered in.

The problem with a parody within a parody is it can be difficult to tell what is awful on purpose and what is just awful. Is the awkward banter that starts the film an purposeful? I have no idea.

The result is more entertaining than it is good, but it contains some wonderful things. Most wonderful is Tommy Tune, a brilliant dancer who could have been a movie star in an earlier time. Dancing down the hall during a conversation or telling his life story as an elaborate dance is indescribably wonderful. It's a shame director Ken Russell didn't just toss his original concept and build a movie around Tune. Sadly, his few scenes comprise the bulk of his film dancing.

Oddly enough, some of the film's most interesting moments are only in the 1987 re-release, such as the utterly bizarre forest scene and "The You-Don't-Want-To-Play-With-Me Blues" number.

Many of the musical numbers are tributes to Busby Berkeley, and the results are mixed. The numbers are sloppy by BB standards, and Russell rarely puts any spin on the numbers to make them more than inferior clones. Still, they're generally pleasant and I really like the double kaleidoscope thing.

Twiggy is pleasant in the lead and there are good performances by Christopher Gable as the male star and Antonia Ellis as a schemer, and a few vaguely familiar faces.

Overall the Boy Friend could be be described as a failed experiment, but it's such an interesting experiment that I still enjoyed watching it.

I had to stop watching after about 20 minutes.

One of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen.

I don't understand how anyone could like this movie.

NOT charming at all to me.

I had to stop watching after about 20 minutes.

One of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen.

I don't understand how anyone could like this movie.

NOT charming at all to me.

I had to stop watching after about 20 minutes.

One of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen.

I don't understand how anyone could like this movie.

NOT charming at all to me.

9 out of 10

Excellent musical that should be the basis for all other musicals. Seamless, flawless, and visually stunning. A wide variety of backdrops and settings are used. There is everything from the conventional dance line to a fairy tale setting where the performers are dressed like ladybugs and living in giant mushrooms. There is also a fun take off on Greek mythology done in a scenic forest setting.

By far the two best segments take place with them dancing on a giant record player and another with them made to look like characters on a giant playing card. The giant record player one as got to be the most impressive because they show them on not one, but two giant record players, side by side and from overhead. The dancers than dance on top of the giant turntables and , as a group, make unique symmetrical designs with their bodies. It's like a old Busby Berkley number and yet almost out does even him.

This is a rare film that can carry itself on visual level alone. The story is at best just a standard musical plot. It involves a group of underpaid actors who put on a tacky low budget musical for a small group of people. The film than interweaves between the low budget numbers, which are all still really good, and their visual fantasies of what things would look like if they had a big budget. Twiggy plays the shy awkward crew hand that comes on as the star when the leading lady breaks her leg.

Sure it is, at times, predictable, corny, and lightweight yet it also has a really good sense of humor. The songs ALL have a good score and the dances are certainly fun to watch. Twiggy may never score as a great actress, but she hits the mark here. She has a cute bob haircut and a constantly perplexed expression that is really amusing. All the other characters have amusing idiosyncracies also. Jackson is fun, of course, as the injured leading lady who comes back and is none too happy to see how successful her replacement is.

Some of director Russell's films have been considered excessive and nonsensical. Yet that is not the case here. His visual flair and indulgence really work. This guy has talent. He use of primary colors in every shot is nice.

This is truly a visual delight that is impressive even by todays standards. This is a really fun to watch.

This brilliant interpretation of the stage play can best be described as Busby Berkeley on psychedelics. The concept of turning over this material to the visual madman, Ken Russell, was inspired, as was casting supermodel Twiggy in the lead role (who would have ever guessed she could embody the "sweet song and dance ingenue" so magnificently!).

Mr. Russell has delivered an outrageous homage to English song-and-dance theatre, as well as American movie musicals of the 30's and 40's, all bundled up snugly in one gem of a fall-down funny flick.

Everything is right on the money in this film, from the directing, to the brilliant cinematography, to the musical presentation of those beloved "old standards", to the eye-popping candy costumes and sets. What impresses me the most, however, is the supporting cast. Each actor turns in a such a flawless performance, it results in every subplot becoming just as integral, and interesting, as the main plot. Thus you become a willing captive for 2 hours and 17 minutes for this dizzying magic carpet ride. And, as a bonus, it's "feel good" without being schmaltzy!

Wonderful!

It's not very well known that there are several versions of this movie available, from 109 to 135 minutes. The DVD version is the shortest, and excludes a few of the most extravagant numbers, while the director's cut has all of the musical sequences.

The full theatrical version of the film is an unapologetic mix of reality and fantasy - some of it wonderful, some other segments not fully successful. But the film has a buoyant energy, thanks to the delightful musical numbers. The DVD version eschews the wilder fantasy sequences in favor of a more realistic approach. It seems to lack a certain energy.

I'd rate the shortened, DVD version of the movie maybe 6/10 - a real disappointment. I'd rate the full-length, theatrical version of the movie 9/10. If you can, see the movie. Don't bother with the DVD.

This movie is a little hard to understand the point of at first but when you get used to the rythm and start to grasp it's intentions it is wonderful!! I think the casting was good and it was quite funny! The visuals were absolutely wonderful and breathtaking and it's a style of movie that I think is completely unique, I've never seen another movie with this vibe or pacing. It can be a little slow at times, but is absolutely fun and feels like sinking into a cozy funny dream. The costuming and set design is flawless and the choreography and tap dancing is also wonderful. It is a little hard to place and I think with it's intentions and genre it is a bit of an enigma but that is what makes it so incredibly scrumptious and fun!!

The Boyfriend is not just the last great movie musical, but one of the greatest of all movie musicals. And a truly Great film, regardless of genre.

Taking a tuneful but forgettable neo-1930s stage musical as a starting point, Russell created a multi-layered, kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria of a film. It's a movie about movies, about the theater, about creativity and imagination. It's about human nature. It's a love story (of course!). It's trivial, it's deep, it's shocking. It's gloriously excessive, in the best Russell manner. But this is excess with a purpose. Every image, ever musical set-piece works in multiple ways. I've seen it probably a dozen times, and I've never seen the same film twice.

This is definitely a film that needs to be seen in wide-screen. (Until we get a proper Blu-ray, Turner Classic Movies shows a somewhat blurry but complete British print.) Russell out-does Busby Berkeley, with split-screen sequences no other director would dare to attempt. But by making the film as a play-within-a-play, he cleverly adds human drama missing from the original lightweight theatrical script. And creates a deliciously ironic counterpoint between the emotions of the actors and those of the stereotyped characters they portray.

Remarkably, the performances hold up to all this. Twiggy is barely remembered as a 1960s footnote, but here she proves she was not just a remarkably pretty face. (Her fresh and innocent performance sparkles in a way that the polished and rather precious Julie Andrews recording does not.) Tommy Tune does credit to the long-legged Buddy Ebsen specialty numbers. And Russell's perennial favorite Vladek Sheybal is perfect as CB DeThrille, the mildly Mephistophelian embodiment of Russell himself.

Ken Russell was always impressive for his technique, but in The Boyfriend he brought all his abilities to focus in a celebration of film entertainment. It's easily the best movie musical since the days of Singing in the Rain and The Bandwagon, and though it lacks the star power of a Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, it adds a depth and vision that no other musical approaches.

They just don't make 'em like this any more. In fact, aside from Ken Russell, no one ever did.

I can understand why this over-produced Ken Russell musical from the Broadway success that catapulted Julie Andrews into stardom in '54, has been criticized for its overly stylized visuals with overhead camera shots and dizzying camera angles while mixing a backstage story with an on stage musical--but somehow, it works.

It's a welcome spoof of Hollywood musicals of the '20s and '30s and Busby Berkeley dance routines in particular. TWIGGY is charming as the girl who has to step into the leading role and told to "come out like a star" when the show's original lead (GLENDA JACKSON) breaks her leg. CHRISTOPHER GABLE is the Busby-like character that Twiggy is in love with and wants to please with a good performance. She's excellent and does some good singing and dancing.

It's a bit overlong even though the U.S. version was considerably cut, but the music is appealing and the whole show moves along at a brisk, never relenting pace that is full of color and energy. If ever a stage musical was transformed successfully into cinematic material, this is a fine example.

A struggling theater in Portsmouth has another small crowd for a matinee showing of "The Boy Friend". The leading lady Rita goes down with an injury and the mousy assistant stage manager Polly (Twiggy) has to take over the lead role of Polly Browne in the 20's era broad flapper musical play. Rumors of a leading Hollywood director in the audience soon spread among the cast who are hoping to be discovered. Polly has a crush on the leading man which comes with various fantasy sequences.

This is mostly an old style musical extravaganza with limited extravaganza. The fantasy sequences are trying to be outlandish like a Busby Berkeley musical. The play itself is meaningless dribble. At least, that's all that I could derive from it. It does fit the premise that almost nobody comes to see it. These take up 90% of the movie and are basically meaningless to any drama. The only interesting drama could only come if the material is treated like "Waiting for Guffman". The reality of the drama comes from the behind-the-scene stuff. The on-stage material tries to be big but has no drama. We may as well be the scattered bored audience in the movie. There is no way to survive the over two hours running time. The simple plot does not deserve the length. One thing that this movie does do is that it shows Twiggy to be a magnetic screen presence and she is an able actor. I don't know what the original London musical "The Boy Friend" is like. I don't know how much play within the play is done. Whatever the case, I can see this as more fun when done live and in person. This feels like watching a second rate production of a musical in a mostly empty theater in the middle of the afternoon.

A camp classic but also so much more. The critics came down like a ton of bricks on Ken Russell's musical comedy which was, on the one hand, a screen version of Sandy Wilson's show and, on the other, a comment on the 'putting-on-a-show' kind of musical popular in the early thirties. Russell's idea of opening up most of the numbers, as in a big Busby Berkeley production, worked brilliantly but didn't please either the critics or the public; still it made a movie star (of sorts) out of the model Twiggy who is charm personified while the former ballet dancer Christopher Gable is a delightful leading man. It's also got a great supporting cast of some of the best British character players of the time, including an unbilled Glenda Jackson - Go out there and be so great you'll make me hate you - and whatever happened to Antonia Ellis and Georgina Hale, both brilliant here, as well as Broadway's Tommy Tune whose dancing comes close to stopping the show. Unfortunately it wasn't really a commercial success and is seldom seen now but if, like me, you have any interest in the musical, catch it; it's absolutely fabulous!

Ken Russell's spoof on Hollywood musicals (and probably his only G rated film). In the 1920s an assistant director (Twiggy) for a tacky theatre company, falls for the leading man--handsome Tony (Christopher Gable)...but he doesn't seem to know she exists. Also she has to take the lead in the musical they're putting on because the lead actress (Glenda Jackson) has broken her leg.

I love musicals and Russell is one of my favorite directors--but I really didn't like this. It has beautiful, elaborate production numbers (obviously inspired by Busby Berkeley)--most of them are just jaw-dropping and the songs aren't bad but this movie has numerous problems.

For one thing it's way too long (138 minutes). I can see why 25 minutes were originally cut when this premiered in the US in 1971. And the main stars are all wrong for the roles--Twiggy is no actress and even her SINGING was off! She hit a few sour notes that were just painful. Gable was even worse--tall, handsome and utterly blank. Even Tommy Tune registered nothing. Only Jackson comes through in a truly funny cameo. And good luck with the English accents.

As I said, the musical numbers were dazzling with incredible dancing and there were a lot of them--TOO much! They're practically nonstop and I was exhausted by the time the movie was over. You're constantly being hammered by the music and sets--there's never any time to just stop and take a break.

And the constant over head shots during the numbers just got annoying. Also there's a LONG, pointless musical sequence in a forest which come off as (unintentionally) hysterically bad. Perhaps Russell was the wrong director for this--this excess worked for "Tommy" but that was a whole different type of movie.

I REALLY wished I liked this---but I can only give it a 7.

Sandy Wilson's stage musical is a total charmer. There's really not much to it, but the music is delightful and the story quite sweet. It would have lent itself to film quite well, as something of a throwback to early movie musicals. Unfortuneatly, this is where Ken Russel failed in transferring it from stage to screen, by trying to make it one. Russel also unwisely chose to make the film a show within a show, so the original stage show is the play that is being performed by a struggling regional theater company in England, with Russell adding unnecessary backstage drama, and having the heroine (Twiggy), be the last minute understudy going on in the main role. This decision drowned all the charm out of the musical, making it something of a labored affair to watch. It is also frustrating to know that an earlier film was to be made of "The Boy Friend" by Universal with original Broadway stage star, Julie Andrews, starring. However they were unable to get rights, so instead we got "Thoroughly Modern Millie". Still, This film is somewhat fascinating t to watch, if only because the score is delightful, and it's so bizarre, that it's worth seeing.