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n-naqib
Reviews
Chef! (1993)
I love this show.
I have a soft spot for Chef! because I was living in Oxfordshire (where the whole show is set) when it was first aired in the early to mid-90s, and all the countryside scenes and local references ring true and make me nostalgic for that whole period. This is a warm, hugely funny, superbly scripted, wonderfully acted TV comedy which I never tire of watching over again. Despite the changes of cast across the three seasons, the three main characters (Gareth Blackstock, his wife Janice and Gareth's long suffering sidekick, Everton) remain the same throughout and offer enough continuity for the viewer. I am not sure that this show would necessarily translate well to American viewers though. I have shown episodes to American friends and they don't get many of Lenny Henry's riotously funny in-jokes, which often carry very specifically British cultural references (to certain political figures, tabloid journalism, British sports heroes, the public school system, British fast food, and so on). On the other hand Brit friends or people who're really into British culture and the sharp humour really love this show.
As Time Goes By (1992)
gentle delight
"As Time Goes By" is heir to the finest tradition of British situation comedy: fully realised characters (Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer are terrific as the couple who find each other again in late middle age), scintillating dialogue, understated, witty humour and the kind of self deprecating irony that never spills over into bleakness or cynicism. And like another well-loved comedy, "Fraiser", it enshrines the bonds of family, always in the subtlest of ways. Add to that the pace (gentle and modulated) and the fine supporting cast and you have a show that is a delight to watch. It is also ultimately what it says it is -- a musing about time: time lost, time re-gained, and the power of memory.
Scaramouche (1952)
pure magic
Stewart Granger's cheerful cynicism and dashing good looks carry this film through the warmth and cinematic colour of pre-revolutionary France, Hollywood style (it took me years to work out that Marquis 'Domain', the character played by a brilliantly menacing Mel Ferrer, was the American pronunciation for 'de Mayne'). 'Scaramouche' is rightly famous for the breathtaking sword fight at the end, but there is much else by way of humour and atmosphere throughout, not to mention a fine supporting cast: in addition to Ferrer, Eleanor Parker is beautiful and funny as Granger's feisty girlfriend, and a very young Janet Leigh is also good as the aristocrat who loves him. And it's hard not to see a reprise of the film's hilarious ending in one of the final scenes of 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' made more than forty years later . . .
Picnic (2000)
disappointing
I know it's become a cliché to pour scorn on movie re-makes and it's probably unfair to compare a TV movie with one made for the big screen, but this version of "Picnic" is so inconsolably bad that I feel it deserves no excuses. The original (1955 version) was magical in the way it moved all of a part, as though nobody was directing it. This re-make has a steely, contemporary feel to it; the acting is stiff and self-conscious and the cinematography heavy and uninspiring. Please watch William Holden as the charming bum-in-town and Kim Novak as the wistful country girl in the 1955 version (directed by Joshua Logan) and you'll see what I mean.
Separate Tables (1958)
worth seeing
This is a very good film, well worth seeing, but unfortunately I'd already seen the 1983 version with Alan Bates, Julie Christie, and Claire Bloom, all of whom were exceptional, and so, remarkably, the remake is better than the original. The 1983 movie also has the distinct advantage of having British actors in the lead roles: it's a bit of a stretch to think of Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth as wiling away the hours in something so quintessentially English as a seaside Bed and Breakfast. I watched this version more because it features so many old-time favourite movie stars of mine (Lancaster, Niven, Hayworth, Kerr, and a very young looking Rod Taylor).