Stephen Frears has proved himself very adroit in the past with adventurous or at least quirky material such as "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "Dirty Pretty Things." But here, like that other great innovative English director Mike Leigh in "Topsy_Turvey", he sings a paean of praise to showbiz in deeply conventional fashion. Even so, this is quite a satisfying piece of film-making.
The Windmill Theatre in Soho started life as a cinema, but became a live theatre after its purchase in 1930 (altered, for no apparent reason, to 1937 in the film) by Laura Henderson, the wealthy widow of a jute tycoon, who had spent many years in India. After a brief unsuccessful flurry with conventional plays, Laura and her experienced manager, Vivian Van Damm hit on the idea of "Revuedeville", a continuous variety show drawing on the vaudeville tradition. When many imitators emerged (and with the Windmill losing money) Laura decided some tasteful nudity a la Follies Bergere was in order. She sweet-talked the (rather susceptible) Lord Chamberlain, Lord Cromer, whom she knew socially, into the idea, though he imposed the famous condition that, like statues in an art gallery, nude artistes were not to move on stage.
The re-vamped show was a great success; this time not so many other theatrical managements seemed to want to follow the Windmill's example, and by the time World War 2 broke out the Windmill had a unique reputation for tasteful titillation. The auditorium was largely underground and it survived the blitz, staying open continuously except for a three-week period in September 1939 when all London theatres were closed. Inside, Mrs Henderson and her manager had a famously stormy relationship (he banned her from the theatre several times and to get access she resorted to such devices as auditioning for animal acts in a bear suit).
For me, the real interest in the film was not so much the personal dramas (and there were plenty of these during wartime) but the re-creation of the Windmill's shows which were essentially high-minded soft porn set to popular songs of the day. Titillation was the order of the day and blokes made up the bulk of the audience. Much of the music is original, from the prolific George Fenton, but the shows capture the atmosphere of the times. The film's own production values are deficient in other areas, however some of the "outside" scenes are pretty minimalist and the London blitz skyline looks like a painted backdrop.
Needless to say Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins as Mrs Henderson and Van Damm, old pros as they are, put in fine, if sometimes histrionic, performances, and Will Young, even if he is more singer than actor, played the high camp Bertie to the manner born. The music is always easy to listen to, and though the shows might be a little glossier than the original, the entertainment value is there. It's really "Topsy Turvey from Soho", a celebration of a particular part of the British musical theatre. I suspect it will bore anybody under 50 witless, but the rest will find it satisfying.
The Windmill Theatre in Soho started life as a cinema, but became a live theatre after its purchase in 1930 (altered, for no apparent reason, to 1937 in the film) by Laura Henderson, the wealthy widow of a jute tycoon, who had spent many years in India. After a brief unsuccessful flurry with conventional plays, Laura and her experienced manager, Vivian Van Damm hit on the idea of "Revuedeville", a continuous variety show drawing on the vaudeville tradition. When many imitators emerged (and with the Windmill losing money) Laura decided some tasteful nudity a la Follies Bergere was in order. She sweet-talked the (rather susceptible) Lord Chamberlain, Lord Cromer, whom she knew socially, into the idea, though he imposed the famous condition that, like statues in an art gallery, nude artistes were not to move on stage.
The re-vamped show was a great success; this time not so many other theatrical managements seemed to want to follow the Windmill's example, and by the time World War 2 broke out the Windmill had a unique reputation for tasteful titillation. The auditorium was largely underground and it survived the blitz, staying open continuously except for a three-week period in September 1939 when all London theatres were closed. Inside, Mrs Henderson and her manager had a famously stormy relationship (he banned her from the theatre several times and to get access she resorted to such devices as auditioning for animal acts in a bear suit).
For me, the real interest in the film was not so much the personal dramas (and there were plenty of these during wartime) but the re-creation of the Windmill's shows which were essentially high-minded soft porn set to popular songs of the day. Titillation was the order of the day and blokes made up the bulk of the audience. Much of the music is original, from the prolific George Fenton, but the shows capture the atmosphere of the times. The film's own production values are deficient in other areas, however some of the "outside" scenes are pretty minimalist and the London blitz skyline looks like a painted backdrop.
Needless to say Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins as Mrs Henderson and Van Damm, old pros as they are, put in fine, if sometimes histrionic, performances, and Will Young, even if he is more singer than actor, played the high camp Bertie to the manner born. The music is always easy to listen to, and though the shows might be a little glossier than the original, the entertainment value is there. It's really "Topsy Turvey from Soho", a celebration of a particular part of the British musical theatre. I suspect it will bore anybody under 50 witless, but the rest will find it satisfying.