If you're looking for someone to direct a very pointed comedy of modern manners and morality, do you really want to entrust the task to someone best known for directing violent revenge thrillers starring Charles Bronson and a ghastly remake of The Big Sleep (set in 1970's England, for God's sake)?
Michael Winner liked to present himself as a bon viveur who didn't take himself or his films too seriously but how he got this gig is beyond me. If there is a wrong way to frame a shot or a wrong place to put the camera, a wrong moment to cut (to a reverse shot, or away from a close-up during an intimate, reavealing speech), he will unerringly find it, his ability is uncanny.
Seriously, I have never seen a fine script or such a talented cast trashed so comprehensively. Only those who haven't seen the fine craftsmanship of the play, or can ignore the clodhopping direction, could find this entertaining. Alan Ayckbourn has co-writing credit and I can't imagine what he felt as Winner trampled the qualities of the original under foot.
I award two stars for the views of Scarborough which gave me a pang of nostalgia (the Castle Community Centre where the cast rehearse is just along the road from our former home).
Michael Winner liked to present himself as a bon viveur who didn't take himself or his films too seriously but how he got this gig is beyond me. If there is a wrong way to frame a shot or a wrong place to put the camera, a wrong moment to cut (to a reverse shot, or away from a close-up during an intimate, reavealing speech), he will unerringly find it, his ability is uncanny.
Seriously, I have never seen a fine script or such a talented cast trashed so comprehensively. Only those who haven't seen the fine craftsmanship of the play, or can ignore the clodhopping direction, could find this entertaining. Alan Ayckbourn has co-writing credit and I can't imagine what he felt as Winner trampled the qualities of the original under foot.
I award two stars for the views of Scarborough which gave me a pang of nostalgia (the Castle Community Centre where the cast rehearse is just along the road from our former home).