This little theatrical farce is a lot like those ‘veddy’ British Ealing Comedies so popular at the time. Often LOL funny, it has enough of a following in England for a colorized edition.* Set in a mid-sized British industrial town, we join the local theatrical rep company, a landing spot for professional also-rans, as they start rehearsal for next week’s play . . . or will once everyone shows up. A new play, written by local amateur with connections Margaret Rutherford, is being put on its feet by Robert Morley’s very reluctant producer/director with the usual talent-challenged cast and skeleton crew. Easy to see the comic possibilities here, Michael Frayn’s NOISES OFF is the G.O.A.T. of these things, but this more modest insider look works thanks to a cast kept on the move by journeyman director Ralph Smart, a looking-fabulous turn from Kay Kendall just before she broke thru in GENEVIEVE/’53 (more or less what happens to her character here), but mostly from doughty, fusty Rutherford and from some of the most outstanding quick comic reverses ever caught on film from Morley who gets to run the show and not simply support less funny, less talented people.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Less Double-Bill suggestion than Warning: Like so many attempts at transferring farce from stage to screen, Peter Bogdanovich’s try at NOISE OFF/’92 is a mere shadow of its stage self.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *It should go without saying: avoid all colorized editions. It’s like talking a kid to a Children’s Museum when the real deal is just across the street.
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