A comedy of discriminating taste and dirty little secrets, the story is set in 1952 England, where Nigel, the Earl of Marshwood, woos Hollywood star Miranda Frayle, upsetting both his mother, Countess Felicity of Marshwood, and her former love, fellow Hollywood star Don Lucas. Right before the engagement party to be held at Marshwood, Moxie, the Countess's personal maid and best friend reveals that Miranda is her estranged sister. Crestwell, the Countess's butler, quickly devises a plan-but an inebriated Lucas's arrival at Marshwood to try to talk to Miranda causes all chaos to break loose.
Julie Andrews
Felicity Marshwood
Edward Atterton
Nigel Marshwood
William Baldwin
Don Lucas
Colin Firth
Peter Ingleton
Stephen Fry
Frederick Crestwell
Sophie Thompson
Dora Moxton 'Moxie'
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Miranda Frayle / Freda Birch
Stephanie Beacham
Elizabeth
Charles Edwards
Phillip Bateman-Tobias
Michael Higgs
Film Director
David Schaal
The Baddie
Director
Eric Styles
Story
Noël Coward
Writer
Paul Rattigan
November 19, 2022
6
This probably isn't one of Noël Coward's better plays for me, but Eric Styles has managed to assemble a solid cast to make this adaptation just about watchable. Edward Atterton (Lord Marshwood) has fallen for Hollywood star "Miranda" (Jeanne Tripplehorn) who is, in turn, on the rebound from a relationship with her on-screen partner "Lucas" (William Baldwin). After their whirlwind romance on the Côte d'Azur they plan to return to his stately pile where his dowager countess mother "Felicity" (Dame Julie Andrews) is waiting to greet them. Now this woman is rather shrewd and egged on by her mischievous nephew "Peter" (Colin Firth) decides to let matters take their course... That plan is rather spiked by a surprise announcement from her long-term confidante "Moxie" (Sophie Thompson) that, coupled with the pursuing "Lucas", creates the template for quite an engaging, if one-dimensional, theatrical farce. Nobody is really challenged here, the plot delivers competent efforts from both cast and screenplay along lines that don't really provide much humour or originality, and that concludes very much as you might expect. It's well photographed (though not very well edited) and Dame Julie brings that certain star quality that we seldom see nowadays. I would probably have left this to the stage where I expect it would have worked better - on the silver screen it falls a bit flat.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00