1963
Directed by Joseph Losey
Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope everyone had a great holiday like I did (I walked away with puzzles and a portrait of James Marsters so I did quite well). Let's all talk about more terrible movies, shall we?
It is clear from the very beginning what the purpose of this film is. The servant becomes the master, the master becomes the servant, etc. Unfortunately, it's pretty dull.
Tony hires Hugo to be his manservant. Hugo also gets his lover/pretend sister hired as a maid. Tony's girlfriend hates Hugo, but he doesn't listen, presumably because bitches be cray.
I will give credit where credit is due. The acting was absolutely fantastic. Dirk Bogarde was incredibly creepy and did a fantastic job of being both insidious and a gentleman. I think there were lots of homosexual undertones in the novel that were completely lost on film. This is unfortunate, because that probably would have made the story a lot more interesting.
The characters' actions were completely improbable and the story was poorly paced. Thumbs down.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Dirk Bogarde took over as a director when Losey fell ill.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Dirk Bogarde took over as a director when Losey fell ill.
Pause to show my age and a generation gap as i had to look up who James Marsters is. Oh right.. thank you.
ReplyDeleteA severely film.. I had great hopes for this one, it had 'me' written all over it.. British 60;s gloom, exploring class and sexuality differences... but I'm afraid it failed to deliver.
Haha don't feel bad. My obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer isolates a lot of people:)
DeleteI agree; it had a really great premise and just could not pull it off.
The problem for me here was that I did not understand the motivations of the characters. Their actions became weirder and weirder into the surreal.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
Delete