Miss Marie Lloyd

Funny the remark another commenter made about "Miss Marie Lloyd" seeming like it was made in the 1960s. I saw the film knowing nothing of Marie's life. I am an American resident in the UK for 15 years. I love Hollywood musicals, especially those made about performers and songwriters of previous generations. "Miss Marie Lloyd" reminded me of the biographies made during the 1940s and 1950s of stars of yesteryear, showing the heartbreak behind the closed dressing room doors. I thought the device of the showman linking episodes of Marie's life was very well done, and the showman's tribute to Marie at the end moved me a great deal. The showman's being played by a black actor brought Bert Williams to my mind. I knew some of the songs thanks to Hollywood: "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (featured in "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "Berlington Bertie" (from "Star" with Julie Andrews) and of course "My Old Man said Follow the Van" which is so much part of British culture it's still parodied by radio commercials. The voice synching wasn't very good, but Jessie Wallace shone. She brought Marie to life, and the film lovingly tipped its hat to her spirit and her times. What a pity that there aren't more films about performers who were not famous in America- I would love to see more about legends who personified their era and their countries.

This definitely had a very strange feel to it, almost as if it had been first conceived by an aficionado in about 1964 but got shelved and handed eventually to a lot of Media Studies students after languishing in a box for 40 years.

So what sort of a job did they do?

Well it really needs to be split into two parts, the story/ portrayal; and the "production". Firstly the production.

They did not know how to present this did they?

Did they think it was beyond us? That their subject was too long dead for people to have heard of her? I'd like to point out that, despite Marie Lloyd's death in 1922, and myself not being born until 1964 and despite my not being a theatre or musical comedy fan I can honestly say I knew most of the words to most of the songs.. (which I found slightly scary), so the producers need not have been so apologetic that they felt the need to shove in a completely irrelevant and out of place "Prologue" character whose inclusion, as the only representative of an ethnic minority, can only be regarded as the worst sort of self-conscious, politically correct tokenism.. and they didn't even bother to get him to sing in a period "Music-Hall Style" but to warble Edwardian songs a la Marvin Gaye. It was a bad mistake to make. Never "apologise" for the past and create a revisionist version of it (This has also occurred in the Recent "Robin Hood", in "The Ruby in the Smoke" and others.. and frankly, it is jarring) If you are presenting a period piece it has to be accurate to the period in my view or the whole effort is wasted. Nil Points for this uncomfortable and amateurish device. Rubbish

Turning to the original point of the whole thing ie. the story of Marie Lloyd.. again a feeble effort really, poorly planned out, evidence of "don't care-ishness" about it all However......... What saved this whole thing were the performances. Jessie Wallace was remarkably believable as the main character and seemed to have made at least some considerable effort to copy the singing style of the era which almost made up for her evident lack of singing talent. The men surrounding her were all played well and never eclipsed Jessie's tour de force of character acting.. she really lit up the screen. What a pity that she should shine so brightly in such a disastrous fiasco of a production.

I'd like to see this as a stage play actually. I think it would work better that way

Fantastic songs, all so familiar from childhood for me. I was singing along, and laughing out loud, and crying along with Jessie, who was desperately hobbled by a mostly limp script and all the other bizarre shenanigans

A great performance from Jessie Wallace. Convincingly ageing from teens to fifties, and convincingly descending into desperation, loneliness and booze. I'm note sure whether or not she was really singing, but that's not a major quibble.

Whenever I watch a film about a real person, I wonder which bits were real, which made up, and which are dramatic licence. Clearly, Marie's best friend and dresser is a fictional character, existing just to give her someone to talk to. The narrator was totally unnecessary, contrived and, after a while, annoying.

Intriguing period detail, and plenty of excitement in the hustle-and-bustle backstage in the music halls. The idea of Marie as a "pop diva" is an intriguing one, and there are real parallels between her and some of today's female celebs. Her politicism, leading a strike, made an interesting counterpoint to the standard relationship-trauma that films like this will always emphasise.

Having researched Marie (ie: looked her up on Wikipedia), I find that she actually married Bernard (not made clear in the film); they caused a scandal in America when trying to visit the country as an unmarried couple.

The film had the inevitable focus on tragic lovelife and abuse menfolk, but the strength of Marie Lloyd's personality, and her trailblazing role in the public eye, are never forgotten. Sometimes overlooked, but never forgotten.