Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

I've seen this movie twice and yet still can't make head or tail of it. However, that doesn't prevent it from being near on brilliant, perhaps the lamentably late Vivian Stanshall's masterpiece. Trevor Howard as Sir Henry rambles on pompously (and nonsensically) and maintains a bunker which houses two guys who pretend it's still World War II for Howard's sake. There's some sort of plot involving exorcising Howard's brother's ghost (played by Stanshall) and a sub-plot involving Patrick Magee as a Reverend up to no good (can't figure out what sort of no good, however). The extremely low production values add to the feeling of run-down old money that make this dada narrative so damn funny. It's also got some good music and Howard in blackface on a unicycle. Director Steve Roberts was responsible for writing the Max Headroom TV show, of which I have extremely fond but vague memories.

"The cracks are showing, listen to the loonies croon". Perhaps the most remarkable thing among many remarkable things about this film is that it was ever made. It is a surreal, nonsensical, sepia tinted memorial to a glorious, politically incorrect, past that never was that will nevertheless inspire a sense of nostalgia in every British viewer of a certain age. Beyond that, even to British viewers, it makes very little sense whatsoever. That however is to entirely miss the point. Whether the product of alcoholiday or derangement, or both, the film is a buried and largely unknown gem.

Buy the DVD! Why? - Because to watch the great Trevor Howard, seemingly perfectly in his element as the "brandy baffled rhinoceros Fuhrer" of Rawlinson End is, alone, worth the money; because you will almost certainly never see it on television again; because you will want to watch it time after time, (the second to at least actually confirm that you weren't hallucinating when you watched it the first), and then to get more and more of what is a very, very, rich seventy one minute running time. Some scenes don't work, but the pace of the film is so rapid you won't have the opportunity to become bored. Like me you may also get huge if guilty enjoyment out of casually slipping it into your DVD player when unsuspecting friends come to visit and you suggest they might like to watch a movie you've come across.

Having done that please also buy the album. Yes, there is an album, (not a soundtrack) which, in my opinion is even stranger and laugh out loud funnier than the film.

A truly eccentric British film based upon an even more eccentric story by Viv Stanshall. Trevor Howard is magnificent as Sir Henry and is supported by many other stalwarts of the UK film industry. Trevor Howard was a true actor - tackling both mainstream and experimental parts - some of todays famous actors should take note. The plot, Sir Henry's attempt to exorcise the ghost of his brother Humbert, has many strange and entertaining asides woven around it. Look out for the "pet prisoners of war", the unicycle scene, the dinner party and the incredible Mrs E. The film suffers from a very low budget - the sound is appalling at times and I suspect it may have been shot on 16mm. It was also in B/W though this seem to add to the overall feel. Sir Henry is also available as a book and was also an LP though this seem to be very rare. The LP is quite different to the film in both content and expression. This film is not for anyone wanting a British "carry on" style comedy - but rather a highly sophisticated and subtle film with comic elements. The UK film industry should have taken note instead of producing the comedy dross that it did at this period.

Sir Henry, a bigot, unfit father, drunkard, thug, commandant of his personal prisoner of war camp 40 years post world war two, one of Trevor Howards best parts and reminiscent of his part as Lord Cardigan in Charge of the Light Brigade. The rest of the cast is excellent although not 'Big' names. Viv Stanshell directs and appears as Sir Henry;s younger brother, coincidentally Viv died on the same day of the year as the real Sir Henry Rawlinson. Explaining the stream of consciousness that makes up this film is difficult to explain to the uninitiated but Rawlinsons End is haunted by the ghost of Sir Henrys brother, enter erstwhile exorcist the Rev Slodden and cockney wideboy partner hoping to benefit financially. At the same time a family gathering for a drunken Viking orgy of violence. This film needs the understanding of the English class system and 1500 years of oppression to fully appreciate so I would not expect much of an American audience to truly understand the finer graining but give it a try and have a limey friend on hand to explain. However still the funniest film you are likely to see. Favourite Line. "Silence, if I want your opinion I'll thrash it out of you!" Stanshall himself was a product of an authoritarian upbringing his father being an RAF officer, Sir Henry is what he is a bigot and a stone cold killer the sort of person that made and ran the English empire and we need these examples to remind us of what has gone before and what can change, if you really have difficulty in understanding the concept of irony just cuddle up with your friends DVD boxset. BACK OUT ON DVD, POUNCE NOW BEFORE THEY GO!

It's 18 years since I saw Sir Henry at the cinema. My friends and I had to go two nights in a row, just to make sure we hadn't imagined it the first time.

Sir Henry is a stroll through the mind of Director, writer, performer, and Bonzo Dog Band frontman Vivan Stanshall's mind - which, by the early 80's, was probably coming seriously unravelled. Fans of hard-core British surrealism absolutely must see this movie. Everyone else should probably avoid it. Rooms filled with rotting fruit, ghostly mechanical bulldogs, face-jumping competitions, and not least of all Sir Henry's Brother Hubert (Viv), who goes fishing for hairdressers. Stanshall's humour has far more in common with Dali than with Eddie Murphy, and the overwhelming majority of (at least, American) filmgoers will simply be stupified.

A few things should be said about sir Henry. First, Trevor Howard, in the lead role, plays such a magnificent drunk that it's a little hard to believe he was putting it on (I do believe it was his last movie.) Secondly, the film alternately plods and lurches in such a fashion that , as with early Woody Allen films, you'll find yourself sitting through a fair bit of material that doesn't work, just for the blinding moments when it comes together. Thirdly, as wonderful as this movie is (and despite its faults, my memory insists it _is_ quite wonderful), it isn't as good as the album. Sir Henry the film is terrific. Sir Henry the LP is a comic masterpiece; Stanshall's finest moment.

8 out of 10.