The Amazing Trousers

I was lucky enough to see this Short film, starring Kris Marshall, screened at the TCM CLASSIC SHORTS 2007 awards and was, quite frankly, gob smacked that it was not one of the winning trio.

In terms of the story, anyone who likes their humour darkish and with a touch the absurd, will be licking their lips at this irreverent morality tale. It takes a Faustian based story you have heard in numerous forms before and elegantly and humorously toys with your expectations. Its spooky Gothic period setting and the fact that it revolves around a magical item of clothing, for me evoked the atmosphere of Gogal's short stories like 'The Overcoat'.

In terms of the actual film-making, I felt that director William Clark, did a superb job. The look of the film is incredibly moody and rich, building atmosphere without detracting from the comedy. There is also a beautifully executed montage sequence reflecting the main character's ascent to fame and romantic success, which beautifully captures the feel and aesthetic of the Edwardian setting. All the performances of the cast were spot on and I thought it was great to see Kris Marshall in this kind of role, which demonstrated how versatile a comedy actor he can be.

The film just had a great overall pace to it, involved a great twist at the end and was something which I would recommend to anyone to have a look at if you get the chance.

In Edwardian England, the meek young man Henry enters a tailor's shop to find a legless man in a wheelchair in charge. Hard of hearing, needing glasses and generally shy with the ladies, Henry is a typical loser in the race of life but the mysterious tailor offers him a way to increase his opportunities in life. They are a pair of bright red trousers, which allegedly give the wearer all the confidence and good fortune that he could ever ask. But of course, everything comes at a price...

It sounds like a great idea this and indeed there are times when this TCM Classic Shorts finalist does realise this but too many times it is a case of "close but no cigar". This is evident in many aspects throughout the film. The Gothic style is close but not completely right, mostly because of the budget limitations but also the overuse of the lightening effect as a cheap way of creating atmosphere. The style is still close though and I think strong material would have covered for it but, as it is, this is only a good try as well. Playing it up too much damages the script where instead subtly and wit would have worked out better for it and have been more in keeping with the genre.

The performances go with this approach as well though and perhaps limit the film in doing this (or vice versa I suppose). Bamber is not as mysterious as I would have liked but does the job. Marshall is not someone I have a lot of respect for but with the material and direction he is given here, his weak performance is not all his fault. He hams it up wildly but, without the material he is left to rely on his outrageous performance to draw humour and, for my money, that was too much of an ask for him.

It is not terrible though because the idea and the delivery is amusing but with the limitations on the film preventing it totally achieving its genre goal and the material not being as smart as it could have been stop it being as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. Quite fun but flawed with it.