Barrymore

Unless you have seen John Barrymore perform, then you probably won't want to see this one. That's because today, very few even know exactly who Barrymore was. Practically everyone who saw him on stage has since died and unless you are an old movie fiend (like me), then you've probably not seen him in films. As for me, I am very familiar with him and his life--so it was natural that I'd get this DVD. But for the average person, I just can't see it being of a lot of interest.

Christopher Plummer plays the great actor in this film. As to the style, it really looks like a one-man play (with a second person offstage speaking a few lines) that has been filmed and released on DVD--and that's exactly what it is. Back in 1997, Plummer starred in the play "Barrymore" and he received the Tony Award for this performance. The play is set just before Barrymore's attempted comeback in 1942--the same year he died from the effects of alcohol.

As to whether or not this seems like John Barrymore, Plummer really doesn't look much like Barrymore. However, he does act like him--with some of the same mannerisms as well as the ability to play a genial drunk--which was what Barrymore generally was. But it's also very sad seeing a man playing a guy who WAS a great actor but who is only a step away from the grave due to his heavy drinking. Memory lapses, an inability to function without liquor and many reminiscences, this is basically what you'll see.

So is it any good? Well, if the film was about 30 or even 45 minutes, it would have been excellent. However, seeing a ruined, drunken wreck of a man talk and talk for 83 minutes is simply too much--even for a John Barrymore or Christopher Plummer fan. It becomes depressing and a bit tedious after a while. Worth seeing for the right person but difficult at the same time due to the subject matter. It's really a shame--Plummer is great in the role and should be commended for his performance.

Christopher Plummer, what a great actor, he is known mainly to the world as Capt. Von Trapp in the Sound of music. It seems as though he has heightened his acting skills on film since he has reached his early eighties, with a 2011 Oscar for Beginnings and his touching role in Millennium, among others. This filmed One man show gives him the opportunity to show us the scope of his titanesque talent. His subject: John Barrymore, from a family dynasty (his parents, his brother Lionel and his sister Ethel) that marked the classical theatre and cinema of the late 19th century through to today, with grand- daughter Drew. Plummer takes us along the route this person who tasted inaccessible glories and a proportionate decline. This is theatre on film. Definitely not for everyone. Excellent on the other hand, for those who have some knowledge of classical Shakespearian theatre and the golden age of American cinema.

I saw this at TIFF last Fall and was very disappointed. Although Plummer was wonderful, the film is an overproduced mess that never gets past its bad writing. The choice of director was wrong versus some one that had the biopic chops. The use of flashbacks and added film montages makes the film look cheap and takes away from Plummer. My sense is that this film will not find a distributor as it is sadly boring, slow and dull. This was a case of leave a good Broadway one off alone. Why Plummer would do this is puzzling. He won the Tony and now this is a sluggish tarnished effort. I wanted to like the film given Plummer's ability to command a stage but would bogs the film down is the pacing and cliché dialog. The other problem is that approach and art direction looks like they threw anything they had from the "theatre warehouse" at the film. Producer Garth Drabinsky (now in jail)has the theatrical chops but his return to the dated material and a subject long forgotten was a bad mistake.

Christopher Plummer is "Barrymore" in this 2014 filming of the two-person play by William Luce, which was first performed by Plummer in 1996.

In the play, Barrymore has rented a theater in order to rehearse for a backers audition of a Richard III revival. The play had been one of his great triumphs in the theater. He can't remember his lines and is drunk, so he needs the rehearsal. Offstage is a prompter, Frank (John Plumpis) who feeds him lines and puts up with the erratic actor throughout.

During rehearsal, Barrymore confronts his growing up, his marriages, his brother and sister, his friends, his successes and his failures, every once in a while coming out with something that's actually from Richard III, with some other Shakespeare thrown in.

Christopher Plummer is phenomenal. He sounds just like Barrymore, and he is superb at bringing out the humor and pathos of the script, as well as reciting some of the beautiful Shakespearian speeches.

I realize some people didn't care for this, and probably seeing this on stage is a different experience. One poster mentioned that this is "dated material and a subject long forgotten." The name Barrymore is not forgotten, and there's nothing dated about Shakespeare. John Barrymore was a fascinating person, an important part of theater, and a presence in films. And Christopher Plummer is a treasure.

It is 1942. Barrymore prepares for a backer's audition as he dreams of a triumphant comeback. This is Christopher Plummer reprising his one man play as the alcoholic John Barrymore. There is no doubt that Plummer is an acting God. He shows it here in spades. But it doesn't add up to be a compelling movie.

It's one of those age old question of how to adapt a play onto the big screen. This felt like a slightly drunk old grandfather telling the young'uns about the old times. Sometimes it's funny as Barrymore and CW Fields try to sign up for WWI. But it's mostly a series of never ending stories. He is alone with Frank who is just off stage. It doesn't really allow for great interaction. We don't get the full power of Plummer's presence that I assume we would get from the play. For Plummer as an actor, I would give him a 10. But as a movie, this is only a 5.