A Chorus of Disapproval

Although this movie has a screenplay by Alan Ayckbourn(AND Michael Winner) it is a sad(and pale) reflection of the stage play. The (hamfisted) direction by Michael Winner has turned what should be witty light comedy,into a slow dreary and turgid drama. It may have the same plot,and basically the same script as the original stage version,but allow Michael Winner to touch it and it becomes boring. What is worse is the misuse and waste of a great cast. I have never (conciously) seen a Michael Winner film before,and going by this never will again. My (newly acquired) DVD is going straight to the charity shop! PS:~ I saw the stage play when it was premiered in 1984.

When I reviewed "The Revengers' Comedies" about ten years ago, I pointed out that the number of feature films based on the work of Sir Alan Ayckbourn could be counted on the fingers of one hand. That remains true today; the four that existed then ("The Revengers' Comedies", "A Chorus of Disapproval" and two by the French director Alain Resnais) have since been joined by a fifth, a Swiss version of "Season's Greetings", but no others. Sir Alan is one of Britain's most successful and prolific playwrights, with more than eighty full-length plays to his credit, most of which have been performed in London's West End and many of which have been adapted for television, but the British film industry has never taken much interest in his work.

When Guy Jones is transferred by his employers, a large electronics firm, to Scarborough, he joins the local amateur operatic society in order to make friends in the town, and becomes involved with their production of "The Beggar's Opera". Guy, a widower, begins an affair with Hannah, the neglected wife of Dafydd Ap Llewellyn, the society's autocratic Welsh stage director. Another plotline concerns a rumour that Guy's employers are considering purchasing a piece of waste ground adjacent to their factory, and several members of the society, hoping to make money from a piece of property speculation, try and obtain inside information from him. One offers him a cash bribe, and Ian Hubbard, a dodgy local businessman, tries to bribe him by offering the sexual favours of his attractive young wife Fay.

The film was directed by Michael Winner, a director whom I would not normally associate with comedy. The only other comedy of his which I have seen was "Parting Shots", a defiantly black and bad-taste, if sometimes effective, social satire, which could have been better but for some eccentric miscasting. One thing that "A Chorus of Disapproval" cannot be criticised for is the casting. The film features some of the leading lights of the British acting profession, including two major international stars in Jeremy Irons as Guy and Anthony Hopkins as Dafydd, and both play their parts perfectly well, as do most of the other cast members.

And yet I have never enjoyed the film as much as I did the original stage play when I saw it in the West End in the mid-eighties. Ayckbourn's success as a dramatist is due not merely to the quality of his plots and dialogue but also on matters which transfer less easily to the cinema screen, such as complexity of structure and his knowledge of stagecraft. (Besides being a playwright, he is also the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph theatre in Scarborough). The screenplay for "A Chorus..." is very much abridged when compared with the original play, although not as much as "The Revengers' Comedies", which was a condensation of two plays into a single film. Winner's rather heavy-handed style of direction is probably more suited to a broad satire like "Parting Shots" than it is to Ayckbourn's more subtle comedy of manners. The original stage production I saw would probably have merited a nine, but something has gone missing between stage and screen. I cannot give the film more than 6/10.

I am surprised that other reviews for this film are negative. If anyone has ever participated in an amateur operatic society then they know that this movie is bang on. Perhaps it is an in-joke, but for us in the know it is hysterical. Most surprising is Anthony Hopkins revealing a remarkable gift fo comedy. His performance alone is worth seeing this. Jeremy Irons is perfectly cast as the stranger who wanders into these "strange doings", and the supporting cast (including the wonderful Lionel Jeffries)are superb. In short, this is one my all-time favorite comedies, and a "must-see" for anyone who has trod the boards with amateurs. I would think anyone would find it amusing, but apparently some of the other critics are quite clueless when it comes to this film. It's not available for purchase, but don't miss it if you find in on TV or in a rental store--especially if you have done an amaatuer musical or are a Hopkins fan. I give it a 10.

Saw this, rather incongruously, with Spanish subtitles in a hotel in deepest, darkest Mexico... and made me feel a little homesick with its warm but too-close-to-the-bone portrayal of provincial English life. Lost dreams and opportunities, and eating chips in your car, staring at the gloomy sea and drizzle. Beautiful.

I never had the Alan Ayckbourn play to prejudice me while watching this delightful Michael Winner picture. I have seen some terrible reviews but felt I wanted to give an unbiased opinion for anyone thinking of watching this. Indeed, Alan Ayckbourn even collaborated on the screenplay with Winner so perhaps he felt it needed a different viewpoint as a movie, rather than as a play, who knows. Regardless of that, I just watched it as a movie and was surprisingly entertained. Jeremy Irons play Guy, recovering from the death of his wife, joins an amateur dramatic society headed by a bull of man, played with extraordinary gusto by Anthony Hopkins, a terrific performance, completed not long before he embarked on Silence of The Lambs, so he was at the top of his game. Irons is rather naïve and gets involved with rather seductive female members of the cast, at first, rather bewildered but then throwing himself in with enthusiasm. Prunella Scales gives a lovely, heartfelt performance as the frustrated wife of Anthony Hopkins who almost immediately falls in love with the tall handsome Irons. Jenny Seagrove is another seductress, although her motives are something more to do with a land deal that Irons is supposed to be able to secure for her and her husband (Gareth Hunt). Having a smattering of operetta knowledge will help the viewer as the cast are performing "The Beggar's Opera" with cast members constantly dropping out only to eventually hand the lead of Macheath to the inexperienced Irons. There is broad farce and pathos in Winner's direction which I really enjoyed and although Jeremy Irons is a bit bland it's made up for with Hopkin's blistering performance. Nice to see Sylvia Syms, another favourite of mine, in her middle years, still beautiful and still underrated, as is this movie.