Entertaining Mr Sloane

The adaptation of Joe Orton's play Entertaining Mr Sloane is a misfire. Beryl Reid is the middle aged nymphomaniac Kath who spots the amoral narcissistic drifter Mr Sloane (Peter McEnery) lying half naked sunbathing in the cemetery. Kath herself who lives by the cemetery is dressed seductively, a see thorough dress and we initially see her suggestively licking an ice lolly.

Kath invites Mr Sloane to become her lodger and quickly seduces him. Her elderly father, Dada recognizes Mr Sloane as the man who killed his employer and then disappeared.

Mr Sloane is having a fine time womanizing, tormenting Dada and being playful with Kath and her brother Ed (Harry Andrews) who drops by every now and then. Ed seems straight-laced but drives a pink Pontiac and makes Mr Sloane the chauffeur with a tight leather uniform.

The film is supposed to be a grotesque, sexual black farce but the film reveals its hand too early. McEnery is too old as Mr Sloane, he should had been held back as an innocent charmer than unveiled as a murderer as soon as he met Dada. As for Ed, that pink Pontiac gave him away not matter how much of a country gent he tried to pass off as.

The ending was also rather abrupt and disappointing although I suspect a gay marriage ceremony would had been seen as shocking at the time.

If you haven't seen this superb film - put it to the top of your "must view" list! Featuring two of Britain's best character actors, the late Beryl Reid and the late Harry Andrews, this scintillating black comedy is based on Joe Orton's wonderful play of the same name. Reid is marvellous as aging nymphomaniac Kath and Harry Andrews provides a superb foil as her roue brother Ed, who both attempt to secure the sexual services of their libidinous lodger, Sloane (played by Peter McEnery). Set in an eerie graveyard lodgehouse and with Alan Webb as their grubby father this brilliant film has gained cult status since its release over 30 years ago and is the only film I can watch - and enjoy - repeatedly.

Have watched this film many times and enjoy it just as much as the first time,a mark of a good film.Joe Orton certainly had a strange sense of humour very evident in this black-comedy.A must see if never seen.Perhaps immoral,so what the blazes its entertaining to say the least.Great performances from the cast.

ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE is certainly an uneven adaptation of the Joe Orton play, but it does create a few sparks with the performances of BERYL REID as Kath, PETER McENERY as Sloane and HARRY ANDREWS as Ed. The trio is involved in a three-way affair with Mr. Sloane who charms them both with his good looks and apparently bi-sexual leanings.

It's certainly not the usual fare one expects to see on screen, even in the '70s when the material was considered quite daring. But the script gives the three principals some rich material to work with and the film now has a cult status with fans of black comedy.

Orton is the gay playwright who was killed by his lover who then committed suicide and was dead before this film version of his hit London play was made. Whether he would have approved of some of the changes is debatable, but it still has the power to shock and cause ripples of laughter despite the darkness of the theme.

Summing up: As oddball as they come.

I first saw EMr.S as a teenager who had just come out of the closet. As a child I was a fan of '60s horror films (Carradine, Cushing, et.al.) and black comedies (e.g., "No Way to Treat a Lady") and suspense/murder ("Eye of the Cat" or "Wylie", "What Happened to Aunt Alice?", "Daddy's Gone a Hunting", "Who Killed Teddy Bear?"). EMr.S, at least as I remember it after 20 years, combined those genres. The title character, handsome and bi-sexual, added the homo-eroticism that made for a very happy young gay movie fan indeed. It also led me to learn that the Brits were years ahead of Hollywood in the treatment of gay characters in movies, and I now count "Who Killed Sister George?" and "The Leather Boys" as other personal favorites.