Un po' di musica notturna

With this much talent on the table this should have been so much better. Liz was a great star, not a singer though, just the wrong actress for the role she should never have been cast. Not only does she not seem comfortable in the role she is not looking her best. It is a shame they didn't cast Glynis Johns in the stage role she created, she would have been perfection as the flighty, melancholy aging actress and she and Hermoine Gingold make sense as mother and daughter. Hermoine and Elizabeth Taylor bear no resemblance in either feature or gesture making it even harder to get into the material. Diana Rigg, Hermoine Gingold and Len Cariou do what they can with their parts and the settings are lovely but the direction is flat, in this sort of whimsy that is deadly. It has moments of pleasure but overall a miss.

There are several misunderstandings about this woefully mis-guided film floating around.

First, Liz Taylor cannot be blamed for the sound of her singing -She was dubbed! I've heard her actual vocals -be very, very glad that another singer was used. Only Len Cariou, Diana Rigg, and Laurence Guittard's singing voices are their own.

The decision to move the locale from Sweden to Austria had nothing to do with art and everything to do with finances. The picture was financed by an Austrian company... And woefully underfunded, which limited neophyte director Prince's re-shoot options (re the ever-expanding, ever-contracting Liz).

Prince has said he simply couldn't figure out a way to use the vocal quintet for the film, so they and their songs were cut. Sondheim wrote new lyrics for Liaisons, and the song was filmed (as was In Priase of Women) but for some reason they were cut from the final version of the film. Perhaps length. Perhaps to keep the focus on the Cariou-Taylor plot line. The new version of The Glamorous Life was extremely well-done, and shows the potential of the piece in surer, better-financed hands.

Casting the film proved extremely difficult. Liz Taylor's name value was crucial to the production. Many different leading men were considered, and in the end Cariou was only brought in at the very last minute because no one else had been signed. Ditto with Laurence Guittard. It's ironic that their performances are the best in the film.

Most of the blame for this shambles falls on Hal Prince. He allowed the movie to be far too dark and Taylor to be far too desperate and clutching. Stephen Sondheim is said to have encouraged the dark tone. Perhaps another director would have lightened things up a bit and allowed the film to be more romantic and fun.

A DVD transfer is extremely unlikely -The original negatives are all but destroyed, not having been preserved properly. Image Entertainment had the title on their release list for some time, but eventually gave up on it, saying the original elements were unusable and the title not likely to sell nearly enough copies to make a restoration worthwhile. The sound, in particular, is problematic -as it was terrible to begin with. There is a very good laserdisc release of the film, which is much clearer than the VHS version, but it's exceedingly hard to find.

So -What was good about this film? The new Glamorous Life song/sequence worked wonderfully, as did the expanded Everyday A Little Death sequence. Cariou, Guittard, and Rigg gave excellent performances. Jonathan Tunick's new orchestrations and underscoring were, as always, first-rate -particularly during Erik's attempted suicide. (Tunick has a cameo as the conductor at the film's opening.) Prince's transition from the theatre stage to "real life" was well done, and the movie has a very promising start. Fans of the original stage musical will forever be frustrated by this film version, which could have been wonderful.

UPDATE: Since I wrote this the film has been (at last!) released on DVD, and the soundtrack recording is now on CD. Several reviewers have complained of the poor quality of the DVD, but the video and audio restoration work was extremely well done. The film never looked or sounded better. According to the new liner notes for the soundtrack CD there were four additional songs from the stage score that were to be filmed, but the production ran out of money. I'm upped my original rating of the film, as each time I see it I find more to enjoy.

This is probably one of the most maligned film versions of a stage musical ever made. And a while some of it's criticisms are well deserved, this film certainly has it's benefits. Among the better parts of the film there is, above all, Diana Rigg's Charlotte. Rigg ranks as one of the most under-appreciated actresses of all time, and her performance is simply pitch-perfect. It is also fortunate to have Len Cariou, Laurence Guittard and Hermoine Gringold re-create their stage roles, and Lesley Ann Down is a lovely addition, well cast as Anne, even if she doesn't do her own singing.

On the downside, the setting of the film is unwisely moved to Vienna, where there is . no midnight sun, and much of the score is eliminated. And then there is the controversial casting of Elizabeth Taylor as Desiree. Taylor is a very gifted actress, but in this role Taylor is simply a black hole, overly dramatic and lacking the warmth and joy Glyinis Johns brought to the stage role. Still, since it is based on one of the finest musicals of all time, this film deserves a DVD release

I really wanted to like this film - the songs are fabulous, and, together with Follies and Company, it really is one of Sondheim's best musicals. But this is a wasted opportunity. The strongest overlapping trio (Now/Soon/Later) on stage sounds terrific, here it just doesn't work. Other songs - particularly Liaisons and The Miller's Son - are missing. It looks drab and empty. But it does have its good points - Send in the Clowns is quite touching (it doesn't have to be sung - look at what Judi Dench and Elaine Stritch have done with it if you're not convinced) and Elizabeth Taylor is the perfect choice for Desiree. It Would Have Been Wonderful works well and is by far the musical high point. As some kind of record of the show, it is adequate, mildly satisfying, and passes the time. But it certainly isn't great art and fails to engage any hint of interest in the characters.

The most baffling thing about this disaster of a film is the fact that it was directed by Hal Prince..the director of the original Broadway production. Unfortunately Prince,who managed to create a stage masterpiece gave us a film flop! Miscasting,poor editing and excising of songs really hurt this one. Elizabeth Taylor is terrible as the wistful Desiree Armfeldt,clodhopping through the film like a bull in a china shoppe.Her singing is pitiful(in send in the clowns she actually can be heard trying to find the note!)Christopher Guard and Leslie Anne Down are dull as Henrick and Anne,no emotion,no passion.

There are some strong performances however, Len Cariou,Laurence Giuttard and Hermione Gingold shine in the roles they created on Broadway (even with Guittard's and Gingold's big solos being cut)and Diana Rigg is outstanding as Charlotte,giving the film some much needed life. Altogether its a big miss,but with some small rewards.