Bon Voyage

This wonderful television play is currently on DVD as part of the Disc 6 of The Noel Coward Collection. The disc also includes another teleplay of a Noel Coward story, "Me and the Girls," starring the terrific Tom Courtenay in the role of an openly gay man (one of the few such characters created by the openly gay Coward). If you are a fan of Sir Noel, the entire 7-DVD collection is a treasure-trove, including BBC productions of almost all of his plays, including the rarely seen early Coward play "The Vortex" and the best video production of "Hay Fever" available. One of the discus is devoted entirely to all the plays in the sequence "Tonight at 8:30," performed by Joan Collins and her own repertory company. For "Blithe Spirit," however, you'll have to look elsewhere; here it's represented in audio only as a radio play.

This is a marvelously acted movie version of the Noel Coward story. Judy Parfitt and Nigel Havers are particularly good as the older woman/younger man who fall for each other during the course of a fancy cruise.

My friends and I have been waiting for years for this one to be issued on video, alas, for some reason it seems to have fallen between the cracks.

Part of the Noel Coward collection from BBC, Bon Voyage was originally done in the UK in 1985. Passengers on a cruise ship have their ups and downs and minor battles as the boat heads for Hong Kong. They meet up every evening back in the dining room, and regroup. Astute viewers will recognize Nigel Havers (plays Buchanan here) from Chariots of Fire, and Passage to India. Helen Horton is the pompous, chattering Mrs. Turnbull who won't stop talking and bragging. Horton had worked extensively with Benny Hill, as did some of the other actors from this Noel Coward collection. Michael Aldrige (Sir Colin) has done British and US films, and the British version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Teitelbaums are a common couple from the U.S. We follow them as they toot around the Pacific, visit Hawaii, and even have a costume party onboard. An interesting, low key story, with no big surprises. Directed by Mike Vardy.