I’ve been to a marvellous movie.
It’s called MAD ABOUT THE BOY made by Barnaby Thompson and is about Noel Coward.
I’m mad about the movie because it’s entertaining, informative and enthralling.
Narrated by Alan Cummings with diary extracts voiced by Rupert Everett.
It charts the rise and rise, the decline and the rise again of The Master.
It contains a wealth of archival footage – some never aired before- I couldn’t have liked it more!
To be famous young and to make fame last is up to the tandem of talent and stamina and a little bit of luck. Coward had the trio in spades, as well as a healthy modicum of confidence and personality.
An established performer by ten, a noted playwright by twenty-five, Coward, as Kenneth Tynan wrote “took English sophistication from the freezer and set it bubbling on the hob.”
MAD ABOUT THE BOY is just one of the films bubbling on the hob in this year’s Cunard British Film Festival.
Many of Britain’s most enduring and well-known faces feature in this year’s stunning selection including Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Spall, Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson in her final film.
The 2023 Festival will open with the premiere of ONE LIFE starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, direct from its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Based on a deeply moving true story of kindness and compassion that was almost forgotten for 50 years, Hopkins delivers a remarkable performance as Sir Nicholas Winton, also known as the “British Schindler”, who helped rescue hundreds of children from Europe on the verge of World War II.
The Festival centrepiece is THE CRITIC, a wickedly mischievous reimagining of Anthony Quinn’s novel Curtain Call, featuring an all-star cast led by Sir Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton.
Closing the Festival is the Australian Premiere of WICKED LITTLE LETTERS, based on a true scandal of the 1920s. It stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley as neighbours in a small town whose residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters. F***ingBlstering.
The inimitable Sir Michael Caine stars in what is rumoured to be his final film, THE GREAT ESCAPER. Starring alongside the late Glenda Jackson, the pair bring to life the true story of a war veteran who made global headlines when he escaped from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy to commemorate fallen comrades.
Revered filmmaker Ken Loach continues to examine social and human rights issues in his final film THE OLD OAK, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes International Film Festival. Long-time collaborator Dave Turner stars as a publican who struggles to hold on to his small-town pub as tensions rise upon the arrival of Syrian refugees seeking asylum.
Speaking of old oaks, an acorn from Mike Leigh, son Leo, has written and directed a searing little piece called SWEET SUE, about a middle aged woman dating an impotent bikie whose son is a vile, self centred queen. Like Leigh senior, Leigh junior finds humanity in the malevolent and malcontent.
The festival is pleased to announce Marcus Markou, the director of THE WIFE AND HER HOUSE HUSBAND will be visiting Sydney and Melbourne for a series of Q&A sessions. His new film is a coruscating drama navigating the highs and lows of married life, from beginning to end.
Turn the clock back a few decades and Helen Mirren becomes the priestess, Caesonia in the controversial CALIGULA (1981). A highlight of the festival retrospective ‘Britain’s Finest Leading Ladies’, CALIGULA – THE ULTIMATE CUT will be presented in 4K, featuring an unprecedented amount of never-before-seen footage. Starring alongside Mirren is Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud.
Other retrospective highlights include the 4K restoration of HOWARDS END from revered filmmaker James Ivory, starring Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave; THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, with Maggie Smith’s Oscar winning performance as the unconventional teacher at a conservative school in the 1930s; THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, a deeply moving drama based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro with Emma Thompson and Sir Anthony Hopkins in BAFTA award-winning roles; WOMEN IN LOVE from iconoclast Ken Russell, which explores the relationship between two sisters and two men and showcases Glenda Jackson in her Oscar winning performance; and MORGAN – A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT about an eccentric artist struggling to win back his upper-class wife, played by Vanessa Redgrave.
This year’s Festival Special Presentation is Ken Russell’s daring, risky and mad TOMMY in a stunning 4K restoration. Audiences can indulge in the grand excesses of the epic Rock Opera loosely based on The Who’s album, which stars Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Elton John and Tina Turner.
The Cunard British Film Festival opens on Wednesday 1 November in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and Thursday 2 November in Byron Bay, Canberra and Brisbane concluding on Wednesday 29 November in all cities.
www.britishfilmfestival.com.au
The Cunard British Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 1 – 29 Nov, Palace Norton St, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central