Mine finally came yesterday (June 2
.
After reading so much about the print quality, I expected something far, far worse. It looks pretty good in places, and those vertical lines to me aren't as distracting as some folks contend. I'd heard the color was at least truer, and generally that's the case -- though Taylor's famous dress reads as tomato, with an orange tint, and not the blood red I recall. It's not a restoration, but we've all owned far worse prints on vhs and dvd.
But even a good print wouldn't fix what seems the worse lighting and (especially in interiors) cinematography in a major film -- even a cheap one. Have you ever seen such SHADOWS?! Every interior seems to have some omnicient lighting source that casts dusk-like shadows across the floor. When Taylor walks toward the daybed during "Clowns," she creates a shadow worthy of PETER PAN. At one point, a lifted hat sends a dark shadow across a face. And the exteriors! During the final sequence, when Cariou has his epiphany about being "coherent," he is literally in the dark. It's shocking.
Returning to the film after about 15 years, I was struck by how badly served Taylor is here -- by lighting, direction, everything but text,for a role she's actually so very right for. She looks best in the final sequences, as has been widely reported -- because the early montage material was filmed last when she was heavier and who knows, probably ready to abandon ship. The most startling example of the lack of care afforded this major star is in the "You Must Meet My Wife" sequence. She answers the door on Cariou and looks abou puffy, bloated, and again, lit from some deadly white light source. She doesn't play the scene badly, but Prince has no idea how to put her and Carious in the same shot -- so he rarely does.
The other impression: how wrong Downs seems. To my thinking, she's far too sophisticated for Anne, so much so, that when she ends up with "Eric" (so dubbed in the film), she seems to be cradle-robbing. She even seems more sophisticated that Cariou. It doesn't help the case made for mature vs. young love, and somtimes she seems like a younger Joan Collins -- a bizarre parallel, considering how many people once called Collins "a poor man's Liz Taylor." She's lovely and accomplished, but a child bride? Isn't that key to making the case for Frederick's crisis?
The only person to emerge unscathed is Rigg. The film's potential is best exhibited in one sequence: Rigg in a back of a carriage, singing "Every Day a Little Death" as a ruminative solioquy. Suddenly, we see what might've been.
There are other nice glimpses -- I even felt Herminone was nicely understated, and with better direction and (fill in the blank) could've worked as Taylor's Mama. But even in the famous dinner table scene, she is given inadequate focus and weight. The sense of occasion is lacking, so she cannot score.
If only a Vincent Minelli could've gotten his hands on this material, it might's been one of the charming gems. The film doesn't fail because of the budget constraints -- it fails because Prince was at sea with storytelling on film. Scenes that had rhythm and grande style on stage fall flat and don't even play as musical comedy. It sometimes feels like a dubbed foreign movie -- and not SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.
I'm in love with the material, and poorly executed as it is -- missing about half the score -- I'm happy to have it. At least we can sift through the scenes and watch the best parts -- and Taylor's "Clowns" does almost work. This might've been one of her best screen performances, and that's sad.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 6/29/07 at 11:04 AM
