THE HONEYPOT
US, 1967, 126 minutes, Colour.
Rex Harrison, Cliff Robertson, Susan Hayward, Capucine, Edie Adams, Maggie Smith.
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
The Honey Pot is good entertainment. Mankiewicz has taken Ben Jonson's 17th century play, Volpone, and updated and twisted it into a modern sophisticated comedy and murder mystery. Dialogue is witty and delivered in the best Rex Harrison manner. Volpone was an old morality play about greed and hypocrisy and the film begins with the modern Volpone (fox) Cecil Fox, watching a performance of the play but cutting it off to complete the performance himself - but not in the way we expect. The old themes of the play are incorporated into the film in a way that keeps audiences attentive and entertained.
The actors seem to enjoy themselves; Rex Harrison is as usual, and supported very well by Cliff Robertson, Susan Hayward and Maggie Smith. Joseph L. Mankiewicz made such excellent films as A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, Five Fingers, Julius Caesar, Suddenly Last Summer. His film prior to this one was Cleopatra. Sophisticated, literate, enjoyable cinema.
1. The film takes as its starting point Ben Jonson's 17th century play, Volpone. How far does the film modernise and faithfully follow the play? Where does it begin to differ? What would the audience expect?
2. At the opening of the film Cecil Fox watches Volpone by himself but cuts the performance off before the end. What did he intend at this juncture? What did the audience think he intended? How ironic was the rest of the film from this point of view? The story did not end as he intended. This provided double irony?
3. One of the great themes of the drama is that of appearances versus reality. How is this developed in this film, especially, in the characters of Fox and McFly?
4. Was the film merely a clever literary and cinema exercise or was it merely literate entertainment? Was there anything more to it?
5. How successful was the witty dialogue? Was it funny? Did it arouse audience interest? Did it help return interest in the film?
6. How much of the film's success depended on the characterisation of Cecil Fox. Was he a sympathetic personality, engaging, humorous and clever. In the film was he too much like other Rex Harrison characters? Why?
7. What kind of a man was Cecil Fox - his rags to riches success story, his vanity, his selfishness, his way with women, his education and wit, his cunning, his desire to be a dancer - what did this mean?
8. Why did Fox hire McFly? What kind of man was McFly? Did the audience judge that he was a second-rate actor and assume that he would be a villain? Why? Why did McFly? agree to do the part?
9. How clever was the device (straight out of Volpone) of getting the women to come and bring their gifts - how did this satirise greed of people?
10. Comment on the three women - the actress, the Princess, the Southern Belle. How was each kind of person being satirised, especially Mrs. Sheridan?
11. What was the function of Sarah in the film? How nice was she, how naive, how longsuffering? Why did she put up with so much from Mrs. Sheridan? Why did she fall in love with McFly? why did she believe him to be guilty and trust Cecil Fox? How shrewd was she at the end with the autograph and the inheriting of the estate? Do you think she would have lived happily ever after with McFly?
12. Was the mood of the film changed with Mrs. Sheridan's murder? Whom did you suspect? Why?
13. How carefully were murder mystery techniques used in the latter part of the film -suspicions, Sarah and her terror? Cecil Fox watching all?
14. Did you become suspicious of Fox? How ironic was it that he should be the murderer - using Volpone as he wished? The impact of his suicide and taking the gold with him - and yet foiled in death by tricks? The moral of this?
15. The final dialogue between Fox and Mrs Sheridan - appropriate to the style of the film? Happy ending conventions or irony?
16. Why is this kind of film enjoyable? Why does it appeal to audiences?
