THE BOY FRIEND
UK, 1971, 107 minutes, Colour.
Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Barbara Windsor, Moira Fraser, Bryan Pringle, Antonia Ellis, Tommy Tune, V1adek Sheybal, Max Adrian, Georgina Hale, Glenda Jackson.
Directed by Ken Russell.
The Boy Friend is a general exhibition musical from Ken Russell. Russell's extravagance is embodied in lavish production numbers that rival and pay homage to the old American stage and screen musicals. The Boy Friend itself is pleasant froth, but Russell has enlivened it by telling a story of a company playing it to an almost empty house and a Hollywood director looking for talent. The lead (Glenda Jackson in a short comedy piece) has an accident and stage manager Twiggy takes her place. The ads are right. Twiggy is wonderful in her Cinderella type role. Definitely for musical fans.
1. The appeal of this musical comedy, its qualities?
2. The fact that it was based on a play, the tone of the original play and its spoof of the 20s, yet capturing the charm of the drawing room musical comedy? A tribute to the 20s musicals and their lightness?
3. The importance of Ken Russell's directing this film? His experience of going to see a performance and finding the provincial cast overdoing it to impress the director? The way that he used this experience as a framework of his film? The humour of the satire on provincial companies and their would-be stardom?
4. The further framework of the backstage romance, the presentation of backstage dramas? The use of the 'Cinderella' theme?
5. How well did the various plot levels work, how did they interweave, throw light on one another, contribute to the audience's ultimate enjoyment? How much depth did they give to the musical?
6. Comment on the basic play and its conventions and their impact on audiences, and the values that they reflect, especially England in the 20s: the look of the 20s, the rich girl in disguise, the rich boy in disguise, the giggling girls at school, the French teacher, English aristocracy, drawing room situations? Comment on the style of the performance, especially the exaggerations, especially of the chorus girls?
7. The importance of the backstage story: its fairytale appeal, the character of Rita and her role as the star, her injury and watching the show, her leaving in tears at the end? Polly and her role as assistant stage manager, the Cinderella type? The importance of Twiggy's performance and its grace? Polly becoming a star, her fears, her throwing herself into the performance, receiving encouragement, coping with the lines (trying to read them as she performed), her love for Tony, her fear of his love for another girl, the irony of their making the cake? The importance of the contract being offered to her and her turning it down to stay with Tony? How well handled was this conventional story, the values that emerged from it?
8. The backstage story: Max and his running of the show, the Parkhills and their squabbling, Hortense and her vulgar glamour, the girls and their bickering, rivalry, Tommy and his being upstaged by Maisie, Maisie and her trying to get Detherill's attention? The humour of Tommy being De Thrill's son? The disillusionment of Maisie at the end? What comment did it make on the world of theatre, stardom?
9. The character of De Thrill, the aura of Hollywood, his watching the show, his reaction to each of the characters over-performing, his finding of his son, offering the contract to Polly? The humour and satire on American musicals of the 30s, the tribute to them, the humour of his making 'Singing in the Rain'?
10. The importance of imagination in the presentation of the musical numbers: De Thrill's imagination, Polly's? The continual use of 'I Could Be Happy With You', as a chorus throughout the film? As a theme for Polly, for Tony? Comment on the success of its variety of presentations: the Grecian fantasy, the phonograph, the Lotus land? The effect of the 'Bloomsbury' sequence, the pixies? 'The Riviera' and the Busby Berkley presentation? The pathos of the Pierrot song? The various chorus songs, especially the main theme? The presentation of such songs as 'The Boy Friend', 'Safety in Numbers', 'Any Old Iron'? The reprise of American songs as 'You Are My Lucky Star', 'All I Do Is Dream Of You'?
11. A satisfying tribute to the musical genre? A touch of humanity in the presentation of conventional material?
