UNDER THE RAINBOW

US, 1981, 93 minutes, Colour.
Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Billy Barty, Eve Arden.
Directed by Steve Rash.

Under the Rainbow is an odd and eccentric comedy thriller. It probably seemed excellent in terms of ideas on paper - but the execution is certainly something different. In many ways it is black and tasteless. It may be funny for American audiences - but critics were hostile, considering it quite unfunny, one commentator even asking whether it was the revenge of the Wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz.

The setting is the mid-west in 1939 and dwarves going to Hollywood for the filming of The Wizard of Oz. (The screenplay parallels the structure of The Wizard of Oz with its realism and dream sequences.) Into the mixture go undercover agents - Chevy Chase quite effective - and Hollywood studios - Carrie Fisher attractive as the manager of the dwarves. There are spies from Hitler's Germany, Japanese tourists and spies, odd collection of characters in a seedy hotel. There is a mixture of raucous behaviour and madcap comedy with mistaken identities. The film was written by comedian Pat McCormick? who plays the part of the dim-witted assistant in the Rainbow Hotel. Not entertaining - but interesting as a cinema oddity.

1. An effective comedy or not? For American audiences? Overseas?

2. Production values: the mid-west and the '30s, Los Angeles and Hollywood? The studios, the hotels? The background of World War 2 and espionage? The musical score?

3. The title and its irony - reference to The Wizard of Oz? The dwarves arriving for their performance? The Rainbow Hotel and the espionage within?

4. The use of the structure twist of The Wizard of Oz? Its effect? The dream and the spoof of the American dream?

5. The midgets and their presentation: ordinary, ugly and raucous -audiences laughing with them or at them? or both?

6. The studios, the film-making, expenses, the skit on the filming of Gone With the Wind?

7. The hotel owner and his girlfriend going off, the nephew and his wanting to manage the hotel, the mismanagement and mess? The mysterious deaths of the tourists?

8. The presentation of Japanese tourists, spoof on them, the multitude of deaths? Japan and World War 2?

9. Hitler and his plans, the fascist dwarf going to America, his self-righteousness, mistaking the contacts, murders? His involvement in the mayhem?

10. The black comedy with spies, deaths, the ruin of the hotel?

11. The prince and the duchess - being stalked by the descendant of Sarajevo? The comedy? The fears, reality? The spoofing of European royalty - Eve Arden's comedy style?

12. Chevy Chase as the American undercover agent - smoothness and comedy? Carrie Fisher as the charming American studio liaison with the dwarves? An attractive couple? Getting involved in the problems?

13. The focus on the hero, his life in the mid-west, going to Hollywood, the hotel, romance, involved with the spies etc.? His waking up to find it was all a dream - and the agents arriving for the filming?

14. Black and raucous comedy - American style?

15. The overall impact of the film as a piece of Americana? Why was this film made in the early '80s?