So yes, I ended up watching three films in a row (with breaks for the lotto and news). First up was Into the Woods - film of the musical, soundtrack by Stephen Sondheim. I couldn't actually believe how star-studded it is. It's basically a mish-mash of classic fairytales - a baker (James Corden, father played by Simon Russell Beale) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are cursed to be childless (a common theme), but the curse can be reversed if they assist the witch who caused it (Meryl Streep) in preparing a potion to restore her youthful good looks. The items they must collect, in no particular order, are - a cow as white as milk (Jack and the Beanstalk), hair as yellow as corn (Rapunzel), a cape as red as blood (Little Red Riding Hood), and a golden shoe (Cinderella). And yes, they're all to be found in the woods..
Cue some more stars popping up - Jack's mother is Tracy Ullman (wow, it's ages since I saw her!), and it's the baker's wife that persuades Jack to sell the cow for magic beans - and Johnny Depp is Little Red Riding Hood's wolf. Christine Baranski is Cinderella's stepmother, with Chris Pine as Prince Charming (who, by the way, is Rapunzel's prince's brother). As we discover when they ride past each other in the forest, headed in different directions on their respective quests, then backtrack as they recognise each other!
I adored this. The singing is surprisingly good, the lyrics as clever as you'd expect from Sondheim. It's been too long since I heard a musical. And the plot is hilarious - the fairytales aren't told in full, just hinted at as we follow the baker and his wife. So, they meet Jack, buy the cow (actually a bull), then are plagued with Jack trying to buy her back with giant-sized treasures! Little Red Riding Hood puts up something of a fight when the baker tries to run off with her cloak - the wife persuades Rapunzel to let down her hair, then cuts off a big hunk of it, which she wears like a scarf as she hikes around looking for the other magical items: and all we get of the Cinderella story, pretty much, is her constantly running out of the palace. On one of these occasions, the baker's wife notices Cinderella's glittery, golden shoes..
Which is where I have my only quibble. See, the baker's wife had one bean left over after buying the cow - and offers it to Cinderella in return for a shoe. Cinderella, now, is not impressed with this talk of "magic beans" - she flings it into the undergrowth, where it takes root. And turns into another giant beanstalk, which another giant finds (actually, a giantess) and causes no end of trouble - the end of the film turns into an action-adventure, which I'm not keen on. Mind you, there is an interesting tendency to mess with the fairytale storylines as the film comes to a close - which is fun. Ah, but I did enjoy it..
Next up was Viceroy's House, about the last months of British rule in India, and focusing on Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy - played by Hugh Bonneville, with Gillian Anderson as his wife. Lily Travers plays their younger daughter, Pamela. Michael Gambon plays Lionel Ismay, born in India and now part of the military establishment, and Mountbatten's Chief of Staff. Simon Callow plays Cyril Radcliffe, the hapless civil servant that was flown out and given the impossible task of taking the map of India - a place he'd never been to before - and drawing a partition line on it, although he was no cartographer. Despite infinite boundary disputes. In two weeks.. And Om Puri plays a local Muslim man, part of a side story where his daughter falls in love with a Hindu, despite being betrothed to another man, who has been away fighting in the British army.
It's not bad, this. Of course, the last thing I saw on this subject was Drawing the Line, taken from the point of view of Cyril Radcliffe - and it is interesting to get different perspectives. The film highlights the plight of the millions displaced as a result of partition - keep watching over the closing credits, as the director's grandmother apparently made the trip, and had a baby starve to death en route. However, the film is quite sympathetic to Mountbatten, portrayed as a pawn in Churchill's machinations. So here, we get a bit more explanation of British policy than in Drawing the Line - and a shot of Lady Mountbatten, helping with the relief effort afterwards. Nicely mixed with real newsreel footage, the film gives us a sense of watching history in the making. And that love story, to the side, against impossible odds, provides some relief from the momentous events in the viceroy's residence.
My final film of the night was an odd one - and I actually only watched the second half, not being that interested, and being a bit filmed-out. The Last Act, it was - but not the one of the same name that was advertised. No, the one you're looking for is also known as The Humbling, and stars Al Pacino as an ageing actor with a tenuous grip on reality. So it doesn't help when he gets into a relationship with a much younger woman, who hardly knows her own mind! Dianne Wiest plays her disapproving mother. It's a pleasant film to watch - he's always watchable, and the film ambles along at a leisurely pace, as he has surreal conversations - with others, or himself - and you wonder what is reality and what is fantasy. Doesn't merit serious study, I think, but quite funny..
Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats is watching The Grinning Man, courtesy of Bristol Old Vic. This is a common horror trope, which makes me interested.. of course, they would be watching too late for me, so I'll be watching on my own again.
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