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DVD The Last of Sheila
The Last of Sheila is one of the great underrated films of the '70s: a bitchy Hollywood whodunit and a clever parlor game (cowritten by Anthony Perkins and Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim). Several celebrity chums are invited aboard prankster James Coburn's yacht for a cruel game of "guess the deep, dark secret." Everyone has one; but naturally some are more wicked than others. Richard Benjamin, James Mason, Dyan Cannon, Joan Hackett, Raquel Welch, and Ian McShane are the odd cast of participants. However, the stakes are unexpectedly raised when murder gets added to the not-so-fun agenda. Plenty of inside jokes and red herrings in this nasty and unforgettable film. It's just what you'd expect from the twisted minds of Perkins and Sondheim. --Bill Desowitz
Hollywood lore has it that the late Anthony Perkins (of "Psycho" fame) had such a brilliant mind that he and friend Stephen Sondheim used to stump friends with puzzling parlour games they used to play at parties. This apparently led to their writing "The Last of Sheila," which is my choice for most truly puzzling and baffling murder mystery ever committed to film. It's plot is so intricate, it's central murders so well thought out, it takes stars James Mason, Richard Benjamin, Ian McShane, Raquel Welch, Joan Hackett and Dyan Cannon nearly an hour of screen time to explain what happened!
The plot? Film producer James Coburn's beloved wife Sheila is run down after one of their lavish parties. Coburn invites the above cast on a trip aboard his yacht for an elaborate parlour game where he intends to unmask Sheila's killer. In the meantime, Coburn ends up dead and the cast must figure out who among them is the killer of Coburn and his wife.
Terrific performances by the cast--with the exception of Welch, who is awfully stilted here; she is seen to much better effect in the "Musketeer" comedies of the '70's as well as "Mother, Jugs and Speed" and the recent "Tortilla Soup"--help immeasurably in keeping the story moving, especially in the last hour, which takes place entirely in the yacht's stateroom. Especially good are Dyan Cannon as a Sue Mengers-style agent and the late, great and sadly forgotten Joan Hackett, as Richard Benjamin's neglected wife. And the script is airtight and still plays well today, except for a silly subplot involving a homosexual liaison. (Don't worry--it's only alluded to, not seen.)
In all, this is one of the few Hollywood mysteries in which I was absolutely stumped, and could not for the life of me figure out whodunnit. My guess is you will be too.
A fun and intriguing murder mystery from the 1970s
Sheila Green is killed by a hit-and-run driver following a lavish party. A year later, and still no one arrested for his wife's death, movie mogul Clinton Green invites 6 guests to his yacht in the Mediterranean but not for the usual rest and relaxation. You see, each of the 6 guests was at that party one year ago, and it's possible one of them may be hiding something about that night, and Clinton may know who....
This is a a great, under-acknowledged murder mystery, filled with many film stars of the 1970s: James Coburn as the devilish mogul Clinton Green; Richard Benjamin as Tom, the has-been screenwriter; Joan Hackett as Lee, Tom's wife; Dyan Cannon as Christine, the busy head of a talent agency; James Mason as Philip, a reknowned movie director; and Ian McShane and Racquel Welch as the married couple, Anthony and Alice. And, they all have fun with the incredilby detailed script by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. Both Sondheim and Perkins were known to love murder mysteries and intricate puzzles, and it shows in the crafting of the surprising twists and turns of the script.
What's even more intriging is that you get involved in trying to solve the mystery yourself. All the clues are there, and if you pay close attention, you can figure it out. But one of the more interesting surprises is the theme song, "Friends" sung by Bette Midler. (One of her trademark songs This is a fun movie that really draws you in and keeps you until the very end.
A Tale of Two Versions?
The one star is for the dvd. This 'version' as I've read in the other reviews *IS NOT* the same as the VHS that I own. There is a HUGE flaw in Chapter 18 as the Michigan viewer stated. I am not entirely satisfied as others are with this mess.
I bought my VHS from Amazon two years ago and my tape *do not* have the Chapter 18 mistake in it. So, there must be two versions - one mastered correctly and the mess with the mistake in Chapter 18. Warners needs to re-do this dvd without the mistakes that currently exists in this DVD.
Stephen Sondheim's Victorian horror thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is generally considered his greatest work, macabre but darkly humorous with a viscerally powerful score that has found a home both on Broadway and in opera houses. George Hearn (who replaced Len Cariou of the original Broadway cast) plays the title character, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 18th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber), and Angela Lansbury plays his partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett, who finds a practical business use for Todd's victims. This combination of horror and humor is echoed in Sondheim's score: brooding menace ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," "My Friend"), achingly beautiful ballads ("Johanna," "Not While I'm Around"),... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Terry Hughes - Harold Prince DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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For Julie Andrews fans, Star! will be something more than just a legendary albatross around Old Hollywood's neck--after all, Julie is onscreen virtually every minute of this film, singing and dancing and flouncing around in an endless parade of over-the-top costumes. Seeing her tackle a variety of Noel Coward tunes and a nicely understated "Someone to Watch Over Me" is pleasant, but it's easy to see why this three-hour musical failed to click with 1968 audiences. A biopic of the celebrated stage star Gertrude Lawrence (puckish Daniel Massey plays Coward, Lawrence's childhood chum), the movie staggers around between the big production numbers. Its social message--independent Lawrence just needed a man to boss her around--was just as grating in the age of The Graduate as it is... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julie Andrews - Richard Crenna Director(s): Robert Wise DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A great star and a great composer can make a Broadway musical into a smash, as Ethel Merman and Irving Berlin proved with Call Me Madam. Not a bad place to start with a movie, either, and the 1953 film of the show has both Merman and Berlin represented in brassy fashion. Granted, Merman's platinum-throated talents were best suited to the stage, and the production overall has that dutiful, stodgy tone of so many Fox musicals. Extra points for the suavity of George Sanders (he's Merman's love interest in tiny Lichtenburg, where the lady has been appointed U.S. ambassador), and for the dancing of Vera-Ellen and Donald O'Connor. A year after crashing through the wall in Singin' in the Rain, O'Connor has a similar solo athletic workout to "What Chance Have I with Love." High... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Walter Lang DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This 1966 masterpiece by Michelangelo Antonioni (The Passenger) is set in the heady atmosphere of Swinging London, and stars David Hemmings as an unsmiling fashion photographer hooked on ephemeral meaning attached to anything: art, sex, work, relationships, drugs, events. When a real mystery falls into his lap, he probes the evidence for some reliable truth, but finds it hard to reckon with. Vanessa Redgrave plays an enigmatic woman whose desperation to cover something up only seems like one more phenomenon in Hemmings's disinterested purview. This is one of the key films of the decade, and still an unsettling and lasting experience. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Vanessa Redgrave - David Hemmings Director(s): Michelangelo Antonioni DVD Release Date: Released the 17 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This Mike Todd production was a star-studded, multi-million dollar extravaganza when first released in 1956. It remains enjoyable family fare, but time has somewhat dulled its shine. Still, it compares favorably to the overly long, TV mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan and Eric Idle.
Elegant David Niven plays the neurotically punctual Phileas Fogg, a British gent who is spurned on by a wager to prove he can travel around the world in 80 days. He is accompanied by his valet, played with persnickety humor by Cantinflas.
Nominated for several Academy Awards, this was written by John Farrow (Mia's dad) and S.J. Perelman, based on Jules Verne's 1873 classic. The fun part is the razzle-dazzle. Todd knew what he was doing with all those exotic locales and over 40 cameo appearances,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): David Niven DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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