Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) or, Wartime Swinging London

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Kelly Reilly steals the gaze on this festive poster for Stephen Frears' Mrs Henderson Presents with a cheaky tag-line top-right

 

The distinguished Mrs Henderson becomes a widow in 1937, and she decides to purchase a London theatre, which she succeeds in making a popular venue with variety shows featuring nudity.

 

Mrs Henderson Presents is written by Martin Sherman (Alive and Kicking (1996)), based on an idea by Kathy and David Rose (The Kid, TV-series (1986, producer), both), and directed by English master filmmaker Stephen Frears (Gumshoe (1971)). It is based on the true story of Laura Henderson's Windmill Theatre in London.

It is a cheerful and life-affirming story about hanging onto life during WWII, which especially lives on Judi Dench (Nine (2009)) and Bob Hoskins' (Don Quioxote (2000, TV movie)) infectious performances. Will Young (Highland Park (2013)), Kelly Reilly (Joe's Palace (2007, TV movie)) and Christopher Guest (Heartbeeps (1981)) are also good and well cast.

Mrs Henderson Presents is a sporadically funny, sporadically moving film with a natural relationship to bodies and nudity.

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Philomena (2013) - Dench astounds in Frears' powerful true-story drama

Dirty Pretty Things (2002) - Good performances anchor Frears' flawed, overrated illegal immigrant drama 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 27.8 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.39 times its cost)

[Mrs Henderson Presents premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place from October 2004 - ? in France and England, including in London. It opened #41 to a 55k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 522 theaters (different weeks), grossing 11 mil. $ (39.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.1 mil. $ (25.5 %) and Australia with 4.3 mil. $ (15.5 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Actress (Dench), lost to Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line, and Costumes, lost to Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also nominated for 4 BAFTAs, 8 British Independent Film awards, a David di Donatello award, 3 Golden Globes, and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Frears returned with Le Court des Grands (2005, video documentary) and theatrically with The Queen (2006). Dench returned in with 4 voice and TV series credits prior to her theatrical return in Casino Royale (2006); Hoskins in Stay (2005). Mrs Henderson Presents is fresh at 67 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mrs Henderson Presents?

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993, TV movie) - Hannah ensures giant good times in Guest's tongue-in-cheek B-movie remake

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+ Best Arizona Movie of the Year + Most Under-appreciated Title of the Year

A scantily clad Daryl Hannah holds a car as if it was a sandwich on this funny, throwback-styled poster for Christopher Guest's Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman

Nancy is the daughter of the Arizona town millionaire and is married to a stud, who cheats and only wishes to tap into her family wealth. One day Nancy sees a UFO, and nobody believes her, but then she starts to grow...

The larger part of this HBO TV-movie is a well-written (by Joseph Dougherty (Pretty Little Liars (2010-17))) melodrama with pretty funny actors like Daniel Baldwin (Ashley's Ashes (2010)), William Windom (Airwolf (1985, TV-series)) and Christi Conaway (Underworld (1996)). The Arizona vibe also brings something very special to table.
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman may sound like a parody or a spoof of such 50s 'sci-fi' films as Tarantula (1955), but it really isn't. It is a remake of Nathan Hertz's same-titled 1958 hit movie. The new film is a tongue-in-cheek homage in love with its basis material and B-movie residence, which makes a real difference.
Daryl Hannah (Sense8 (2015-18)) is a camera's best friend, and the kitsch barometer is high throughout this little treat, also due to her game performance. SPOILER The ending sends a fine sting to the therapy-obsessed America.
50 Ft. Woman is directed by filmmaker, Christopher Guest (Almost Heroes (1998)). It is, shortly put, a good time for anyone who can appreciate a 50 ft. woman.

 

Related post:

 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

In lieu of a trailer, not available at the moment at Youtube, here is a video of Guest's visit to Conan's talkshow in 1997

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman premiered 11 December (HBO, North America) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in California. It was released theatrically in the UK, France, Germany, Spain at at Portugal's Fantasporto Film Festival, but its theatrical performances are not made known online. Guest returned with Waiting for Guffman (1996). Hannah returned in Grumpy Old Men (1993). 2,573 IMDb users have given Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman a 3.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman?