Review: Merchant Ivory's "THE WILD PARTY" Gets Wild... Eventually

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 of 2025 (No. 2025) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wild Party (1975)

Running time:  95 minutes (1 hour, 34 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR:  James Ivory

WRITER:  Walter Marks (based on the narrative poem by Walter Moncure March)

PRODUCER:  Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Walter Lassally (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Kent McKinney

COMPOSERS:  Laurence Rosenthal; Walter Marks (songs)

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring:  James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King, Tiffany Bolling, Royal Dano, David Dukes, Annette Ferra, Eddie Laurence, Bobo Lewis, Regis Cordic, Dena Dietrich, Baruch Lamet, Fred Franklyn, J.S. Johnson, Tom Reese, Michael Grant Hall, Skipper, Jennifer Lee Pryor, Mews Small, and Geraldine Baron

The Wild Party is a 1975 comedy-drama and music film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant.  The film is loosely based on The Wild Party, a book-length narrative poem written by Joseph Moncure March and first published in 1926.  Walter Marks wrote the film's screenplay and the song score.  The Wild Party the movie focuses on a silent film comedian who throws a lavish party where he will screen his new silent film in hopes that it will save his failing career.

The Wild Party opens in 1929 at “St. Mark's Hospital” in Los Angeles, California.  There, we meet James Morrison (David Dukes), who has heavy bandaging around his neck.  He begins to recount the activities of the previous day, and the story moves to “Casa Alegria,” the palatial home of the silent film star and comedian, Jolly Grimm (James Coco), born “Carlo Grimaldi.”

James is a poet, but he did some screenwriting for Jolly's latest silent film, “Brother Jasper,” a comic and dramatic biopic about a monk.   Jolly seems to have everything:  wealth; a mansion; a faithful manservant and friend in Tex (Royal Dano), and an excellent maid and housekeeper in Wilma (Bob Lewis).  Jolly also has a beautiful and faithful mistress, the former vaudeville dancer, Queenie (Raquel Welch).  But Jolly no longer has Hollywood's interest.

Jolly was once a great star of the silent era, but sound film is taking over, and it has been a long time since Jolly has had a hit.  Although he has self-financed the production of “Brother Jasper,” Jolly still needs to sell the film to a studio for distribution.  He decides to throw a huge party at his mansion where he will screen the film for perspective buyers, especially the studio heads, A.J. Murchison (Regis Cordic) and Kreutzer (Eddie Laurence).

The party is complicated by the fact that Hollywood power couple, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, are also throwing a lavish gathering at their mansion and estate known as “Pickfair,” and some of the people Jolly and Queenie want to invite would rather go to Pickfair.  Jolly is a heavy drinker, and at the party, the more he drinks, the angrier he becomes.  The arrival of the virile young actor, Dale Sword (Perry King), and Queenie's interest in him are about to make a wild party have an ending wilder than anyone expected.

2025 is the fiftieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1975) of the Merchant Ivory's film, The Wild Party.  This month (April 2025), the cable network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is screening several films from Merchant Ivory Productions.  The Wild Party is scheduled to be one of them.  After early, moderate success in the 1960s with such films as The Householder (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Merchant Ivory suffered some lean years in the 1970s, and The Wild Party, which yielded disappointing box office results, was one of the films that defined the lean years.

The Wild Party's wild party doesn't really turn crazy until the last 40 minutes or so of the film.  Until then, the film really talks too much – for a film about the end of “Silent Film era.”  Still, James Coco's strong performance as Jolly Grimm and Raquel Welch's luminous looks and subtle portrayal of Queenie have a surprising allure.

However, I must say that The Wild Party's following departments:  hair and make-up, costumes, and art direction and set decoration, are also this film's stars.  The American rapper who goes by the stage name, “Da Brat,” once said that she liked Old Hollywood movies because (not an exact quote) they had class and everyone dressed up and went to clubs and parties.  This Wild Party, a 1975 feature film, recalls the lavish backdrops and non-stop reverie of a certain kind of Old Hollywood film.

The Wild Party was apparently a troubled production, and neither director James Ivory nor producer Ismail Merchant found the endeavor pleasant.  That aside, I like this film (although director Damien Chazelle's 2022 film, Babylon, is better at depicting the chaos of the transition from silent film to sound motion pictures).  Although it never really comes together until the party really gets wild, there are a number of stand-out scenes, and many of the supporting actors and actresses have a moment to really shine.  The Wild Party isn't a typical Merchant Ivory film, but it shows that everything they touch has, at the very least, the air of high quality, even if the substance of high quality is not present.

6 of 10

B

★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 24, 2025

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Merchant Ivory's "SHAKESPEARE WALLAH" is a Tale as Old as Time

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 of 2025 (No. 2023) by Leroy Douresseaux

Shakespeare Wallah (1965) – Black & White

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA/India

Running time:  120 minutes (2 hours)

Not rated

DIRECTOR:  James Ivory

WRITERS:  R. Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory

PRODUCER:  Ismail Merchant

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Subrata Mitra (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Amit Bose

COMPOSER:  Satyajit Ray

DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring:  Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, Geoffrey Kendal, Laura Liddell, Madhur Jaffrey, Utpal Dutt, Praveen Paul, Prayag Raaj, Pinchoo Kapoor, and Jim D. Tytler

Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 romantic drama film from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant.  It was the second film produced by Merchant Ivory Productions.  The film is co-written by Ivory and novelist and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote in some capacity 23 of Merchant Ivory's films.  Shakespeare Wallah focuses on a traveling family theatre troupe that performs Shakespearean plays in towns across India even as demand for its work dwindles in the country.

Shakespeare Wallah introduces “the Buckingham Players,” a traveling family theatre troupe led by a British couple, husband Anthony “Tony” Buckingham (Geoffrey Kendal) and wife Carla Buckingham (Laura Liddell).  Their young daughter, Lizzie (Felicity Kendal), is also an actor in this nomadic troupe.  The Buckingham Players travel from town to town in post-colonial India, performing the plays of William Shakespeare before local audiences.  However, demand for their work is dwindling as audiences begin to prefer the movies of “Hindi cinema,” also known as “Bollywood.”

One day, Lizzie meets Sanju Raj (Shashi Kapoor), a playboy.  The two fall in love, but what Lizzie does not know is that Sanju is also romancing the actress, Manjula (Madhur Jaffrey), a very popular Bollywood star who is also very jealous.

2025 is the sixtieth anniversary of the original theatrical release (1965) of Merchant Ivory's second film, Shakespeare Wallah.  As one of the production company's early films, it set the tone for future Merchant Ivory films that focused on cross-cultural romance and relationships.

Shakespeare Wallah is loosely based on the real life of actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal and his family.  Kendal, his wife, Laura Liddell, and their daughter, Felicity Kendal, were part of a real-life traveling Shakespearean company that performed in India.  That is how Geoffrey apparently earned the nickname, “Shakespearewallah” (with “wallah” being an informal term meaning a person involved in a particular thing or business).

Shakespeare Wallah being the second Merchant Ivory film showcases what many of the company's films would depict – seismic shifts in society and changes in culture.  Tony and Carla have been performing Shakespeare across a specific region of India for decades, but the couple, essentially British expatriates, begin to wonder if time has passed them by and if they should return to England.

Meanwhile, their daughter, Lizzie, is experiencing a clash not so much of culture, but of gender roles.  Her playboy paramour, Sanju, is wooing two actresses, but in truth, he does not think of acting as a proper role for a woman, especially more so in the case of Lizzie than in the case of Manjula.

The best thing that I can say about Shakespeare Wallah, and I can say a lot of good things about it, is that the film's emotions and feelings seem authentic.  Manjula's jealousy is alive, dangerous, and electric.  Lizzie and Sanju's romantic feelings are natural, but are also fragile and vulnerable because they are not only different people, but also are from different cultures and outlooks on life.  The overall naturalism and relaxed pace of the narrative are also genuine.

The beautiful film score by Satyajit Ray embellishes the melancholy nature of the film when it comes to love.  Whether one's love is another person, the nomadic life of a traveling troupe, or the profession of performing Shakespeare on the stage, it is bittersweet.  Shakespeare Wallah, however, is the sweet art of cinema.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, April 17, 2025

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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About MERCHANT IVORY PRODUCTIONS

Merchant Ivory Productions was a film company founded in May 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (born in 1928).  Ivory and Merchant had met two years earlier in 1959 in New York City at a screening of Ivory's documentary short film, The Sword and the Flute (1959).  1961 was also the year that Merchant and Ivory became romantic partners.  Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005.

During their time together, they made 44 films – beginning with 1963's The Householder and ending with 2005's The White Countess.  The films were for the most part produced by Merchant and directed by Ivory.  Twenty-three of those films were scripted by novelist and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927–2013), in some capacity. The films were often based upon novels or short stories, particularly the works of Henry James, E. M. Forster, and Jhabvala herself.  The company's final feature film production was 2009's The City of Your Final Destination, directed by James Ivory.

This month (April 2025) cable network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is showing seven of Merchant Ivory's feature films over two nights (April 17th and 24th).  This TCM programming includes what may be the company's most famous and acclaimed films:  A Room with a View (1985), Howard's End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993).  TCM will also screen the 2024 documentary film, entitled Merchant Ivory, which follows the company's history.

It can be said, in general, that the films of Merchant Ivory Productions have a nostalgia for an idealized past,which usually photographed in sweeping cinematography.  The lush landscapes of its films depict cultural shifts in a society's rigid class structures and also how those changes and shifts affect people of differing classes and social orders.

In conjunction with TCM's programming, I am going to review some of Merchant Ivory's films.  I don't know how many and for how long I will do this, other than that I will likely continue to do so past TCM's Merchant Ivory programming dates.

Negromancer reviews of Merchant Ivory Productions' filmography:

Review: Shakespeare Wallah (1965)

Review: The Wild Party (1975)

Review: The White Countess (2005)

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and  syndication rights and fees.

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2018 / 90th Academy Awards Announced - Complete Winners List

The Academy Awards is an American film accolade.  It is best known as the “Oscars,” and is an annual awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements primarily in the American film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette that is officially called the “Academy Award of Merit,” but has become commonly known by its nickname, the “Oscar.”   The awards were first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  The Academy Awards are overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

The 90th Oscars nominations in 24 categories were announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.  Oscars for outstanding film achievements of 2017 were presented on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and was televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.  The Oscars ceremony was also televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.  Jimmy Kimmel acted as host for the ceremony.

2018 / 90th Academy Award winners (for film achievements in 2017):

Best Picture
The Shape of Water - Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers

Directing
The Shape of Water - Guillermo del Toro

Actor in a Leading Role:
Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour

Actor in a Supporting Role
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Actress in a Leading Role
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Actress in a Supporting Role
Allison Janney - I, Tonya

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Call Me by Your Name - Screenplay by James Ivory

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Get Out - Written by Jordan Peele

Animated Feature Film
Coco - Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson

Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 - Roger A. Deakins

Costume Design
Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges

Documentary (Feature)
Icarus - Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan

Documentary (Short Subject)
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 - Frank Stiefel

Film Editing
Dunkirk - Lee Smith

Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman - Chile

Makeup and Hairstyling:
Darkest Hour - Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

Music (Original Score)
The Shape of Water - Alexandre Desplat

Music (Original Song)
Remember Me from Coco; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Production Design
The Shape of Water - Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeffrey A. Melvin

Short Film (Animated)
Dear Basketball - Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant

Short Film (Live Action)
The Silent Child - Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton

Sound Editing
Dunkirk - Richard King and Alex Gibson

Sound Mixing
Dunkirk - Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo and Mark Weingarten

Visual Effects
Blade Runner 2049 - John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover

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2018 Oscars "Best Adapted Screenplay" - "Call Me by Your Name"

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Call Me by Your Name - Screenplay by James Ivory - WINNER

Nominees
The Disaster Artist - Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Logan - Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold
Molly's Game - Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin
Mudbound - Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

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"Call Me by Your Name," "The Handmaid's Tale" Top 2018 USC Libraries Scripter Award

USC Libraries Scripter Honors “Call Me by Your Name” and “Handmaid’s Tale”

Francis Ford Coppola received the libraries’ Literary Achievement Award at the 30th-annual celebration

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The authors and screenwriters behind the film “Call Me by Your Name,” and the television series “The Handmaid’s Tale” received the 30th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award in the Feb. 10, 2018 ceremony at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.

The Scripter Award recognizes the year’s best cinematic adaptation of the written word, and includes feature film and television adaptations.

In her welcoming remarks, USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan paid tribute to the legacy of the Scripter Awards, “Scripter is celebrating its 30th birthday, and whether it’s your first Scripter or your thirtieth, I am grateful to everyone who has supported this fine, enduring Trojan tradition.”

USC Provost Michael Quick hailed the importance of libraries. “More than places where students have a space to learn and faculty have collections from which to launch their scholarship, libraries are the core for what we stand for in higher education,” he said.

In the television category, the selection committee chose “Offred,” the first episode of the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” written for the screen by creator and executive producer Bruce Miller. The series, streaming on Hulu, is based on the 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood.

Miller acknowledged Doheny Library, which hosted the ceremony. “The Handmaid’s Tale has been very wonderfully and generously feted over the last few months, but there’s something about getting an award in a library that is particularly wonderful.”

The other finalists were the writers behind episodes of “Alias Grace” (distributed by Netflix), “Big Little Lies” (HBO), “Genius” (National Geographic), “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (HBO), and “Mindhunter” (Netflix).

In the film category, the winners were writer André Aciman, author of “Call Me by Your Name,” and screenwriter-director James Ivory, who adapted Aciman’s work for the screen.

Ivory, a USC alumnus, noted that he had been to Doheny Library before. “I left this building exactly 60 years ago when I graduated from the USC film school and they had the ceremony out in front of the library, and I haven’t been back since—not to this building. It’s amazing to come back,” Ivory said. “I’m glad to be back for an adaptation of a very good book. As you know, I’ve made my career and name through adaptations.”

Due to a three-way tie in the nominating round, seven films were eligible this year. The other finalist films were “The Disaster Artist” (distributed by A24), “Logan” (20th Century Fox), “The Lost City of Z” (Amazon Studios), “Molly’s Game” (STX Entertainment), “Mudbound” (Netflix), and “Wonder Woman” (Warner Bros.).

Earlier in the evening, Quinlan honored USC trustees and longtime USC Libraries supporters Ronald and Valerie Sugar as the 2018 Ex Libris Award winners. In receiving the award, Ronald Sugar said, “The libraries are an essential underpinning of the mission of this university. And as the university grows and evolves to meet a world of social and technological change, so must its libraries. Catherine, you and your team have provided more than a decade of innovative leadership to advance and expand the reach of this precious academic resource.”

Legendary writer-director-producer Francis Ford Coppola received the 2018 Literary Achievement Award. Coppola noted that his films based on earlier written works gave possessive credit to the original author. The 1972 classic “The Godfather,” for example, which Coppola directed and adapted for the screen, was marketed as “Mario Puzo’s ‘The Godfather’”—not “Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Godfather.’” “Anyone who’s adapted screenplays,” Coppola explained, “knows the author did the heavy lifting.”

In-kind donors to the event included A24 Films, Amazon Studios, Hulu, Netflix, Picador USA, and Urth Caffé.

Scripter began in 1988, co-founded by USC Libraries board members Glenn Sonnenberg and Marjorie Lord. For more information about Scripter—including additional images from the ceremony—visit scripter.usc.edu.

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30th Annual USC Libraries Scripter Award Nominees Announced

USC Libraries Name Finalists for 30th-Annual Scripter Awards

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries have named the finalists for the 30th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. In this particularly competitive year, voting resulted in ties for the film and television categories.

    USC Libraries release finalists for the 30th-annual Scripter Awards, honoring the best adapted film and TV show.

Due to a three-way tie in the nomination round, the writers of seven films and the works on which the films are based will compete for the honors this year. The finalist writers for film adaptation are, in alphabetical order by film title:

    --Author André Aciman and screenwriter James Ivory for “Call Me By Your Name”

   --Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for “The Disaster Artist,” and authors Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell for their nonfiction book “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside ‘The Room,’ the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made”

    --Screenwriters Scott Frank, Michael Green, and James Mangold, and authors Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita, Sr., for “Logan”

   - Screenwriter James Gray and author David Grann for “The Lost City of Z”

    --Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and author Molly Bloom for “Molly’s Game”

    --Screenwriters Dee Rees and Virgil Williams and author Hillary Jordan for “Mudbound”

    --Screenwriter Allan Heinberg and author William Moulton Marston for “Wonder Woman”

Writers of six television shows and their printed source material will vie for the Scripter Award this year. The finalist writers—including for the first time a single author with nominations for two series in a single year—for television are, in alphabetical order by series title:

    --Screenwriter Sarah Polley and author Margaret Atwood for “Alias Grace”

    --David E. Kelley, for the episode “You Get What You Need” from “Big Little Lies,” and author Liane Moriarty

    --Noah Pink and Ken Biller for the episode “Einstein: Chapter One” from “Genius,” and author Walter Isaacson for his book “Einstein: His Life and Word”

    --Bruce Miller for the episode “Offred” from “The Handmaid’s Tale” and author Margaret Atwood

    --Peter Landesman, George C. Wolfe, and Alexander Woo for the television film “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” and author Rebecca Skloot

    --Joe Penhall and Jennifer Haley for “Episode 10” of “Mindhunter” and authors John Douglas and Mark Olshaker for their nonfiction book “Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit”

Chaired by USC professor and past president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2018 Scripter selection committee selected the finalists from a field of 91 film and 28 television adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; authors Lisa Belkin, Michael Chabon and Michael Ondaatje; screenwriters Geoffrey Fletcher and Erin Cressida Wilson; producers Suzanne Todd and Mike Medavoy; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and current publishers of the printed works are:

    “Call Me By Your Name”—Sony Pictures Classics and Picador
    “The Disaster Artist”—A24 and Simon & Schuster
    “Logan”—20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics
    “The Lost City of Z”—Amazon Studios and Simon & Schuster
    “Molly’s Game”—STX Entertainment and Dey Street Books
    “Mudbound”—Netflix and Algonquin Books
    “Wonder Woman”—Warner Bros. and DC Comics

The networks airing the finalist television series and current publishers of the original printed works are:

    “Alias Grace”—Netflix and Anchor
    “Big Little Lies”—HBO and Berkley
    “Genius”—National Geographic and Simon & Schuster
    “The Handmaid’s Tale”—Hulu and Anchor
    “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”— HBO and Broadway Books
    “Mindhunter”—Netflix and Gallery Books

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Since 1988, Scripter has honored the authors of printed works alongside the screenwriters who adapt their stories. In 2016, the USC Libraries inaugurated a new Scripter award, for television adaptation. Television and film finalists compete in separate categories.

For more information about Scripter—including ticket availability, additional sponsorship opportunities, and an up-to-date list of sponsors—please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

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Review: "The White Countess" Does Not Quite Capture Old Merchant Ivory Magic (Remembering Natasha Richardson)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 131 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The White Countess (2005)
Running time:  136 minutes (2 hours, 16 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some violent images and thematic elements
DIRECTOR:  James Ivory
WRITER:  Kazuo Ishiguro
PRODUCER:  Ismail Merchant
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Christopher Doyle (director of photography)
EDITOR:  John David Allen
COMPOSER:  Richard Robbins

DRAMA/HISTORICAL with elements of romance

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Hiroyuki Sanada, Lynn Redgrave, Allan Corduner, Da Ying, and Madeleine Daly

The subject of this movie review is The White Countess, a 2005 period drama from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant for their Merchant Ivory Productions.  This is the last film produced by Merchant, who died during production of the film.  Written by Kazuo Ishiguro, The White Countess is set in 1930s Shanghai and focuses on a blind American diplomat and a young Russian trying to support members of her dead husband’s aristocratic family.

A traumatic political event took the lives of both his wife and son, and a second one killed his daughter and blinded him.  Now, 40-something, disenchanted, ex-U.S. diplomat Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) lives a lonely life amid the political turmoil of 1930’s Shanghai, and dreams of owning a gentleman’s club – the kind that he can still see in his mind and quite unlike the hotels and clubs in which he currently languishes.

However, his life changes when he crosses paths with Countess Sofia Belinskya (Natasha Richardson), a widowed Russian countess living in impoverished exile with her in-laws and her daughter.  Where once she lived the life of nobility, now, she accepts sordid jobs to support her family.  When fortune strikes and gives Jackson the means to open his bar, he names it The White Countess, and convinces Sofia to accept a job as the club’s hostess.  But will he have the strength to admit his love before a coming Japanese invasion of Shanghai separates them forever?

The team of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant are known to the film world as Merchant Ivory Productions and have produced such Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films as A Room with a View, Howard’s End, and Remains of the Day.  The Indian born Merchant (who also directed films) died in May of 2005, and The White Countess was his final collaboration with James Ivory.  The film is quiet and lacks the grandeur of the better-known Merchant Ivory Production like Howard’s End.  It’s very low key, and dialogue moves the narrative.  It’s almost as if The White Countess is more a historical epic made for television than it is a work for the cinema.

Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson give strange, quiet performances.  Fiennes is as usual quite good, and Richardson is mysterious and detached.  One would think that the two couldn’t have any chemistry, but their facial expressions and subtle physical movements give their characters and their relationship a deeply evocative tone.  They essentially define this slow moving, but classy period piece, as all the other actors seem to follow their tranquil acting.

In fact, there are a number of fine supporting performances including a rare appearance in the same film by famous acting sisters, Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave (real life mother and aunt respectively of Natasha Richardson), in small but well-done roles.  Hiroyuki Sanada gives an excellent turn as the mysterious Mr. Matsuda, who establishes the film’s exotic, but politically volatile setting, 1930’s Shanghai.  The White Countess may seem overly serene at times, but the impeccable cast makes it a good choice for fans of fine acting and Merchant Ivory films.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Updated:  Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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