I'd missed this British film the last time around so I was glad when it appeared as a reprise season event at Greenwich Picture House. There were only two of us in the lunchtime screening today. I loved this film - it made me laugh and cry in turn.
It is the story of the Windmill Theatre - bought on a whim by Mrs Henderson (played wonderfully by Dame Judi Dench) as a hobby after the death of her husband. Bob Hoskins plays superbly the impressario Vivien Van Dam - and much of the film concerns their relationship - a very heated one at times. Will Young is a marvel in his debut acting role - and his voice suits this late 30s period piece.
Interesting that Mrs Henderson reveals at the end that her motivation for putting on nude tableaux at the notorious (we never closed) Windmill was because she had discovered a 'French' photo in her dead son's possessions in World War I - she didn't want young men to spend their lives using photographic substitutes when she could provide the real thing to look at.
Lovely film.
It is the story of the Windmill Theatre - bought on a whim by Mrs Henderson (played wonderfully by Dame Judi Dench) as a hobby after the death of her husband. Bob Hoskins plays superbly the impressario Vivien Van Dam - and much of the film concerns their relationship - a very heated one at times. Will Young is a marvel in his debut acting role - and his voice suits this late 30s period piece.
Interesting that Mrs Henderson reveals at the end that her motivation for putting on nude tableaux at the notorious (we never closed) Windmill was because she had discovered a 'French' photo in her dead son's possessions in World War I - she didn't want young men to spend their lives using photographic substitutes when she could provide the real thing to look at.
Lovely film.
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