Long before he posthumously won the Academy Award for his unforgettable performance as the man who's creamed out the window, Peter Finch did a comical take on network politics for a fictional British TV station. Here he plays a television version of Alfred Lunt to Kay Kendall's Lynn Fontanne, or basically variations of the characters in "Kiss Me Kate", battling ex-spouses (who are actually married here), on the verge of separating, and attempting a TV version of their marriage, quite fictional, until real life spars behind the scenes and up on the air. Muriel Pavlow and Ian Carmichael are the romantic rivals, and Clive Parritt as the prankster loving child actor playing their son.
A colorful comedy based on a hit British stage play (that also had several television versions), this builds up to the comical violence of a scene filmed that the behind the scenes staff falsely believe has been turned off. Witty and fast moving, this is Finch and Kendall at their best, taking Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" into a modern timeframe, just as "Kiss Me Kate" had done. Mentions of others British stars of the time adds a realistic viewpoint, and the technical aspects of the TV filming seems quite accurate. I definitely could see this re-done, either in its initial period or totally modernized. Fabulous sets are like supporting characters, bringing this completely to life.
A colorful comedy based on a hit British stage play (that also had several television versions), this builds up to the comical violence of a scene filmed that the behind the scenes staff falsely believe has been turned off. Witty and fast moving, this is Finch and Kendall at their best, taking Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" into a modern timeframe, just as "Kiss Me Kate" had done. Mentions of others British stars of the time adds a realistic viewpoint, and the technical aspects of the TV filming seems quite accurate. I definitely could see this re-done, either in its initial period or totally modernized. Fabulous sets are like supporting characters, bringing this completely to life.