Noises off (Michael Caine)

(Amazon UK link)

We’ve had the DVD of the film ‘Noises off’ for a long time. It was made in 1992 and I’m pretty sure we acquired the DVD early in our time in Cyprus, probably the late 1990s. I expect I watched it, too, but had no memory of it at all. Neither did my husband. But it looked like a light and possibly humorous film so we decided to watch it last night. Apparently the film was based on a play of the same name. 

It opens to a scene of traffic somewhere in the United States, and commentary from Lloyd (Michael Caine), worried about a theatre production called ‘Nothing on’. It’s billed as a sex farce from London. Lloyd wanders around the foyer of the theatre, but can’t bring himself to go in. He explains that it’s gone from bad to worse. 

Then the action takes us back to the dress rehearsal months earlier. It was taking place late at night and Lloyd tries to keep his temper as more and more actors forget their lines or directions. We meet the housekeeper Dotty (Carol Burnett) who has to answer a phone, then put down a plate of sardines and remove a newspaper. She keeps forgetting what she has to do, and is somewhat over-acting anyway. 

As she vanishes, finally, into the kitchen, John (Gary Lejeune) arrives with Brooke (Nicollette Sheridan) on his arm. They’re clearly there for an assignation. John assures her they are alone, and tells her that he owns the place. Brooke is not very bright, or observant, although the character she plays is quite seductive. 

After some misunderstandings they disappear into a bedroom, only to have the front door opened again to reveal another couple on an assignation. There’s a lot of cleverly done choreography as doors open and close, different people noticing - or not noticing - each other. Dotty keeps appearing with plates of sardines which are accepted or moved… and even though Lloyd keeps having to stop to remind people of lines or stage directions, it’s all rather cleverly done. 

However there are clearly different relationships off-stage. Lloyd, we learn, is intimate with Poppy (Julie Hagerty) who is the prompter, and general backstage manager. But she’s not the only one. I rather lost track of who was keen on whom, and it didn’t seem to matter as there was a lot of chaos, albeit well done.

After this dress rehearsal, there are two more sections of the film - I imagine they were separate acts in the stage play. In the first, everyone just about manages to hold things together as we see the first half of the play again.  In the second location, more and more things go wrong as people make mistakes, or go missing, or miss their cues… there were several times when we smiled, or even chuckled as unexpected things happened or went wrong. 

It’s a good idea, and I expect worked very well as a stage play. It was a bit strange having just a handful of characters, almost everything taking place in the same stage set, or behind it, with only Michael Caine’s character appearing in the foyer or audience. But we quickly got used to it, and on the whole liked it.

The UK rating is 15 which seems rather high. Although ‘Nothing on’ is supposedly a sex farce, there’s nothing too inappropriate that happens. Plenty is implied, and one character does spend most of the play in her lacy underwear, but there aren’t any actual scenes of intimacy.  There’s some comedic violence, and some bad language (including a couple of incidences of ‘strong’ language) but it didn’t seem overdone, and I’d have thought a rating of 12 would have been more appropriate.

Having said that, it’s not for the prudish. Innuendoes abound, and there’s a lot of general silliness and some slapstick. It rises out of the mundane by the excellent choreography and impeccable comic timing, but it’s not one I’d particularly recommend. Still, it made a good evening’s light viewing, and on the whole we liked it.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews