Noises Off… ** (1992, Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner, Christopher Reeve, Mark Linn-Baker, John Ritter, Nicollette Sheridan) – Classic Movie Review 8889

Writer Michael Frayn’s hilarious West End and Broadway stage farce about the disasters that befall an inept travelling repertory theatre company putting on an English sex farce show (Nothing On) becomes director Peter Bogdanovich’s stagey, creaky, old-fashioned movie that doesn’t move, the 1992 comedy Noises Off…

True, the actors rush about a lot and the camera performs acrobatics to keep up with their running up stairs, in-and-out of doors, pratfalls and trouser debaggings etc, but none of this is actually funny.

The nice company of actors try incredibly hard, though, to perform with some skill and be amusing, and at least they seem to be enjoying themselves.

It stars Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner, Christopher Reeve, Mark Linn-Baker, John Ritter, and Nicollette Sheridan.

Caine comes off best as Lloyd Fellowes, the frustrated director of the theatre company.

Most of the dialogue in Marty Kaplan’s screenplay is taken directly from Michael Frayn’s play, but many words are changed to suit American audiences. Nevertheless, it flopped. Costing $12,000,000, it grossed $2,280,148 in the US, with a worldwide gross of $2,280,148

Noises Off… is directed by Peter Bogdanovich, runs 101 minutes, is made by  Touchstone Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Touchwood Pacific Partners 1 and Nothing On Productions, is released by Buena Vista Pictures (1992) (US) and Warner Bros (UK), is written by Marty Kaplan, based on Michael Frayn’s play, is shot by Tim Suhrstedt, is produced by Peter Bogdanovich (executive producer), Kathleen Kennedy (executive producer) and Frank Marshall and scored by Phil Marshall (music adaptor), with Production Design by Norman Newberry.

It was filmed at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S El Molino Ave, Pasadena, California (Miami Beach Playhouse), Des Moines, Iowa; Miami Beach, Florida; New York City; and on set at Stage 37, Universal Studios, California.

Caine and Reeve previously starred together in the 1982 Deathtrap.

In May 1995, Reeve was paralysed in a horseback-riding accident. He died on October 10, 2004, aged 52.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8889

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