A lost film found and the latest action movie from Tom Cruise are in this week’s film review column.
In 1973, music producer Jack Good saw a longtime dream fulfilled: a screen version of a rock opera based on Shakespeare’s “Othello.” Unfortunately audiences weren’t impressed as neither were critics and the film, after several attempts to find an audience, disappeared.
Even at the height of the VHS era, the film never resurfaced for home video and was known as a “lost” movie.
Now, however Etiquette Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome have released a spectacular restoration of the film in a combo Blu-ray and DVD set.
The years have been very kind to the film, which I found fascinating to watch for all of the right reasons.
The only feature film to have been directed by actor Patrick McGoohan, the film can boast of amazing photography by Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall, great music by Tony Joe White and Bonnie and Delaney, among others and some standout performances.
Set in a commune outside of Santa Fe, NM, in 1967, the story revolves around Iago’s (Lance LeGault) efforts to undermine the new marriage of the commune’s pastor Othello (Richie Havens) to Desdemona (Season Hubley). Iago is not just jealous of the relationship or the pastor’s influence in the community. He is also the Devil who intends to “catch the soul” of Othello by breaking down his faith.
Unlike “Jesus Christ Superstar,” perhaps the best remembered rock opera of the time; the music is for the most part better integrated into the flow of the story. This approach to the music adds a more natural quality to this stylized kind of the story telling.
When I interviewed Havens in 2002, he spoke of being scared about taking the role, as he was not a trained actor. He does well as Othello and shines during the much more dramatic last third of the movie.
LeGault, who went on to a successful career on television with being a regular on “The A Team” as one of his credits, steals the show as Iago. A role that could allow for some campy theatrics, LeGault clearly knew when to turn up and down the volume of his performance.
The dialogue includes many of Shakespeare’s own lines and, while the setting was contemporary, worked well.
The set includes a comprehensive essay on the production and fate of the film as well as several interviews with people associated with the making of the film.
Perhaps now decades after its initial release, the film will actually find its audience.
While I’m not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, I have to admit I enjoyed his last outing as Ethan Hunt, the unstoppable Impossible Mission Force agent in “Ghost Protocol.”
I was curious to see his new film “Rogue Nation” and it’s an enjoyable way to burn 131 minutes.
This time, the IMF faces Congressional and CIA scrutiny at the same time Hunt discovers there is an international organization called “The Syndicate,” made up of agents from various countries long thought to be dead.
Hunt is captured by the group but is rescued by one of its members, former British intelligence agent Ilsa Faust played by Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson, who steals the movie.
Hunt is aided, of course, by his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) and there is an effort to replicate the idea of the original television series of setting up a plan, some of which the audience knows about and some of which is a surprise.
The film is punctuated by several impressive and satisfying set action pieces – one set in the Vienna Opera House, while the other is a wild motorcycle chase.
The object of the series is to create spy genre for Cruise that sort of looks like James Bond but isn’t. The major difference is that Hunt is not a womanizer and that kind of subplot isn’t part of the formula.
Pop some corn, grab a beverage and enjoy the ride offered by this addition to the Mission: Impossible franchise.
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