aussiebrisguy

This film had every possibility of being a great film but sadly it ended up being a real mess. "Thoroughly Modern Millie" does have a wonderful, wonderful cast. How could any film fail with Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler-Moore and Carol Channing you may well ask? The music is wonderfully catchy and the choreography of so many of the numbers simply superb. The sets and costumes are magnificent. The real problem is the extremely overlong and weak script that goes all over the place and never satisfies. "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is is a very, very long film. It needs a savage editing so that it can avoid being in the tedious film category. If only somebody had the courage to do so it would be a great hit. I wanted to like it very much but in the end came away not satisfied which is a great pity as it could have been a great film.

There can be no doubt that this was an entertaining piece to watch. It had a mixed ability cast with many of the main roles very badly miscast. The pre revolution scenes were too sickly sweet for words. I think the real Anastasia would have found them difficult to stomach. The whole series was loosely based on Peter Kurth's book on "Anastasia". It would have been so much better, given the huge budget, if it had been more historically accurate. It is more Mills and Boon than serious drama. It was more a love story between Anna Anderson and Prince Eric than an accurate account. I would have liked to have seen more about the trials. An interesting drama would have not painted the other side all bad like this did. I guess there was an agenda established from the very beginning that there was no possibility of denying that Anna was not Anastasia. That is where the whole thing disintegrates, sadly.

This is the classic film that follows HM The Queen and her family for a full royal year. It was made to coincide with the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. It is the first time that cameras had been allowed to follow The Queen and her family on official and private family occasions. One such official event is the visit of then President Nixon of the United States. A private moment is The Queen and her family having a barbecue lunch in the grounds of Balmoral. Another shows Prince Charles playing the cello when a string snaps and hits poor little Prince Edward in the face. Yet another delightful scene is The Queen visiting her dogs at Sandringham. As such it is superb primary source historical material. This film did a lot to show that the royal family are not distant figures living in a museum state but are warm human beings trying to get on with the job they have to do. It is a film not to be missed.