Randall-5

This wonderful television play is currently on DVD as part of the Disc 6 of The Noel Coward Collection. The disc also includes another teleplay of a Noel Coward story, "Me and the Girls," starring the terrific Tom Courtenay in the role of an openly gay man (one of the few such characters created by the openly gay Coward). If you are a fan of Sir Noel, the entire 7-DVD collection is a treasure-trove, including BBC productions of almost all of his plays, including the rarely seen early Coward play "The Vortex" and the best video production of "Hay Fever" available. One of the discus is devoted entirely to all the plays in the sequence "Tonight at 8:30," performed by Joan Collins and her own repertory company. For "Blithe Spirit," however, you'll have to look elsewhere; here it's represented in audio only as a radio play.

I saw "The Left-Handed Woman" on its original release more than twenty years ago, and though I have never seen it since it continues to haunt me. The performance by Edith Clever I think is one of the most moving depictions of the solitary individual that I know. Handke perfectly realizes his own haunting story in cinematic form. I have had no luck finding the movie on video, but someday surely I shall be able to see and admire it again. A terribly neglected masterpiece.