The Man Who Loved Redheads

This engaging and witty production was star Moira Shearer's favourite of her film roles. She shines playing the four variations of 'Sylvia' though, perhaps inevitably, is most at home as Olga, the ballerina, with her performance of the Pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty Act 3 one of the highlights. As is her delectably danced Charleston. Her titian tresses are illuminated by Georges Perinal's photography, while the otherwise preponderance of pastel shades accentuate the slight unreality of the proceedings. Kenneth More, whose charm and humour come over as the narrator, would have been preferable to John Justin who nevertheless doesn't do a bad job. Several enjoyable performances include Roland Culver, who never puts a foot wrong playing the aware and insouciant Oscar and Harry Andrews as the unflappable, worldly-wise butler, Williams. Patricia Cutts contributes a delightful cameo as Bubbles, the dizzy flapper, as do also Moyra Fraser as the eccentric Ethel and Joan Benham as a haute couture model. Gladys Cooper is especially memorable in the final scene.

This movie is a romantic comedy from beginning to end. It's a great little movie, based on a Terrence Rattigan play so you know you can't go wrong. The best part of it is seeing Moira Shearer in all four redhead roles. Besides being probably the best ballerina England ever produced, she's beautiful, brilliant, and really good at acting. This movie gives her a chance to display her comedic talents, including a knack for different accents. My favorite is Olga, the Russian ballerina. Moira Shearer herself said this was her favorite among the handful of movies she made, including 'The Red Shoes', one of the greatest movies of all time. The only reason I give this a 9 instead of a 10 is because it's no Red Shoes, but for what it is (romantic comedy, Bob the Moo)it is a perfect little gem. Another reason this movie should be made available on DVD is that it includes Moira Shearer dancing. As Olga she performs parts of 'The Sleeping Beauty', which she actually danced in real life as a member of the Sadler's Wells Ballet. There is precious little surviving video of her famous ballet roles, so this is really a treasure. It would be fantastic if British Lion Films or SOMEBODY put this on DVD so we wouldn't have to settle for home-recorded versions from TV.

Unusual film in a way I suppose, because I gather there weren't a huge number of mainstream films made in the 50's about some fellow's lifelong fetish. But that's what The Man Who Loved Redheads is about, as the future Lord Binfield Mark St. Neots, (John Justin) becomes obsessed with the memory of Sylvia, (Moira Shearer), a 16-year-old redhead he met at a party as a boy, and vowed he would love forever.

The big drawcard for the film and ostensible lead is Moira Shearer playing four different red head roles. In her brief stint as Sylvia, sexy Shearer does convince as a flame- haired siren, who unwittingly leaves a permanent imprint on Mark's life. Unfortunately and given the title, the film ends up concentrating way too heavily on the rather dull life of the maturing Lord Binfield, who is the recipient of way too much screen time, besides the fact that his character, clearly has way too much general time on his hands anyway ... sufficient to live a double life as Mark Wright, your regular all round philandering good guy and playboy. Almost 65 years on from when the film was made, I think we're supposed to find his rather frequent matrimonial indiscretions, funny. You know the thing about boys being boys and behaving a bit badly.

So what we have is a pretty unfunny comedy. But then, quite bizarrely in the middle of the film, director Harold French inserts a 15 minute ballet sequence featuring extracts from The Sleeping Beauty, The reason? Well I guess it was because Moira (The Red Shoes) Shearer was in the cast, so let's hedge the producers' bets and try and attract ballet fans. Quaint, but very odd. Yes, Moira at that stage is playing Olga, a Russian ballerina, but this isn't The Red Shoes and Harold French isn't Michael Powell. And I don't think Shearer did a great deal of the dancing we are forced to unexpectedly watch anyway.

All in all, despite blazing redheads being the focus subject of this misdirected movie, it all ends up very much being a huge misfire (just couldn't help myself).

This film based on Terence Rattigan's play ' Who is Sylvia ? ' is for me a near total disaster. To begin with the dreadful, come on title should have retained the title of the play and the casting was misguided to say the least. Only in the final scenes of the film does Moira Shearer rise to any heights in acting, and the male lead John Justin never does. The majority of the film is virtually unwatchable as Shearer puts on embarrassing accents as both a ' working class ' woman, and then a Russian. Justin is wooden and they do not seem to have any chemistry at all, and to add to this pitiful first half the long ballet sequence added insult to cinematic imagery. Then in the last scenes Gladys Cooper brought the whole thing alive in a performance that had true resonance and beauty and the rest of the cast, as if by magic responded. Much as I admire Rattigan's work he is partly to blame by the patchy dialogue, and this is a pity because the play is a melancholy and tragic portrayal of the destruction of a life by giving all to idealized, romantic love.

The new title alone of this adaptation of Terence Rattigan's 1950 West End hit 'Who is Sylvia?' made me think of Michael Powell; since it boasts Powell's protege Moira Shearer as four different redheads in the life of one man, compared to Deborah Kerr's three in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' (with which it also shares colour photography by Georges Périnal and the presence of Roland Culver, here repeating his role from Rattigan's play).

Sadly this particular soufflé gets little chance to rise under the leaden direction of Harold French, and John Justin is plainly no Roger Livesey. But there are odd moments as narrated by Kenneth More - particularly the brief shot of Sylvia near the end - that actually achieve the touching quality it aspires to and which 'Blimp' achieved throughout.