Half Moon Street

This tale of an American academic confronting sexism, snobbery and so on while getting mixed up in Middle East politics because she becomes an expensive escort seemed very with it when it was released but now seems very dated. Its view of feminism is pretty narrow. Michael Caine plays Michael Caine and Signourney Waver stands around talking about pretrodollars. The film does not aim for eroticism, but despite that shows plenty of Ms Weaver semi-naked. The ending is a cop-out, and also features an unbelievably incompetent hit man.

The premiss may be a bit far-fetched but this screen version of Paul Theroux's novel "Doctor Slaughter" is surprisingly robust and very enjoyable. Sigourney Weaver is the underpaid American working for the Middle East Institute in London who decides to supplement her income by working for an escort agency. However, things get murky when one of her clients turns out to be Michael Caine's diplomat charged with brokering an Israeli/Arab peace deal. Has Sigourney been set up and if so, by whom? It's hardly believable, of course, but the director, Bob Swaim, ensures it moves at a fair clip though he does play down the thriller aspect to beef up the love story that develops between Caine and Weaver. He also keeps you guessing as to who is doing what to whom. It wasn't a success but it's also a lot better than its critical reputation might suggest.

The original story, a novella by Paul Theroux, was turned into a screenplay, also by Theroux (he wrote several). It was terrific. You couldn't put it down. It was a highly-atmospheric work with complex characters. We struggled to find the right director, who could give it the right kind of film noir look at which Theroux was clearly aiming. We ran into early problems when few actors we approached for the female lead were willing to play this kind of a role. The nudity was not an issue; they just didn't "identify" with Dr. Slaughter.

Signing Sigourney Weaver was a blessing but also a problem since she's taller than most leading men but fortunately, so is Michael Caine. We got lucky in that combination. We had long conferences with the director, who seemed to understand exactly what Theroux's concept was all about.

During shooting in London, the RKO team (in New York and Los Angeles; our post-production group was based in London) kept asking the head of production how things were going, how the dailies looked, etc. He told us they were on time and under budget, which was true.

When the film was finished, I went to London with the President of RKO Pictures to look at an assemble edit. It was almost unwatchable. I began to wonder if there was a good way to edit around the female lead. But it wasn't really her fault. Who could possibly undress Sigourney Weaver and make her look unsexy? That took a special kind of talent. We walked out of the screening room into the daylight of Dolphin Square and contemplated the end of our careers.

Fortunately we were able to make other pictures and have the time to spend the rest of our lives wondering exactly how to apologize for this one.

The researcher of the Institute for Middle East Study Strategy, Dr. Lauren Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver), is facing economical difficulties since her paltry scholarship of 150 pounds per week is insufficient to live in the expensive London. Lauren is Harvard PHD and had lived in China for many years, and now is working in the institute that seeks a special relationship with the Arab World.

After a dinner in the house of the banker Hugo Van Arkady (Keith Buckley), Lauren receives a videotape from the Jasmine Escort Service at home. When her chief, General Sir George Newhouse (Patrick Kavanagh), publishes her research without any reference to her name, Lauren becomes upset and decides to moonlight at the escort service to raise money to move to Half Moon Street and have casual sex with eventual clients. When Lauren meets the prominent Lord Sam Bulbeck (Michael Caine), who is negotiating peace treaty between Arabs and Israelis, they become lovers. However, Lauren does not know that she is being manipulated by powerful politicians to jeopardize the work of Lord Bulbeck.

In 1986, when I saw "Half Moon Street" for the first time, I liked this film a lot. Yesterday I watched it again and I still found it a good movie without being special. The story of a Harvard PHD researcher that moonlights as a call girl is absolutely unusual and this is the good point. However, the result of her romance with the conspicuous politician is predictable and the conclusion does not surprise the viewer. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Intriga International" ("An International Intrigue")

Before I give you my opinion of this movie, I must tell you that I bought it just for the fact that Sigourney Weaver was in it. Back in late '93 - early '94, I was just becoming one of Ms. Weaver's fans. I bought the video from a little video store close to my house. When I watched it, it was (and still is!) a real treat to see a topless Ms. Weaver. Not only is she topless in more than one place in the film, the whole "famous exercise bike" scene has to rank as one of the top ten seduction scenes in my book! That having been said, as the years have passed, I've grown to like the rest of the movie for what it is: a romance/political suspense movie. I have yet to read the book, but I hope to sometime. All in all, a great movie!