Half Moon Street

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 film talks about a young woman called Lauren Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver) who works as a lecturer and researcher at the Arab-Anglo Institute in London during day and sophisticated escort serving to VIPS by night at the Jasmine Escort Service . To supplement her income , she has a special client to British diplomatic (Michael Caine) who is acting as ambassador in the conflict amongst Jews and Palestines . He's trying to create an important peace treaty but the various confronted factions want to shatter the pacification project .

The plot isn't narrated with agility and seems to be a little forced and artificial . It's quite unsuccessful but there're pretty dialog and not much action with exception on the final reel that's fast movement and is funniest . The picture obtained lukewarm reception by the public in spite of the magnificent starring duo and was a flop and barely made monetary box office . Although technically well realized is mediocre and doesn't offer surprises . The motion picture is classified ¨R¨ as abounds the nudism in charge of Sigourney Weaver as an escort becomes a pawn in some very dark politics , violence when the murders happen , sexual themes and profanity . The support cast though unknown is very secondary , the film is mainly interpreted by two exceptional actors : Weaver and Caine . The movie was regularly directed by Bob Swaim . The film will appeal to excellent protagonist pair fans . Rating : Mediocre and entertaining .

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.

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!

Half Moon Street is basically an average film with some good talent in it. From the reviews this is a movie people either love or hate, but I think the elements balance each other out and the end result lands it in the middle of the film quality spectrum. Sigourney Weaver comes across totally convincingly as a Mid East scholar who becomes an escort by night to make ends meet (anyone who is a fan of hers will probably appreciate her many nude scenes!). Michael Caine also gives a good performance as an English lord trying to broker a secret Middle East peace deal. Where this film falters is in the script, which is too talky and it seems to take a long time for the story to get going. The last twenty minutes is well filmed and exciting, but there is a lot of plodding to go through before the good part arrives. Fans of Caine and/or Weaver will probably love it; for everyone else, not really a bad film, but not really great either.