And they don't come any more relic-y than this one, a strangely slack,eclectic pop-star vehicle (even by 60's standards) for British pop group Herman's Hermits and its front man Peter Noone.
Noone, who looks and sounds like a Hobbit refugee from 'Lord Of The Rings' was part of the wave of Beatles-clones who washed across the Atlantic in the mid-60's......and they all brought with them a vision of Britain as the swingin' epicenter of a global Pop explosion in music, films and fashion.
'Mrs. Brown' based on one of the Hermits' earworm hits, has a lot of stuff going on, none of which ever adds up to a sustained plot. The film randomly wanders around Manchester and London, stops cold for musical numbers that range from lighter-then-air Bubblegum Teen to Washed Up Broadway, then simply stops......end of story.
Along the way, you can sample all manner of things shoehorned into a movie where they don't really belong.........veteran song and dance man Stanley Holloway bursting into an endless number about working in the Covent Garden food market.........a scenic travelogue of what it's like to live homeless along the Thames.........(hint: it's all just spiffy and colorful)
........and there's also virtually interchangeable mini-skirt cuties who for some reason unknown to us, lust after Peter Noone.....(curiously, Noone and his four bandmates recoil in disgust when accosted by a drugged-out hippie chick.....you can tell her apart from the others by her vacant, dazed demeanor.....)
But how can you not love a movie where Peter, a.ka.Herman dresses up for a job interview in a hot pink satin shirt? Where Holloway's character is named George George Brown because his father stuttered? Where the 'Mrs. Brown' of the song is a greyhound racing dog?
For those who revel in re-living the imaginary pop universe of the 1960's......Peter Noone, You've Got A Quirky Movie......2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)
No comments:
Post a Comment