Midnight Movie

 ((BRITISH))

By DEREK ELLEY

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A BBC Films production, in association with Whistling Gypsy Prods. Produced by Dennis Potter. Executive producers, Ruth Caleb, Mark Shivas. Co-producer, Rosemarie Whitman. Directed by Renny Rye. Screenplay, Potter, inspired by Rosalind Ashe's novel "Moths."
 
Henry Harris ... Jim Carter
Amber Boyce/
Mandy Mason ... Louise Germaine
James Boyce ... Brian Dennehy
Mrs. Morrey ... Anna Cropper
Bertie ... Steven Mackintosh
Bob Maclean ... Colin Salmon
Ann Maclean ... Lucinda Ann Galloway
 

Dennis Potter's last work shot under his own supervision, "Midnight Movie," is a hit-and-miss blend of the late telly scribe's familiar trademarks, mixing film refs, femme exploitation and larky wordplay in a mock-thriller format. Intended for theatrical release, but on the shelf for the past year, this curate's egg looks destined to unspool on the small screen and at specialized gatherings rather than find any career on the big sheet.

Pic is more successful than the overwritten, convoluted "Secret Friends," the previous feature made by Potter's company, Whistling Gypsy Prods., which bombed in a brief stateside release in early '92. "Movie" is more of a movie, thanks to OK direction by Renny Rye and a trio of lead performances that mesh well. The problem is more Potter's script -- a jokey conceit stretched to feature length which, despite incidental pleasures, never really gets under the blanket with its subject matter.

Pic plunges straight into Potterland with a dark voiceover by a lovesick, middle-aged lawyer and scenes of a blonde in a negligee screaming outside an English country mansion one dark and stormy night. Latter turn out to be the first of several intercut sequences from a bad British horror movie shot 20 years earlier, in the pile now rented by American producer James Boyce (Brian Dennehy) and his bimbo Cockney wife, Amber (Louise Germaine).

The movie, "Smoke Rings," is the all-time favorite of the lawyer, Harris (Jim Carter), who's arranged the property rental for Boyce. Harris is still besotted with the pic's late actress, '60s starlet Mandy Mason, an ambitious, sex-obsessed model who died under mysterious circumstances. The nervy Amber just happens to be her daughter. When Boyce invites Harris for dinner, the midnight movie showing on TV is "Smoke Rings." In the days that follow, Amber's increasingly schizophrenic behavior seems to parallel both her mom's life and the plot of the movie, with Harris also drawn into events.

The film is at its best when in the realm of pure parody, either re-creating chunks of the amazingly tacky "Smoke Rings" or letting Germaine and Dennehy have fun with their characters, the bullheaded U.S. producer and airhead actress/model. Christopher Gunning's moody, noir score, with lazy sax solos by Stan Sultzman, and Remi Adefarasin's colorful lensing are major assists here.

Weak point is the character of the lawyer, Harris, nominally the pivotal role but often more a bystander to events. Carter's hangdog performance is fine, but his character's obsession with Mandy/Amber is never fully explained and, by the time the twist ending puts everything in perspective, it's too late.

Germaine, from Potter's six-part TV series "Lipstick on Your Collar" (also helmed by Rye), is good in the double role of Mandy/Amber, especially the former , all '60s blond bob and heavy eye makeup. Dennehy is solid in an easy part.

Camera (color), Remi Adefarasin; editor, Clare Douglas; music, Christopher Gunning, production design, Gary Williamson; art direction, Paul Cross; costume design, James Keast; sound (Dolby), John Pritchard; associate producer, Alison Barnett; assistant director, Dermot Boyd. Reviewed on vidcassette, London, Oct. 31, 1994. (In London Film Festival.) Running time: 100 MIN.
 

With: David Curtiz, Gerard Horan, Anthony Pedley.