Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

The Missionary (1981)

Director: Richard Loncraine

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Along with Local Hero, this marks a return to the kind of gentle comedy drama that has more in common with the old Ealing films than with the zaniness of Monty Python. A naive missionary returns from colonial Africa to be sent among the Fallen Women of Edwardian London. From them he learns that missionary has another meaning, which he embraces with the fervour of a man finding his true vocation. Affectionate treatment of English eccentrics - choleric general (Howard), aristocratic nympho (Smith), dotty butler (Hordern), keep-fit bishop (Elliott) - maintains interest between the rather meagrely distributed comic set pieces. But despite stylish direction, Palin's artless vicar is too familiar and too supine to carry a full-length film, a personal project in which he seems oddly self-effacing.

Author: MB

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

A Farewell To Tartan Films

A Farewell To Tartan Films

To mourn the loss of the great Tartan Films, Time Out remembers a few of the best films to emerge from their impressive canon

Jason Bateman: interview

Jason Bateman: interview

Jason Bateman – star of ‘Hancock’, alongside Will Smith – talks to Time Out about his comic influences and how to pretend to throw a car

Ten Great Head Shots In The Movies

Ten Great Head Shots In The Movies

Lots of people get shot in the head in the new film 'Wanted'. Read our guide to some other great head shots on film

Set visit: 'The Damned United'

Set visit: 'The Damned United'

Dave Calhoun gets his training kit on as he visits the set of a new film about football legend Brian Clough’s torrid spell at Leeds United in the mid-1970s