Scandal

Film

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<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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Time Out says

Caton-Jones' first feature is a serious, almost low-key affair, strong on period detail and imbued with a sense of genuine outrage on behalf of both the ruined Stephen Ward (Hurt) and the deranged and derailed Christine Keeler (Whalley-Kilmer) which lifts it above the merely exploitative. Both main performances are strong at the core of a still compelling story (Hurt in particular, a riveting jumble of weakness, seediness, vanity and kindness). Less satisfying are McKellen's Profumo, who looks more like a samurai warrior than a war minister; Bridget Fonda's Mandy Rice-Davies, and Jean Alexander's Mrs Keeler, who seem to have succumbed to the cutting-room jitter machine. Others must decide on the propriety of this cinematic exhumation; for those who weren't around at the time of the scandal in the early '60s, and even for those who were, it certainly makes dismaying if illuminating viewing.

Author: SGr

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Release details

UK release:

1988

Duration:

115 mins

Cast and crew

Director:

Michael Caton-Jones

Cast:

Ronald Fraser, Jean Alexander, Roland Gift, Daniel Massey, Britt Ekland, Leslie Phillips, Ian McKellen, Bridget Fonda, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, John Hurt, Jeroen Krabbe

Music:

Carl Davis

Production Designer:

Simon Holland

Editor:

Angus Newton

Cinematography:

Mike Molloy

Screenwriter:

Michael Thomas

Producer:

Stephen Woolley

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Comments & ratings

Rated as: 3/5 (1 rating)

  • To be frank the film is somewhat bland, barely scratching at the surface of what the viewer slowly realises is underneath; pure evil. It is obvious the people who have seen to it they rule us are totally without morals...and are using ordinary hard-working people to slave for them. Subsequent scandals have exposed more of the antics they get up to, but the media paint it up in such a way the public regard it all with amusement, not horror. And who owns the newspapers..... I think it's time a new version of the film be made, perhaps better - a TV series - was done, exposing the reality we were not allowed to see the last time. If nesseccary, use real porno-stars and X-rate it... but do it!

    Sven Sat Apr 12 2008
    Rated as: 3/5
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