Star!

Julie Andrews has been compared to everything from a mechanically charming air hostess to a knitted coverlet for a toilet roll, but one comparison she has escaped - especially since Star! - is to Gertrude Lawrence. Nevertheless, Wise's biopic hardly deserved the rough treatment it received from most critics and audiences, who had been led by the studio's advertising to expect another Sound of Music. This was a far more ambitious project; it backfired, but it backfired with a certain amount of honour. Daniel Massey's mincing portrayal of his godfather Noël Coward wins hands down over all the other impersonations.