White Mischief (B or 3/4 stars)
Starring Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance, Sarah Miles, Joss Ackland, John Hurt, and a host of other laudable thespians, Michael Radford's 'White Mischief' tells a scandalous true-story mystery/drama. When millionaire landowner Sir Jock Broughton (Joss Ackland) moves from England to colonized Kenya on the eve of WWII, his young trophy wife, Diana (Greta Scacchi), quickly grows weary of the older man she married for $$. Diana ignites lust in the slobbering men there, and sparks envy in the women. Soon enough, she enters a torrid affair with debonair bon vivant, the Earl of Errol, Josslyn Hay (Charles Dance), and well, the other jaded British expatriates in their snobby village of Happy Valley know alllllll about it.
Debauchery is everywhere; with the gossipy Brits swapping partners, imbibing on alcohol, taking drugs & attending lavish parties. While WWII starts to pick-up and their relatives in continental Europe try desperately to survive ... there doesn't seem to be a care in the world for these folks. But turmoil would enter the fray when the colony is rocked by news that Josslyn Hay has been murdered. Assumptions are that Sir Jock Broughton is responsible ... but proof is absent. Drama ensues as Hay's death {along with some suicides & a strange funeral ritual} would become one of the British Empire's more infamous crime stories.
Greta Scacchi is radiant as Lady Diana Broughton; the woman at the center of the scandal. Charles Dance is stellar as the Scottish nobleman/Earl who had an ill-fated hankering for seduction. Sarah Miles is outrageous as Alice de Janze, the community's queen of sexual proclivity. Joss Ackland steals the show as murder suspect #1, the cuckolded husband of Diana. Other splendid actors in this sprawling cast include John Hurt {as a farmer in love with Diana}, Trevor Howard {as a local who tries to give Jock advice}, Geraldine Chaplin, Susan Fleetwood, & Hugh Grant. All of these actors add to the already intriguing period piece, in which no one is sure who killed Josslyn Hay, but they'd all agree that his demise may have been warranted.
The look & tone of this film is another asset. A languid scene at a grand party early on devolves into a torpid, low-energy orgy and, the mood that is captured feels just right. Radford is excellent at finding the little brewing tensions that rise & fall throughout - not just during the party, but - the entire plot. Cinematographer Roger Deakins makes everything onscreen resplendent. The costumes, cars, architecture & other varied sets are perfectly evoked for the depicted time & place. To that, exotic Kenya recalls the great Out of Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture 3 yrs. prior.
Director Michael Radford & co-writer Jonathan Gems do an admirable job adapting James Fox's book for the big screen. This movie aptly conveys the external beauty & opulent luxury of these colonists while also capturing the internal rot of their disgraceful, hedonistic tendencies. The result: a lucid morality tale about the cost of depraved vanity -- seeing how detached they all are from the far-off horrors of the war is pretty shameful. I wouldn't say that this movie contains much narrative propulsion; that's the knock. But the performances, the opulent locales, the tawdry storyline, & Michael Radford's painstaking, tactile recreation of that outwardly elegant setting makes it exactly the kind of little British period piece that I tend to enjoy.
Debauchery is everywhere; with the gossipy Brits swapping partners, imbibing on alcohol, taking drugs & attending lavish parties. While WWII starts to pick-up and their relatives in continental Europe try desperately to survive ... there doesn't seem to be a care in the world for these folks. But turmoil would enter the fray when the colony is rocked by news that Josslyn Hay has been murdered. Assumptions are that Sir Jock Broughton is responsible ... but proof is absent. Drama ensues as Hay's death {along with some suicides & a strange funeral ritual} would become one of the British Empire's more infamous crime stories.
Greta Scacchi is radiant as Lady Diana Broughton; the woman at the center of the scandal. Charles Dance is stellar as the Scottish nobleman/Earl who had an ill-fated hankering for seduction. Sarah Miles is outrageous as Alice de Janze, the community's queen of sexual proclivity. Joss Ackland steals the show as murder suspect #1, the cuckolded husband of Diana. Other splendid actors in this sprawling cast include John Hurt {as a farmer in love with Diana}, Trevor Howard {as a local who tries to give Jock advice}, Geraldine Chaplin, Susan Fleetwood, & Hugh Grant. All of these actors add to the already intriguing period piece, in which no one is sure who killed Josslyn Hay, but they'd all agree that his demise may have been warranted.
The look & tone of this film is another asset. A languid scene at a grand party early on devolves into a torpid, low-energy orgy and, the mood that is captured feels just right. Radford is excellent at finding the little brewing tensions that rise & fall throughout - not just during the party, but - the entire plot. Cinematographer Roger Deakins makes everything onscreen resplendent. The costumes, cars, architecture & other varied sets are perfectly evoked for the depicted time & place. To that, exotic Kenya recalls the great Out of Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture 3 yrs. prior.
Director Michael Radford & co-writer Jonathan Gems do an admirable job adapting James Fox's book for the big screen. This movie aptly conveys the external beauty & opulent luxury of these colonists while also capturing the internal rot of their disgraceful, hedonistic tendencies. The result: a lucid morality tale about the cost of depraved vanity -- seeing how detached they all are from the far-off horrors of the war is pretty shameful. I wouldn't say that this movie contains much narrative propulsion; that's the knock. But the performances, the opulent locales, the tawdry storyline, & Michael Radford's painstaking, tactile recreation of that outwardly elegant setting makes it exactly the kind of little British period piece that I tend to enjoy.