England
Shown in 1988
CREDITS
- dir
-
Michael Radford
- prod
-
Simon Perry
- scr
-
Michael Radford
- cam
-
Roger Deakins
- cast
-
Sarah Miles, Joss Ackland, John Hurt, Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance, Susan Fleetwood, Geraldine Chaplin, Trevor Howard
- source
-
Columbia Pictures
-
COMMENTS
Opening Night film. Joss Ackland, Greta Scacchi and Michael Radford in person.
OTHER
White Mischief goes back into Africa with a vengeance. It glossily portrays the flip side of colonial life, exposing the opulent and lush—but downright debauched—lifestyle of the British “Happy Valley” crowd in Kenya during the war years. It opens in 1940 with newlyweds Joss Ackland and Greta Scacchi about to leave England for the British colony of Nairobi. He needs a wife and she wants the money and a title, but when Scacchi meets handsome Charles Dance in Nairobi, the scene is set for some philandering. Dance plays an inveterate womanizer, popular in the debauched close-knit European community, who amazes himself by falling in love with Scacchi. With stoical British reserve, Ackland seems to accept the affair, even suggesting a celebratory dinner for the couple when they announce their plans to go away together. Later that night Dance is shot through the head while in his car. Suspects for the murder are plentiful, including Dance’s former mistresses Sarah Miles and Susan Fleetwood, but Ackland is charged with the murder. He is later acquitted, but the scandal means the end of the Happy Valley set and their dalliances. Charles Dance and Greta Scacchi are fine in the lead roles, with Scacchi certainly looking desirable and elegant bedecked in stunning costumes and sporting a seemingly endless collection of sunglasses. White Mischief has such strength in depth of acting talent that the likes of John Hurt, Geraldine Chaplin and Trevor Howard appear all too infrequently. It is Hurt who makes the most visual impact, driving about Kenya in a battered Rolls-Royce with two Masai warriors in the back seat.
—Mark Adams, Variety
FACTOID #1
The Festival has screened many debuts, both short- and feature-length, by some of cinema’s most influential artists including Juan Antonio Bardem, Jane Campion, Roman Polanski, Melvin Van Peebles and Lina Wertmüller.
