One of my favorite movies is Enchanted April, which was released in 1992 and has never been made legitimately available on DVD in the USA even though it was well reviewed at the time, garnered three Oscar nominations, and features a roster of famed British actors. Every few months it is shown on HBO, and that's about the only chance we have to see it.
You can't even find photos from this movie on the Internet, except for the poster which is too overtly girlie, though perhaps appropriate given that this one just might fall under the label of chick flick, depending on what is meant by that.
Enchanted April is a dramatic British period piece with comedic elements, set in the 1920s, about four repressed women who rent a house together in Italy for a long spring break. It was directed by Mike Newell, who has helmed other good movies including Four Weddings and a Funeral as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Nearly all of the actors in its ensemble went on to bigger and better things, including Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Polly Walker, Alfred Molina (Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2)... and also Jim Broadbent, who with this movie became my all time favorite British character actor. He plays quite an amusing character, who does this humming-tooting noise throughout the movie which I have mimicked ever since. The dozens of subsequent movies Jim Broadbent has appeared in include Topsy-Turvy, Iris, Moulin Rouge, and both Bridget Jones movies. He can also be seen in the upcoming Indiana Jones and Harry Potter adventures.
I probably fell for Enchanted April because I first saw it upon returning from my first trip to London, and because it was one of the better ones I remember seeing at Louisville's dearly departed Vogue Theater (perhaps my favorite cinema of all time). So now I have it captured on TiVo, and recently obtained a bootleg version sold on an apparantly legit website. Yet I count myself among this movie's small but vocal online fanbase longing to see it released in an enhanced widescreen edition with all the trimmings. Maybe before next April....?
You can't even find photos from this movie on the Internet, except for the poster which is too overtly girlie, though perhaps appropriate given that this one just might fall under the label of chick flick, depending on what is meant by that.
Enchanted April is a dramatic British period piece with comedic elements, set in the 1920s, about four repressed women who rent a house together in Italy for a long spring break. It was directed by Mike Newell, who has helmed other good movies including Four Weddings and a Funeral as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Nearly all of the actors in its ensemble went on to bigger and better things, including Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Polly Walker, Alfred Molina (Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2)... and also Jim Broadbent, who with this movie became my all time favorite British character actor. He plays quite an amusing character, who does this humming-tooting noise throughout the movie which I have mimicked ever since. The dozens of subsequent movies Jim Broadbent has appeared in include Topsy-Turvy, Iris, Moulin Rouge, and both Bridget Jones movies. He can also be seen in the upcoming Indiana Jones and Harry Potter adventures.
I probably fell for Enchanted April because I first saw it upon returning from my first trip to London, and because it was one of the better ones I remember seeing at Louisville's dearly departed Vogue Theater (perhaps my favorite cinema of all time). So now I have it captured on TiVo, and recently obtained a bootleg version sold on an apparantly legit website. Yet I count myself among this movie's small but vocal online fanbase longing to see it released in an enhanced widescreen edition with all the trimmings. Maybe before next April....?
1 comment:
I was also part of the small but vocal online fanbase clamoring for the release of Joe Vs. the Volcano on DVD, in the years leading up to its eventual release.
Now, if Disney would only get over its fears of how modern audiences would react to their classic film Song of the South, which hasn't appeared on home video in the USA since the early 1980s. They are afraid it might seem a little racist now... And yet, millions of people are exposed to its animated characters each year as they ride Splash Mountain, my favorite attraction at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom!
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