Saw Gods and Monsters this afternoon. Hollywood
is a much more interesting place at its faded edges. Like Sunset
Boulevard, this is the story of a forgotten movie person after
the career has ended. But the director James Whales, unlike Norma
D, chose to leave the studios. A dapper and witty man, he seems
to see the irony in being remembered for directing campy horror
movies rather than "Show Boat." And instead of
portraying Whales as spending his energy on pining after a lost
career, the movie beomes a meditation on his dying. The various
threads of his past are brought together by the effects of a
stroke, causing him to have floods of memories every time he
closes his eyes. Those memories are best told when Whales
(portrayed by Ian McKellen) tells them. Unfortunately, too many
of the flashbacks are visually told, and become intrusive,
interrupting the main character's stories rather than
illustrating them.
Super80 commented earlier that Lynn Redgrave as
Whales' aging maid nearly steals every scene she is in, and I
second that sentiment. She could almost be a character from one
of Whale's Frankenstein movies.
A buff Brendan Frasier, and his buffness plays
into the story, is introduced as the beautiful yard man (are
there lots of these in LA?), but ultimately serves as the last
man in Whales' life, a straight fellow who is befriended by
Whales' stories and words, an escort for him as he lives through
the stories of his life while his mind begins to fail.
One of the more vividly realized scenes is set
at a garden party thrown by the closeted George Cukor in honor of
Princess Margaret. The Hollywood elite are gathered, including a
funny portrayal of Elsa Lancaster (of Bride of F). After words
and menacing glances are exchanged between the two old directors,
Whales and Cukor, Whales explains to his gardener that it
"was just a couple of old queens slapping each other with
lilies."
A minor note on the various boys in this movie
that probably only a gay man would notice. I am not sure that
boys in the 50s had bodies like we see in this movie. Their
physical development looks more like a 90s package. Even the
nelliest character, a skinny boy stripped to his underwear had
pecs.
McKellen and Redgrave's characters are
wonderfully eccentric and well drawn. BTW, big thanks to cllrdr
for spotlighting the real Whales in his book and in his thread.
