So,
I received the new Dad’s Army film on
Blu-ray for Fathers’ Day this year. From when it was first announced to when it was
released in the cinema I suspect I went through the same stages in my reactions
to this film that many others did.
2) Why?
3) How dare they!
4) Interesting cast.
5) Hmmm. Teaser trailer. Not bad.
6) Mrs Mainwaring?! No, they can’t do that! Never seeing her was THE JOKE.
7) Ooh, a longer trailer – actually that looks really good.
With
a young family and few options for nights out I’d already earmarked this as a
film I wouldn’t see in the cinema but would happily catch on TV in a few years.
I find the old television series to be quite charming but not required viewing
(and repeats of it seem to be on BBC2 on a constant rotation anyway), but it’s
a cherished part of our comedy heritage. Revisiting a national treasure was
always going to ruffle feathers – particularly because over the past twenty
years or so various old shows have been revisited or revived in one format or
another with mixed, but often unsatisfactory, results. The theatre, where
everything is held to be ephemeral, is the accepted medium for recreating
characters and fondly revisiting old shows – or on television if the piece is a
dramatic recreation or biopic, pandering to our fascination with the ‘real’
behind-the-scenes stories and pain hidden under the laughs.
The
Dad’s Army film, then, is a
refreshing tonic, because it is very good. It’s sympathetically, affectionately and
(most importantly of all) very well made with some great laughs and some charming moments of humanity and
tenderness. There are plenty of nods to the old TV show, such as the font used
to introduce the characters one by one at the start and then again to credit
the actors at the end (with the original theme music), plus the German war map with
the Nazi and British arrows facing off against each other a la the original title sequence, but these fond
visual homages aside the film is allowed to be both the same as and yet different from
the series that inspired it.
Predictably
it has a wonderful cast and the actors recreate the roles with absolute care,
but without resorting to actual impersonations - so the audience isn’t
distracted by constantly comparing, say, Michael Gambon’s Godfrey with Arnold
Ridley’s. This avoids awkward caricatures: much of John Laurie’s Frazer is down
to his extraordinary face, for example, and it would be unfair on Bill Paterson
to have him constantly gurning with wide eyes and rolling his R’s. Tom
Courtenay’s Corporal Jones doesn’t play up to a studio audience with
unnecessary shouts of ‘Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring’ – but he’s still Jones the butcher, they
still don’t like it up ‘em, and he has a real truth and roundedness about him. Let’s
face it, glib catchphrases at the end of the day are shorthand character
moments in a half hour TV episode, (we’re
doomed!) but the broader world presented by the film and the more detailed
storytelling prompts the characters to use any catchphrases ‘properly’ and in
context.
The
film allows Walmington-on-Sea and its occupants to develop beyond their
original boundaries. This is managed largely through the development of the
female characters. On TV, if seen at all, Mrs Pike and Mrs Fox (rarely anyone
else) would simply pop into the odd scene here and there for humorous and not always proactive reasons - for the sake of a gag or two, effectively. Elizabeth Mainwaring cast a huge shadow
over her scenes without ever appearing, sold simply by Arthur Lowe’s reaction
to her phone calls or the very mention of her name. But on watching the film I
realised that this wouldn’t have worked here; the audience would feel cheated when
they’re being shown so much more than the Home Guard. Felicity Montagu, known
to many as Alan Partridge’s long-suffering PA, is brilliant as Elizabeth, Mrs Mainwaring. The
audience still get George’s fear of her through Toby Jones’
reactions, but more than that we now see a strained marriage, where tenderness
and physical contact have long past, and it adds a huge level of realism and
sympathy to both characters.
Also
of particular note is Alison Steadman who clearly spent time studying Pamela
Cundell’s Mrs Fox because (again, although not an impersonation) she adopts
Cundell’s very particular style of movement as that character in the film.
Of
the surviving TV cast Ian Lavender has a cameo scene as a general and Frank
Williams is still playing the vicar at his ripe old age. In the days of the TV
show, when camp or fey people were considered raucously funny and the backhand
suggestion of homosexuality had the audience roaring for hours the vicar was
clearly ticking the camp/probably gay box. It was pleasing to me that in
recreating the role years later Williams could give a genuine performance with no
loaded moments or suggestions of cheap laughs. The vicar may have been gay –
but who cares (it's not important to the story) he’s just a person and it doesn’t need signposting.
Toby
Jones is very hot property these days, isn’t he? His face seems to be
everywhere on TV. It happened to Olivia Coleman a few years back, and Sue
Johnston back in the ‘90s. It can be a double-edged sword though; it shows
approval of your talent and marketability by the industry but the downside is that the general
viewer can become weary of seeing you. I’m guilty of that, I know - for years I wouldn't go near David Jason's TV shows for example.
I’m not yet weary of Toby Jones, but I’m approaching tipping point, I’ll admit.
He’s very charming as Mainwaring, very human and sympathetic. He doesn’t have
the unpleasant, bullying edge that mars Arthur Lowe’s Mainwaring at times, but
he has the pomposity that you want to see popped. Yet at the same time he’s
very vulnerable and we can understand his struggle. But he doesn’t need to be
unpleasant because Bill Nighy’s Wilson isn’t as fey or disassociated as John Le
Mesurier’s was. He's frustrating in a different way.
If
I had a criticism of the film it would be that Sergeant Wilson is miscast. I’m
not a fan of Bill Nighy anyway; it's often said that Bill Nighy plays Bill Nighy no matter what the role. Personally I find that he saps the energy and dynamism out of scenes; he pulls focus by halting the flow as he fidgets and chews his way through his
lines like he’s getting used to a new set of dentures. He’s got a sort of
‘laidbackness’ about him so I can see why the production might have thought of
him for Wilson. But John Le Mesurier wasn’t laid back, he was always at a
charmingly bewildered disconnect with everything else around him – which is
different. Bill Nighy, on the other hand, just looks like he can’t be bothered.
But there’s no one quite like Le Mesurier around these days, so I guess the
options were either to have an impersonation, such as Robert Bathurst who
played him in Ruth Jones’ Hattie
(2011) or someone laidback like Nighy. Nighy is a bigger name. Bathurst, having
played Le Mesurier as himself may, of course, have run away from any suggestion
that he also play one of Le Mesurier’s characters as that would be an actor
impersonating another actor acting…
I noted that Hodges,
the ARP Warden, doesn’t feature prominently in the film, nor was he played by an actor I recognised. But then he was a very
crass, unpleasant character in the TV series, only there to shout down
Mainwaring and belittle him in scene-stealing moments. Probably a lot of fun for Bill Pertwee to play but rarely a lot of fun to watch, I think. I presume the choice in
the film was either to try to develop Hodges into a more well-rounded character
and involve him in the action or to keep him as he was on TV and use him sparingly.
But the story would have struggled to use him in a productive or constructive way,
though, so I think they did the best thing and left him to his occasional
unpleasant asides. The audience sympathies are always going to be with the Home
Guard anyway.
Catherine
Zeta-Jones’ role is rather like the special guest star of the week – such as
the TV series would occasionally have. She is pure excellence, playing the men
off against each other with no effort at all as they all fall for her glamour compared to their own war-weary
local women. Having the audience fully aware throughout that she is the spy
in question allows us to focus on reactions and relationships rather than being distracted
by trying to solve a mystery. It’s a film about relationships and pride and
honour and commitment, the spy storyline allows those aspects to develop and
shine forth without ever eclipsing them. Indeed the climax relies completely on
those elements all coming together. I think that’s a measure of how well judged
and fondly made the film was: telling a story through the characters, the
characters we’ve taken into our national hearts.
And
thank heaven they didn’t try to cram in a ‘Don’t tell him, Pike!’, one brief moment
from one episode that seems to outshine almost everything else about the TV
series.
