Review of Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

This is quite an amusing film - its based on a true story and is quite light hearted, with some really quite humorous moments. The story is quite interesting and the characters are rather animated. I found it to be an easy watch. The musical numbers are quite catchy and its quite a bright and colourful film in general, with scenes of on stage performances featuring some impressive lighting techniques given the time its set in.

Mrs Henderson herself, aka Laura, comes across very much as a frivollous, well-to-do upper class socialite - someone who perhaps doesn't see the controversy that others clearly do. She's blunt and to the point and this leads to some entertaining arguments between her and the theatre's manager. She seems, in some parts, a bit cold and uncaring but thats shown to not be the case, as she decides to check up on how the acts are being treated.

The second world war is depicted and some news reel fooage is shown during the film, to give the viewer a real feel of how turbulent things were and to bring home the fact of how important it was then that 'the show must go on', as the saying goes, despite attacks above ground. Of course this film is more of a muscial based comedy than a full blown drama, as mentioned and as such, it glosses over things to an extent but it does well at portraying what the theatrical world was like in London at that time. Some might say its a bit tasteless, from a nudity point of view but its argued that the emphasis is very much on making it (ie. the performances) appear artistic, rather than pornographic, by way of the performers barely moving on stage, which I imagine can't be easy.

The music is pretty light and even subtle perhaps - Will Young performs some numbers and features throughout the film. I didn't find myself getting overly distracted, as musicals aren't particularly my 'thing', you could say (along with slasher type horror films and sickly sweet romantic comedies) but the story moves along at a fair pace and the musical scenes, or parts, are equally mixed in with dialogue based scenes and I found it entertaining throughout. There are some slightly political scenes or aspects within it and there is something of a moral message to it - there is some poignant dialogue, as well as the amusing aspects although, as I say, its mostly quite light hearted and a pretty easy watch. You don't have to have your wits about you too much to understand, follow or enjoy this film, which (as far as im concerned) is no bad thing - it highlights the determination of an individual to provide a slightly alternative entertainment during the wartime. You could say it has a very British feel to it, of course it being based on a true British story having a lot to do with it but I liked the sort of grit and determination aspect of it and I feel Dame Judi Dench was particularly well cast in her role.

Yes, I'd recommend this film, as I thought it was quite entertaining - amusing in scenes, with some good musical performances, nice lighting and some poignant moments too. The main characters are quite animated and Mrs. Hendersons rocky 'relationship' with manager Van Damm is particularly well portrayed. With equal entertainment and comedy, this is a pretty good watch. It isn't especially long drawn out at about an hour and forty minute long and it has a good cast, with a nice message (or moral) or two added to it I suppose, so on that basis then I'd say its worth seeing.