Review of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980) by Stuart K — 24 Mar 2011
"English as tuppence, changeless as canal water, nestling in green nowhere..." Based on Vivian Stanshall's classic 1977 comedy record, this is one of the most eccentric English comedies ever made, seldom seen since it's release, but still a look inside the mind of one of our greatest musical mavericks.
Set in the big country manor of Rawlinson End, it focuses on the exploits of the eccentric Sir Henry Rawlinson (Trevor Howard), who has a family of eccentrics, he has a prisoner of war camp in his garden where Max (Gary Waldhorn) and Joachim (Simon Jones) try to escape, Sir Henry's brother Hubert (Stanshall), is even madder, and speaks utter nonsense, (or does he??) Plus, there's also the small matter of the house being haunted by the ghost of Sir Henry's deceased brother Humbert (Michael Crane), who was killed in an unfortunate duck hunting accident years earlier, so Sir Henry enlists the help of local parson Rev.
Slodden (Patrick Magee) to exorcise the spirit of Humbert, so that the family can be left in peace, apart from anything else that annoys Sir Henry. It's absolutely bonkers, and non of it seems to make any sense, it's crossed somewhere between Monty Python, The Goons and something experimental by the Comic Strip team.
But, Stanshall was a genius, and he knew what he was doing, or did he??
This review of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980) was written by Stuart K on 24 Mar 2011.
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End has generally received positive reviews.
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