Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story *** (2023, documentary, voice Rupert Everett, Alan Cumming) – Classic Movie Review 12,787

Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story (2023) is a lovely, delightful, delicious ramble down memory lane, with glorious clips, quotes and home movies. Rupert Everett is marvellous as the voice of Noel Coward, though Alan Cumming is an odd but acceptable choice as narrator.

Writer/ director Barnaby Thompson’s 2023 documentary feature film Mad About the Boy could have cast its net wider, and it could have provided wittier insights, and at the end of the day it provides nothing new. It is very reliant on a couple of admittedly excellent TV interviews, notably with a young David Frost. There are no surprises, or fresh takes or earth-shattering understandings or re-evaluations. But, nevertheless, it is thoroughly enjoyable, great nostalgic fun and a lovely wallow, a most entertaining old showbiz hour and a half.

Yet, more research and more detail are needed here. There’s plenty of info around, after all the incredibly prolific Coward wrote three volumes of autobiography, and a splendid collection of Coward’s diaries was published in 1982, and his secretary Cole Lesley wrote a frank posthumous biography in 1976, The Life of Noël Coward. Coward himself didn’t fancy any revelations about his sexual orientation because: ‘There are still a few old ladies in Worthing who don’t know.’ But he did encourage Lesley to write the biography once he was gone.

There are tantalising glimpses of the film it could have been in the precious brief clips of Richard Attenborough, John Mills, David Niven, Harold Pinter and John Osborne talking. Precious views of old London and pictures of the rich and famous pass by all too quickly to appreciate or digest. There is precious little about his long-time partner Graham Payn and his secretary Cole Lesley, and not much about his loyal and lifelong friend Marlene Dietrich, and is there even a mention of Joyce Carey?

But, of course that would be a different film, maybe a two-hour feature, or better a three-part series. As it is, this is a light but luxurious skim over a lovely life, and hugely valuable – and amusing – for that. Certainly film-maker Barnaby Thompson shares Noel’s famed talent to amuse.

Of course, everyone’s got a Noel Coward impersonation handy, except Rupert Everett, who wisely keeps Noel’s wisdom spoken in his own mellifluous tones.

Adam Lambert recorded Coward’s song Mad About the Boy for the film.

It was released in the UK on 2 June 2023 before its TV premiere on 26 December 2023.

Surprisingly, Coward was an early admirer of the plays of Harold Pinter and, though the two men clashed as premier old style and new kitchen sink dramatists, he later backed Clive Donner’s 1963 film version of The Caretaker with a £1,000 investment.

We learn in the film that in 1942 George VI wanted to award Coward a knighthood for his work on behalf of British intelligence, but the homophobic Winston Churchill vetoed Coward’s knighthood. We don’t learn that Churchill used as his reason for withholding the honour Coward’s £200 fine for contravening currency regulations in 1941. More importantly, we don’t learn that Coward clashed with Winston Churchill over the abdication crisis of 1936. Whereas Churchill supported Edward VIII’s wish to marry ‘his cutie’ Wallis Simpson, Coward thought the king irresponsible, telling Churchill: ‘England doesn’t wish for a Queen Cutie.’

In the end, Coward’s friend The Queen Mother swung Noel the knighthood.

And, oh dear, the cigarette smoking! Noel is hardly ever pictured or interviewed without a cigarette in his hand or mouth. Even David Frost has a cigarette in his hand while interviewing him.

It’s absolutely extraordinary that Coward had his biggest latter-day success in Las Vegas, hob-nobbing with gangster owners, and there he is pictured with Frank Sinatra!

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,787

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