Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A marvelous re-creation of mid-Victorian music halls, with two great entertainers, Tommy Trinder and Stanley Holloway, 19 April 2007
Nostalgia is everything it's cracked up to be in Champagne Charlie, a valentine from Ealing Studios and Alberto Cavalcanti to English music halls. Ostensibly, it's the story of George Leybourne (Tommy Trinder) and his rivalry with Alfred Vance, the Great Vance (Stanley Holloway), in the music halls of mid-Victorian England. The music halls hadn't yet become the more respectable theaters of England, from which they lasted in full glory until television appeared. In the 1860s they usually were big ale houses, unsophisticated drinking and singing establishments for the working man and his lady. In this movie's view, they were often rambunctious, loud, jolly and great fun, where the swells often showed up to see the latest entertainment, which included young dancers, and everyone joined in the songs. There's a smattering of a plot beyond the rivalry (which includes a ludicrous duel at one point between the equally nervous Leybourne and Vance) involving attempts to close the music halls down and a romance between a duke's son and the daughter of Bessie Bellwood (Betty Warren), a music hall owner and singer who employs Leybourne.
The interest is in the the story of Leybourne, who becomes Champagne Charlie. He's played with enthusiasm and great cheer by Tommy Trinder, who was a hugely popular stage and later radio entertainer in the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. Trinder was a tall Cockney with a long face, round eyes, a lot of teeth and personality to spare. The first 50 minutes of the movie, in fact, is largely Trinder and Holloway performing song after song in the gas-lit music halls, always strutting their best stuff as they try to out-perform each other with drinking songs and stage power. It's a grand show, with the ale flowing, the smoky atmosphere, crowds of warm bodies having a great time...it's good cheer all around even with the plot. Hearing and seeing Trinder prance about performing Champagne Charlie; Hit Him on the Boko; Ale Old Ale; Burgundy, Claret and Port; I'm One of the Brandy and Seltzer Boys; and Everything Will Be Lovely...or hearing and seeing Holloway sell Strolling in the Park; I Do Like a Little Drop of Gin; Rum, Rum, Rum; A Glass of Sherry Wine; and Hunting After Dark...is to wish you were back there, too, downing a pint and singing with them.
If it had been possible in war-time Britain for this movie to have been made in Technicolor, Champagne Charlie would not be the forgotten museum piece it has become. The settings in the music halls cry out for lush color. Fortunately, there is this DVD that has a fine black and white transfer. The DVD disc includes a brief introduction explaining who Champagne Charlie was and giving a little background about that era's music halls.
For those who love English music halls, try Lost Empires. It's a multi-part TV miniseries from 1986 based on the novel by J. B. Priestly. It tells the story of Richard Herndon, played by Colin Firth, who joins his uncle for a year of touring on the Empire music hall circuit before WWI starts. Lawrence Olivier in his next to last theatrical appearance plays an aging song-and-dance man long past his prime. Lost Empires is a fine drama which expertly recreates the atmosphere and the acts.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Escapism at its best, 19 Nov 2006
It's a delight to find this wonderful 1940s film transferred to DVD.
Essentially, it's a story of the (real-life) rivalry between two music-hall performers of the mid-1800s - George Leybourne ("Champagne Charlie" of the title), and the Great Vance. But there are some nicely-judged, and fairly authentic sub-plots as well - particularly the jealousy of the legitimate theatres for the halls.
Although some of the songs were written for the film, they blend in well enough, and while it would have been good to hear more of Leybourne and Vance's own music,("Cool Burgundy Ben" or "Cliquot" for instance), there may be technical reasons why this was not possible. Anyway it's a treat to hear the ones that are included, such as The Man on the Flying Trapeze.
Tommy Trinder attacks his role as the irrepressible Leybourne with energy and verve, and the incomparable Stanley Holloway is at his fruity-voiced best as the flamboyant Vance. It's great, as well, to see the little by-plays of regular members of "The Mogador's" audience: the elderly couple enjoying their supper, and the `Tipsy Swell' who's regularly escorted from the hall.
This is escapism in its best form - it portrays all that was good and enjoyable about the music halls, and if it skims over the seamier, darker side of the era, it still provides cracking entertainment.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost a classic but certainly a lot of fun, 9 Nov 2006
Champagne Charlie, for its first hour at least, is one of Ealing's finest achievements, and almost certainly it's most lavish. Under Cavalcanti's direction, what could have been a flat retelling of the famous feud between music hall singers George Leybourne (Tommy Trinder) and Alf Vance (Stanley Holloway) becomes a visual feast where design and direction give the simple backstage story a near epic dimension (even the extras are stars, with the likes of James Robertson Justice and George Cole among the audience). Indeed, some of the composition puts Casque D'Or to shame, with its depiction of a city of dark alleys and backyards where the halls are havens of light, color and good company.
Unfortunately once the pair hang up their gloves, the script loses its way, sidelining the potential drama of the legitimate Theatres attempts to have the halls closed in favor of a forbidden romance between the music hall owner's daughter and the son of a distinguished blah blah blah. Even the musical numbers suddenly become flat, as if Cavalcanti has run out of tricks, while the final brawl where the various turns put their onstage skills to offstage use seems a little too perfunctory. But so much of it is so good, you'll forgive it anyway.
Optimum's DVD includes an introduction by Ealing expert George Perry and trailers for It Always Rains On Sunday, Moby Dick and Breathless but not the film itself.
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