The Boy Friend

Ken Russell – 1971 – England

It’s easy to imagine the beleaguered Ken Russell needing to raise spirits somewhat in the aftermath of his recent controversial and heady features The Music Lovers (1970) and The Devils (1971); not just because of the films themselves but the amazing scandal they provoked.  The Boy Friend fits the bill for this need for lightness and frivolity, even innocence, and yet it is no less a rigorous Russell film that the more famous and sensational works he is known for.  It’s technically based on Sandy Wilson’s popular musical from the 50s, but naturally Russell turned into a completely madcap and surreal extravaganza.  Twiggy plays the understudy to the lead (Glenda Jackson) in a struggling stage show that has about eight people in the audience.  One of these is a movie producer, though, who is contemplating a film version of the play; and everyone in the cast is hoping to make an impression on him.  With the star breaking a foot, the shy Twiggy gets her big chance.  Meanwhile she also deals with a major crush on an actor in the show (played by Russell regular Christopher Gable, who also co-choreographed the dances).  The Boy Friend has some passionate admirers, including people who knew little or nothing of Russell’s filmography.  I find it probably the weakest of his work from the late 60s-early 70s period (his golden age), but only because it was surrounded by some amazing masterpieces.  But like his other “musicals” a few years later – Tommy and Lisztomania (both 1975) – the film’s strongest elements are its fantasy set-pieces in which the characters imagine themselves in a variety of Busby Berkley-style numbers.  It may be unusual for Russell to be in ‘G’ rated territory, but there are still plenty of moments when his bawdy sense of humor and frantic camerawork are able to come through.