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ALL COWARD ALL THE TIME

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Noel Coward's

In Which We Serve (1942)

This is the only film that Coward made and he virtually made it himself. He wrote, produced, directed, composed, and starred in it.

It is a lifeboat picture.

A ship is hit and we learn its story and the men on it from the memories of the men as they float toward.............well that would be a spoiler.

Sir Noel Coward was quite a star in his time. He had many plays produced and wrote a lot of music. He performed. He had an enormous range of talent.

For the most part, his thing was suave and sophisticated wit. But he could do a battle film like this with great effect.

I saw his musical Sail Away which was written for Elaine Stritch.

I remember watching a teevee special with a college boyfriend who worked at the President's house as houseboy.

The prez and his wife joined us.

None of has had seen him before but knew his work up and down.

Coward even played Las Vegas towards the end.

In the old days they would have called him a 'notorious homosexual'. Now we know that he was out and about and rather comfortable with himself in that old fashioned homo way that is now gone.

A bit of a queen but never garish about it.

The movie? It is pretty good. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. It has a bit too much Brit sentimentality for me but then that's to be expected.

It wasn't written for me and my home front. Chin up and all that.

I would imagine that it did fine with the audience that it had.

Labels: best films, gay life, nostalgia