Mrs. Henderson Presents

I really enjoyed this movie, again another period piece and a musical. my favorite kinds of movies. This one has something for everyone -- happiness, sadness, tragedy, accomplishment, singing, dancing, and social comedy.

The movie takes place prewar and during World War II.

It begins with the funeral of the very rich Mrs. Henderson's (excellent Oscar performance by Dame Judi Dench) husband. Her friend advises her to take up a hobby like embroidery because she is now a widow, which is unsuccessful. While out on a ride one day, she discovers an abandoned theatre and buys it then fixes it up and calls it "The Windmill." The theatre becomes her new hobby and enterprise.

She then hires Vivian Van Damm (played by Bob Hoskins who also produced the film) to be the theatre manager. They are very antagonistic to one another like an old married couple but their partnership and ideas for a "theatre that never closes" with tableauxs of nude women is a huge success especially among the soldiers.

Ahhhh, but the politics just to get the show going is just as much fun with the befuddled Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) granting permission with conditions of how they can do this within the laws of Britian and be tasteful about it.

The story mostly takes place in the theatre and you see lots of behind the scenes action and brief storylines about some of the chorus girls. There are many wonderful vintage production numbers woven into the storyline.

The great thing about this movie is that it is based on actual events and real people.
The nice surprise is that Mrs. Henderson's money went on to do a great thing for British culture which exists today.

I enjoyed the featurettes and the voice over by the director to gain more insight of how the movie was made. I was amazed to learn that most of the cast had never been on a stage set before, they were all unknowns, they were absolutely wonderful. The everyday fashions, and show costumes (or not, LOL) were marvelous.

It was a great romp through that time period, the struggles of day to day life during war time, and how important people really are to each other.

Mrs Henderson Presents at IMBD