Mrs. Henderson Presents (Widescreen Edition)
List Price:
Our Price: $1.99
You Save: $4.96 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.73 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest, Judi Dench, Kelly Reilly, Will YoungBrand: Generic
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 79099
Studio: Weinstein Company
Movie Reviews of Mrs. Henderson Presents (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: A lovely, unambitious, thoroughly satisfying film
Summary: 5 Stars
Warning! Spoilers ahead:
I love popular culture, especially intelligent popular culture, but I have become progressively less and less enchanted each year with the summer blockbuster films that we are saddled with and the bloated, overwrought holiday films we are given each November and December. MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS is the perfect tonic for anyone sickened by bombastic cinema, a small, lovely, and subtle film that tries to entice you with its story rather than its special effects or massive vistas. Its ambition is to tell a small, unique period story as well as possible. In this the film succeeds.
The film tells the story of how in 1938 a newly widowed woman (played by Dame Judi Dench), for want of anything more compelling to do after the death of her husband, buys and renovates a West End London theater, which she calls the Windmill. Dench's performance is marvelous and I was greatly heartened to see that she was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Mrs. Henderson hires promoter Vivian Van Damm, who persistently denies being Jewish, as artistic director and gives him unfettered control over every artistic aspect of the operation. Bob Hoskins does his usual superb job as Van Damm (am I the only one who is under the impression that he has looked almost exactly the same for thirty years?) and much of the appeal of the film derives from the complex-combative and respectful while at the same time distantly intimate-friendship and partnership that Henderson and Van Damm form. The initial innovation of the theater is to perform musical reviews 24 hours a day, but when other theaters begin to imitate them, their ticket sales begin to decline. Mrs. Henderson then suggests that they trump the competition by having nude girls on stage. Luckily she has a connection with cabinet member Lord Cromer (played surprisingly well by American comedian Christopher Guest), who although initially hesitant to OK the nudity, finally agrees on condition that the women not move, so that they resemble art works that one might find in an art museum. The theater as a result becomes remarkably successful and continues to operate even during the worst of WW II and the Blitz. The story revolves almost entirely around the professional relationship between Mrs. Henderson and Mr. Van Damm on the one hand and the relation of all to the girls who become the nude statues on the stage.
The cast, as in most British period films, is impeccable, though in this one also somewhat unexpected. Will Young, the Pop Idol winner, turns in a pleasantly effective performance as the Windmill's leading musical performer, crooning the tunes with an appropriate period style. But apart from the two main leads, the most delightful performance is by the lovely Kelly Reilly, who plays one of the girls who model on the stage.
There is a large amount of nudity in this film, but there is virtually no eroticism. There is, in fact, less salaciousness in this film than in the vast majority of PG-13 releases. Rita Hayworth taking off her glove in GILDA is infinitely sexier than anything that happens in this movie. I might be willing to insist that this is the least sexy film to feature full frontal nudity (both male and female) ever made. Only the most serious prudes would find the tiniest thing objectionable in the film
All in all, this is an utterly delightful film. One will come away from it not thinking it one of the best films one has seen, but one will not feel sonically, visually, or intellectually abused in any way, and unlike the experience with most Hollywood movies these days, one will not feel oneself in any way insulted. This is a small but enormously satisfying film.
Summary of Mrs. Henderson Presents (Widescreen Edition)
Academy Award winner1 Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love) received her fifth Oscar® nomination for her saucy, hilarious performance in Mrs. Henderson Presents. Laura Henderson (Dench) may be a widow in London but she is certainly not going to spend the rest of her days playing bridge. In a time when England is brought to its knees by war, she brings a nation to its feet in applause?with a live show featuring nude girls! Dench and Academy Award nominee2 Bob Hoskins have won critics? hearts in this stylish gem that Joe Morgenstern from The Wall Street Journal calls "one of the wittiest comedies to come our way in a very long time!" "Two hours of relentless, heart-pounding pleasure." - Rex Reed, The New York Observer 1Best Supporting Actress, Shakespeare in Love 2Best Actor, Mona LisaThe blitz-bombing of London in World War II provides the serious backdrop for the uplifting entertainment of Mrs. Henderson Presents, a delightful British comedy anchored by the flawless performances of Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. After losing a son in World War I, and becoming a widow in 1937, the wealthy and respectable Mrs. Henderson (Dench) decides that the best way to support soldiers going off to battle is to give them a wartime send-off they'll never forget. Thus, she buys and renovates the Windmill Theater in London's Soho district, hires Mr. Vivian Van Damm (Hoskins) as the impresario of an all-day musical variety show called "Revudeville," and secures permission from the censorious Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) to include naked women in the stage show ? on the condition that the ladies remain still onstage to qualify as "art," like nude portraits in a gallery, with the "foliage" of their "midlands" discreetly obscured. "Revudeville" is an instant hit, British propriety remains tastefully intact, and as The Windmill's fortunes rise, fall, and rise again, Mrs. Henderson Presents develops an emotional depth and good-natured nobility that's perfectly matched to the comedy of tweaking British manners. Working from an eloquently witty, fact-based screenplay by Martin Sherman, director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) brings out the best in a well-chosen cast, and Andrew Dunn's cinematography (enhanced by judicious use of digital effects to show the London blitz in progress) casts a warm, inviting glow over this winning tale of show-biz tenacity in the best and worst of times. --Jeff Shannon
Similar DVD Movies
A Month By the LakeEBH; Release date: 2011-09-20; DVD
Best price: $3.14
Price in other shops:
Tea With MussoliniSony; Release date: 1999-11-23; DVD
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops:
Mrs Palfrey at the ClaremontTerra; Release date: 2010-01-12; DVD
Best price: $7.18
Price in other shops:
Widows' PeakNEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2005-04-19; DVD
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
Ladies in LavenderSony; Release date: 2005-12-06; DVD
Best price: $5.05
Price in other shops:
Her Majesty, Mrs BrownEBH; Release date: 2011-07-05; DVD
Best price: $2.88
Price in other shops:
My House in UmbriaSMITH,MAGGIE; Release date: 2003-11-25; Published: 2003-11-01; DVD
Best price: $4.03
Price in other shops:
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Widescreen & Full Screen Edition)Universal Studios; Release date: 2008-08-19; DVD
Best price: $1.58
Price in other shops:
The Last of the Blonde BombshellsHBO Home Video; Release date: 2001-02-20; Published: 2001-02-01; DVD
Best price: $3.70
Price in other shops:
Calendar GirlsBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-05-04; Published: 2004-05-01; DVD
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops: