The Naked Civil Servant
by Jack Gold
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: John Hurt, Katherine Schofield, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge, Stanley LeborDirector: Jack Gold
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 78 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
Movie Reviews of The Naked Civil Servant
Movie Review: So Gay. So What?
Summary: 5 Stars
How many people have led better lives thanks to dear Quentin Crisp? As a young fey gay man in the 1980's coping with AIDS and society that basically thought my friends and I deserved to die, Crisp was a gift from above. I read ALL of his books and he saved my life- not with gooey "gay is great" style PC posturing, but with an unvarnished wisdom that taught me the gay facts of life.
Like how I would never lead a normal life and that I should be gratful for that because normal life is bloody awful.
Crisp taught me not to be a slave to idealized romantic love that doesn't exist for anyone let alone femme queens like us. He taught me how to use my wits, he taught me how to behave and how to get invited to parties and get free dinners. He taught me the joys of Greta Garbo pictures.
He taught me to wise up and be fabulous.
For me, this classic film version is all about John Hurt- who delivers one of the greatest performances of the 1970's here.
This movie softens Quentin- it is also somewhat facile and very 70's rainbow flag in it's gay rights agenda which is fine and works on that level but isn't really Quentin.
The real Crisp was somewhat prickly about middle class "gay rights" and was somewhat reluctant to be the movement's posterboy. Perhaps he'd been burned a few too many time by middle class gay men and knew better.
Read Crisp- and discover his hard-boiled fabulousness- his glamorous nihilism and his pluck. Sadly most of his books are out of print but don't let that stop you and in the meantime, by all means, get this movie.
It's a great place to start.
Summary of The Naked Civil Servant
The Naked Civil Servant created a furor in 1975 when it premiered on PBS in North America with viewers threatening to yank their support of their local stations. It was a film ahead of its time about a man even more ahead of his time. The Naked Civi Servant is based on the autobiography of Quentin Crisp a man struggling to live an openly flamboyant gay lifestyle during a time when homosexuality was against the law in Britain. His outlandish behavior shocked the intolerant pre-WWII British society and provoked frequent homophobic attacks but Crisp staunchly refused to compromise his lifestyle and went on to become a cult celebrity and an international gay icon a 20th-Century Oscar Wilde. This colorful heartwarming coming of age tale is by turns funny and tragic.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA UPC:?794051290823 Manufacturer No:?E2908Between Oscar Wilde and Boy George, Quentin Crisp was the most important gay icon in England. The TV movie The Naked Civil Servant, adapted from Crisp's autobiography and broadcast in 1975, had a significant social impact in the cause of gay rights, and it's easy to see why. Packed with witty aphorism but also unflinching in its portrayal of the verbal and physical abuse Crisp received for being an openly effeminate homosexual; throughout most of Crisp's life, simply being flamboyant was a political statement, one not always appreciated by other gay men who sought to pass unsuspected. The film briskly moves from when he stumbled into London's gay demimonde to his bohemian social world and career as an artist's model to a particularly superb scene when he was put on trial for solicitation. The Naked Civil Servant also brought the brilliant John Hurt, who played Crisp with intelligence and humanity, to wide acclaim. Hurt has since appeared in movies as diverse as Alien, The Elephant Man, V for Vendetta, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but Crisp remains a signature role for this unique actor. The fortuitous combination of Crisp and Hurt makes The Naked Civil Servant essential viewing. Extras on the dvd include a short television piece in which Crisp interviewed Tina Brown when she was editor of Vanity Fair and a sweet, reminiscing commentary by Hurt, director Jack Gold, and producer Verity Lambert. --Bret Fetzer
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