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Topic: Re: Kenneth Williams Biopic: Fantabulosa!

Message 1 / 3
nylon netAug 20, 2010
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: bobbyshaddoe3004@...
Sent: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:26:42 -0000
To: just-a-minute@...
Subject: [just-a-minute] Kenneth Williams Biopic: Fantabulosa!

 

I've just recently watched this incredibly well made film about the life of Kenneth Williams, and it is an amazingly well written and well acted film.

Michael Sheen perfectly embodies Kenneth Williams, from his facial expressions, to his vocal inflections, everything was spot on and pitch perfect.

there is a constant voiceover narration done by Michael Sheen as Kenneth Williams, which no doubt are excerpts taken from the actual diary entries of Kenneth's diary. the voiceover narration is fantastic, as it adds even more gravitas to the whole thing.

there's a fantastic bit at the start of the film which features Michael Sheen, as Kenneth Williams, singing a Rambling Syd Rumpo song over a scene of Michael Sheen (as Kenneth) riding his bicycle back to his flat in Great Portland Street.

The film for the most part focuses on Kenneth's personal life, sprinkled in with career highlights (including his work with Tony Hancock, his work on Round the Horne, his work in the Carry On Films, and there's even a fantastic scene of him playing 'Just a Minute', with Nicholas Parsons and Clement Freud as themselves), as it showcases his constant struggle to find personal love, even in the face of his fear of intimacy. Its a very sad and tragic character study of a man so loved by the public, seeing him tortured by his personal demons, his insecurities and his struggle with his own sexuality.

I was very moved by watching the film, and it really made me think about sad and tragic ol' Kenny's life was inbetween his show biz gigs.

its an amazing film, and I'm pretty sure when I listen to earlier recordings of JAM again, it'll make me view the late Mr. Williams in a different light.

anyone else seen this film?

---

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Topic: Re: Kenneth Williams Biopic: Fantabulosa!

Message 2 / 3
PaulAug 21, 2010
 

 
Apparently either Galton or Simpson felt that the programme didn't capture what Kenneth Williams was about.

 
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Topic: Kenneth Williams Biopic: Fantabulosa!

Message 3 / 3
Clitheroe KidAug 31, 2010
 

 
Without wishing to sound harsh, or judgemental, in my opinion the KW biopic
was, frankly, sensationalised rubbish.

It displayed all the same faults as the BBC's rubbish biopic of Tony
Hancock, which Galton & Simpson said didn't depict the Hancock they knew;
and the one about Steptoe, which G&S also slated (on Radio 7) saying they
didn't recognise Harry Corbett or Wilf Brambell from it.

In order to get commissioned by BBC TV nowadays, you have to pitch a
proposal that's contraversial. And the BBC don't care whether the result is
accurate or is a complete distortion. As long as the victim is dead, so
can't sue for defamation of character, their only interest is ratings, not
the truth. Sensational lies get a bigger audience than the truth, which is
considered too dull to broadcast.

The Kenneth Williams diaries were written in private, to enable him to vent
some of his frustrations, and didn't reflect what he was like when he was
working with or meeting the people the diaries make rude remarks about. To
present the diaries as representing a face-to-face conversation was
certainly the crudest distortion which the programme offered.

To my mind the bloke who was in it didn't really capture Kenneth Williams as
I remember him. I did see a rather good portrayal of KW live, on stage, in a
show called 'Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams', by David
Benson, that gave a more honest representation of him.

Benson also presented an interesting series about KW on Radio 4, that's
still available on CD ('The Private Life of Kenneth Williams'), which was a
genuine attempt to show the truth.

Try Barbara Windsor and Bill Pertwee's autobiographies, which are an
interesting read on the subject of KW (as they recount their recollections
of working with him) if you want to get closer to the real man. And it's not
as if he didn't leave us his own autobiography, too.

'Fantabulosa' proved that you can't base a credible documentary on random
excerpts from the KW Diaries, any more than you could by basing it on random
extracts from 'Acid Drops'.

IMHO, it was muck-raking, not journalism.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul" <plwimsett@...>
To: <just-a-minute@...>
Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 4:14 PM
Subject: [just-a-minute] Re: Kenneth Williams Biopic: Fantabulosa!


>
> Apparently either Galton or Simpson felt that the programme didn't capture
what Kenneth Williams was about.
>
>