In the late 1920s in a London suburb at the Theatre Royal, assistant stage manager Polly Browne cheerfully helps company members, including aging husband and wife Moyra and Percy Parkhill, who had previously performed in London's prestigious West End; former American child dancing phenomenon Tommy and handsome but distant star Tony Brockhurst prepare for the matinee performance of the musical The Boy Friend. Despite the sparse audience and the absence of the show's star, Rita Monroe, director Max Mandeville orders the show to begin. Upon learning that Rita broke her ankle when her high heel caught in a trolley car rail, Max frantically orders the startled Polly to go on in Rita's place. With encouragement from Tony and Max, a mortified Polly stumbles onto the stage and although knowing all of the lines and numbers by heart, freezes until prodded along by the others. Jealous chorus girl Maisie attempts to upstage Polly, who gradually warms up to the part of "Polly," a young girl pretending to be wealthy with a mysterious boy friend who will escort her to the evening's costume ball.
Meanwhile, a chauffeur-driven sports car arrives at the theater, bearing famous Hollywood talking-picture director Mr. De Thrill, who is considering turning the show into a movie. Although delighted with De Thrill's presence, Max laments Rita's absence and the shoddiness of the troupe and theater, and wistfully imagines a Royal Command Performance of The Boy Friend with spectacular sets, costumes and a full orchestra. The company and stage hands continue helping Polly through her performance, pasting lines on props and dancing around her when necessary.
Onstage, Moyra's character, Madame Dubonnet, suspects that Polly has invented her exotic boy friend to cover a lowly background. When Tony makes his stage entrance, the smitten Polly visualizes the Grecian party scene as a wild outdoor party and is nearly overcome. De Thrill's presence electrifies the company and Maisie sets about to impress the director at the expense of her dancing partner Tommy. Backstage, Rita arrives at last and offers the nervous Polly encouragement by telling her to "fake it." Despite Percy's complaints about working with Polly because she is a Cockney and his continual threats of walking out, he and Moyra nevertheless perform their numbers, to Max's relief. Onstage, Tony appears as a messenger delivering Polly's "Pierrette" clown costume for the ball. Admitting that she really does not have a boy friend to accompany her as a "Pierrot," Polly impulsively asks the messenger to be her date to the ball and his assenting song, backed by music from a record player, prompts the watching De Thrill to envision a fantastic production number in silver, black and white featuring two giant turntables on which the entire troupe dances around Polly and Tony. During intermission, Polly is so captivated by Tony that she impulsively sings longingly to a picture of him while De Thrill's attempt to contact her is cut off by the enterprising Maisie. When Polly sees Tony and chorus girl Dulcie maneuvering to be alone together, she is heartbroken. [An intermission divides the story at this point.]
The show resumes and onstage Polly lies to Tony the messenger, pretending to be wealthy, and the couple dream about moving to a simple home in Bloomsbury. After the messenger departs, Polly's friends demand to know details about her boyfriend. Backstage as Polly changes costumes, she wonders why Tony continually avoids her. Fed up with Maisie's continual over-the-top antics and upstaging, Tommy and the chorus boys teach her a lesson onstage by ruining their joint number. Soon however, no one in the company can resist the urge to play up to De Thrill and each number grows more and more expansive. As their onstage characters, Polly is reunited with Tony, the messenger, who reaffirms his feelings for her. When the wealthy Lord and Lady Brockhurst appear, Tony abruptly flees, prompting Polly's friends to suspect him of some criminal behavior. Max, who joins the show in one of the final numbers, is horrified when the chorus girl accompanying him enthusiastically strips off her nurse's uniform and performs a vamp number for the amused De Thrill.
Finally at the ball, when Tony fails to appear, Percy and Moyra lead the troupe in a number pitying Polly, bereft in her "Pierrette" costume. Afterward, Tony, dressed as "Pierrot," appears, startling the truly disconsolate Polly. In a moment that is not part of the show, Tony and Dulcie present Polly with a large cake on which Tony declares his love for Polly. The show then proceeds as Tony admits he is not a messenger but the wealthy son of Lord Brockhurst and apologizes for his background.
Delighted, Polly admits that she too is rich and hopes Tony can still love her. As the show concludes with Tony and Polly vowing to live happily ever after, the troupe waits expectantly, hoping and imagining that De Thrill will select them to go to Hollywood. Polly is surprised to notice Rita leaving the audience in tears and only then realizes how good she has been as an understudy. Backstage, De Thrill disappoints everyone by revealing that he has decided to make Singin' in the Rain instead and leaves a card for Polly. Certain that De Thrill will take her with him, Maisie prepares to leave the company, but in the back alley when De Thrill sees Tommy do a unique dance step he recognizes him as his long lost son and the two are reunited, leaving Maisie behind. After the director leaves with Tommy, Polly reads his card inviting her to Hollywood, but tells Tony she would prefer for them to look for a home together in Bloomsbury.
The musical premiered on stage in November 1954 and had been a notable success, running for over five years in London and helping make a star of Julie Andrews. MGM bought the film rights in February 1957. Ernie Martin and Cy Feur were attached to produce with the cast to include either Debbie Reynolds or Carol Channing. New songs were to be added, and some of the script changed.[6] In January 1958, they announced the film would be made that year with Debbie Reynolds.[7] However the film was not made.
In February 1961, Reynolds said the project was one of three at MGM she would "love to do" (the others being Jumbo and The Elsie Janis Story) but "they're just not making musicals these days."[8]
A few years later, Ross Hunter, who had tried to buy the project originally but had been outbid by MGM, offered to buy the rights from the studio but it wanted $450,000 for it. Hunter decided to make his own musical in the same vein resulting in Thoroughly Modern Millie.[9][10]
In June 1970, MGM and EMI announced they would make four films together, with each company putting in £1 million. The movies were Get Carter, The Go-Between, The Last Run and The Boy Friend.[11] Robert Littman was head of MGM's European operations.[12] The film was made after Get Carter and The Go Between and was the first movie from the newly formed EMI-MGM Film Productions Ltd.[13]
Dan Ireland thought Russell was motivated to make the film in part in response to the controversy of The Devils (1971).[14] Russell admitted he did it "to prove to people I'm not totally deranged. I love the innocence and charm of musicals."[15]
Filming started in April 1971, only ten days after Russell finished work on The Devils.
During filming Russell said the film was "supposed to be a holiday after The Devils—just entertainment. It's turned out to be the hardest picture I've ever made."[16]
Leads
Twiggy
Ken Russell was friends with the model Twiggy, who wanted to get into films—in 1968 they announced she would star in The Wishing Tree directed by Russell but it was not made.[17]
Twiggy had been one of the most famous models in the world but had retired 18 months before the film.[18]
Twiggy had seen a revival of The Boy Friend and suggested that Russell direct her in a film version. Russell says he told a journalist as a joke that he was doing it, and an executive from MGM contacted him saying they had the rights for years but could never figure out how to do it. The executive felt that the "twenties stylisation" of the musical worked on stage but not on film. "It's mannered and stilted and the cardboard characters never come alive".[19] They asked Russell if he was interested in trying an adaptation and he agreed. "Honestly that's how it all came about," said Russell.[15]
MGM were concerned about Twiggy but Russell said "give me three months and I'll have her dancing like Ginger Rogers and singing like Judy Garland."[19]
Her boyfriend and manager, Justin de Villeneuve, acted as producer. "Justin swears she can do anything," said Sandy Wilson before filming began, "and I would think he's probably right."[20]
The male lead was Christopher Gable, who, suffering from a chronic condition in his feet, had left the Royal Ballet to pursue a career in acting.[22]
Gable recalled: "Twiggy was just great; she may be skinny but she's tough. The musical itself was not enjoyable. By a musical's very nature, one has to be relentlessly cheery, the kind of person who always smiles, and, therefore, always dances. After four months, you don't feel like it."[23]
Music
Sandy Wilson's 1920s-style music was arranged by Peter Maxwell Davies, who had provided the score for The Devils. Davies added music for a dream sequence.
Russell added two numbers from Singing in the Rain especially for Twiggy, "You Are My Lucky Star" and "All I Do Is Dream of You".[24]
Filming
Filming took place over eighteen weeks, finishing in September. The big production numbers were shot at Elstree Studios in London and the rest at New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth.[16]
"I know The Boy Friend will be one of the greatest musicals of all time," said Russell. "I only have 24 girls instead of 300 but the Busby Berkeley musical numbers and dream sequences will knock you out. I'm directing it like a tacky stage play in the provinces that is being visited by a big Hollywood director. You see the big fantasies as he visualises them in his head. It will be fantastic!"[15]
"His main problem is containing himself," said associate producer Harry Benn. "He has so many ideas going through that brain of his, his problem - and ours - is to contain himself."[16]
Russell said during filming that de Villeneuve was feeling jealous and left out, affecting Twiggy's performance, so Russell tried to keep him away from the set. He says at one stage de Villeneuve threatened to pull Twiggy out of the film. This caused tension between Russell and Twiggy, although they would eventually reunite while Twiggy ended her relationship with de Villeneuve in 1973.[24]
When the film was over Russell said "I'd always wanted to do" a musical "but never again. It's like trying to rebuild the pyramids when everyone's forgotten how they did it. The simplest things confounded us like those marvelous dark glossy Hollywood floors. We had to try so many materials to paint the floors. We'd get the color the girls would dance on them and they'd be ruined."[25]
De Villeneuve wanted to star Twiggy and Tommy Tune in Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, but the film was never made.[18] Twiggy and De Villeneuve broke up in 1973. Twiggy and Tune re-teamed on the popular show My One and Only.
MGM edits
James Aubrey, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, ordered 25 minutes be cut from the film for its U.S. release.[14]Michael Laughlin, producer of the film Chandler, which also was cut by Aubrey, claimed Russell said he was going to Los Angeles to "murder Jim Aubrey". Russell denied this, claiming to have said he was going to Los Angeles to murder film critic Rex Reed (who had been critical of Russell), and pointed out he was making his next film, Savage Messiah, for MGM. He said if Aubrey wanted to cut the film that was his prerogative.[26]
Among the material cut by MGM for the U.S. release was:
two songs: "It's Nicer in Nice" and "The You-Don't-Want-to-Play-with-Me Blues"
a seven-minute sequence where the character played by Twiggy imagines the entire cast in a bacchanal
a running gag involving the wife (Anne Jameson) of a two-timing actor[27]
Russell wrote the cuts meant "all the relationships in the last reel became completely meaningless."[28]
He later claimed he should have cut the film "during the script stage but, determined to be faithful to the original show, I kept in everything! It was left to MGM, who financed the film, to do the job for me. A gorilla in boxing gloves wielding a pair of garden shears could have done a better job."[29]
Russell was just one of several directors during this time who complained of MGM and Aubrey recutting their films.[30]
Sandy Wilson said in a 1994 interview that he disliked the film. "I recognise some of the tunes. If it made a star out of Twiggy, well... but she's faded out long since. To give Russell his due, it didn't belong on the screen at all."[31]
Russell later wrote of the film in his 1994 memoirs The Lion Roars:[29]
Despite the big Busby Berkeley routines, the novelty value of the stage show, the great singing and dancing by the cast... plus the brilliant designs of Shirley Kingdon and Tony Walton, the film was a flop. The acting was too broad, the gags too laboured and the pacing too slow. I should have cut it during the script stage, but, determined to be faithful to the original show, I kept in everything!
In 1987, a version of the film was released with the 25 minutes restored.[5]
Reception
The film had simultaneous premieres in London and New York.[32] The film had its Southeastern premiere at the Cherokee Theater in Atlanta. Models wore period fashions from the film on stage to introduce the film.[33]
Box office
In January 1972 the Los Angeles Times reported the film was "raking in big grosses already in New York and LA."[26] In October 1972, Russell said "what the public wants is sex and violence, not family films. I made The Boy Friend and no one went to see it." However, by that stage the film had earned $3 million in the US.[2]
In June 1974 Jack Haley Jr of MGM said the film had made the studio "several hundreds of thousands of dollars" in profits. He put this down to the fact that the film only cost $2.2 million. "The property wasn't that expensive because it had a nice score but no hits. Twiggy was an international personality but other than her there were no major expenses for talent." It also helped the film was made in England. Haley thought if it had been made in Hollywood "the cost would have run to more than $5 million on which MGM would have taken a good sized loss."[34]
Critical reception
Variety praised the film, observing: “If for nothing else – but film has more – Ken Russell’s screen translation of The Boy Friend is a beautiful vehicle for Twiggy, a clever young performer. It is delightful entertainment, novel and engaging.”[35]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "Even when he’s not deliberately doing Berkeley takeoffs, (Ken Russell's) camera is so joyless that it undermines every scene".[36]
Roger Greenspun wrote in The New York Times: "I am surprised to find that it is rather greatly to my taste; partly because it is often as witty as it is elaborate, partly because it works its variations on the fully recognizable and still quite wonderful Sandy Wilson words and music, and partly because it is supported by a charming and energetic cast".[37]
In 1973, Fred Astaire said "I don't like it when they rib the old movies and make them look silly," specifically referring to The Boy Friend.[38] However, according to director Richard Quine Astaire "fell in love with" Twiggy watching the film and recommended that Quine use Twiggy in W (1974).[39]
In June 1987, Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas reviewed the restored version, declaring “It’s a delight, one of the high points of Russell’s extravagantly uneven career. “[40]
In a 2003 article for Turner Classic Movies, Felicia Feaster writes: “Despite its many charms, The Boy Friend is often seen as an inferior film to Russell's ‘serious’ dramas … But there is no denying Russell's wholly original and inventive self-reflexive approach to classic Hollywood musicals. Not content to merely honor those films, Russell also gives The Boy Friend a modern touch by introducing British class tension, hints of lesbianism, bawdy physical comedy and a telling comparison of film and stage craft… showing how in the moments of film fantasy that anything is possible, as opposed to the stage where rules of gravity and reality weigh more heavily. Much of the criticism…may also be due to a badly edited American release… which negatively influenced perceptions of this utterly magical film.”[5]
^'Boy Friend' Musical Will Have Star Cast
Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 26 February 1957: 22.
^"MGM to Make Huge Schedule of New Films", Los Angeles Times, 22 January 1958.
^2 "Film Stars Post Busy Schedules: Debbie Reynolds, Stewart Granger 'Well Booked' – 2 Premieres Set Today", by Howard Thompson, New York Times, 8 February 1961.
^"Movies: A Sweet Young Thing or Two", by Peter Bart, New York Times, 17 July 1966: 81.
^Three Cheers for Ross Hunter," by Norma Lee Browning, Chicago Tribune, 28 April 1968.
^"EMI in £2M film deal with MGM", The Guardian, 27 June 1970.
^"Gower Firming a Musical Pulldown", by Joyce Haber, Los Angeles Times, 4 November 1970.
^"MGM, EMI Form Film Firm", Wall Street Journal, 22 April 1971.
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