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 Lisa
The 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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
better this time around:
I'm an unashamed lover of the movies I grew up with in the 1940s, but some remakes easily surpass earlier versions. This one does it in spades. The glossy Rita Hayworth vehicle of 1945 put it's focus on its glamorous star who was cast as one of the dancers at The Windmill. There was only a nod in the direction of the actual Mrs Henderson. No mention of nude showgirls (it's 40s Hollywood, afterall) This newer production trumps in every category. The performances, of course, but also the cinematography, the... more info
A Pleasant Froth:
An interestingly charming based-on-a-true story of Mrs. Henderson (Judi Dench), a widowed upper-class woman in pre-WWII London who decided on a lark to buy a theater, The Windmill. Teaming up with theatrical manager Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), they were an instant success with all-day revues but then started losing money once everyone started to copy their product. The solution? Nude girls, of course; however, this being the 1930s, nude dancing girls were beyond the pale. How they get around this little... more info
If you like Judi Dench...:
If you like Judi Dench and anything she's done, you will like Mrs. Henderson. Altho she seems a bit starchy at the beginning of the film,you'll find yourself ready the lead cheers for her by the end.
A real life comedy:
The genius of comedy lies in showing us truth with a smile. That is why comedies in fact reveal deeper truths about about the human spirit than any drama. You would never know it from most critics and serious people, but in the long run comedies often outlast their dramtic contemporaries and we are still quoting from them years after they appear. As one example, even if another film won the Oscar I agree with Roger Ebert that JUNO was easily the best film of 2007. And we will be watching it long after the... more info
