Post by Salzmank on Nov 18, 2020 18:57:53 GMT
Thank You, Jeeves! (1936; dir. Arthur Greville Collins).
I’m surprised I liked this one so much; I’d read that it was a weak, unfunny, and unfaithful P.G. Wodehouse adaptation—but the only one of those that’s true is unfaithful. It has little to do with Wodehouse’s book of the same name, and Wodehouse’s Jeeves would be aghast at Arthur Treacher’s Jeeves’ silliness and etiquette-breaches, but it’s a sweet, charming, unpretentious, and very funny little comedy.
Nearly all of the jokes, while not taken from Plum Wodehouse, have the light Wodehousian charm and spirit:Best of all is David Niven (!) as Bertie Wooster. He’s just so energetic, exuberant, witty but witless, and hilarious, talking a mile a minute and genuinely bringing Wodehouse’s Bertie to life (on par with Hugh Laurie’s take in the TV show). In some scenes he reminded me of Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce, of all people. I kid you not, this is one of the finest Niven performances I’ve seen. Who’d a thunk it?
So, yeah, no great masterpiece (the plot’s basically nonexistent, as far a cry from Wodehouse’s hyper-complex plotting as possible), but good solid fun.
I’m surprised I liked this one so much; I’d read that it was a weak, unfunny, and unfaithful P.G. Wodehouse adaptation—but the only one of those that’s true is unfaithful. It has little to do with Wodehouse’s book of the same name, and Wodehouse’s Jeeves would be aghast at Arthur Treacher’s Jeeves’ silliness and etiquette-breaches, but it’s a sweet, charming, unpretentious, and very funny little comedy.
Nearly all of the jokes, while not taken from Plum Wodehouse, have the light Wodehousian charm and spirit:
Bertie: Jeeves, have I got a brother?
Jeeves: Brother? Certainly not, sir.
Bertie: Oh, I thought not, but one never can tell these days, can one?
Jeeves: Brother? Certainly not, sir.
Bertie: Oh, I thought not, but one never can tell these days, can one?
So, yeah, no great masterpiece (the plot’s basically nonexistent, as far a cry from Wodehouse’s hyper-complex plotting as possible), but good solid fun.