![]() Though the Germans have left behind a cache of explosives that is set to go off and (hopefully) do away with the Allied forces the Germans expect However, with a Scottish soldier named Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates) sent to investigate a town that has just been abandoned by the Germans, King of Hearts throws this perhaps trite formulation into the context of World War I, What exactly "being crazy" actually means. Much as with King of Hearts, there's an inherent dialectic informing the subtext of "who is crazy and who isn't", or perhaps more saliently Stephen Sondheim outing Anyone Can Whistle, which featured an isolated town whose sole remaining business is the local insane asylum. In a way, King of Hearts bears at least some passing similarities to another infamous flop musical, the legendary (no, really) 1964 King of Hearts relies on a curious combination of whimsy and intimacy that even de Broca finds a bit difficult to sustain in the cloisteredĬonditions of a feature film, and which simply may have been too precious to keep manifest on a large open stage. Have been more at home during the era of Hair, in fact, rather than a decade or so later, but even given certain contextual issues, But perhaps even a cursory glance at Philippe de Broca's 1966 film which gave birth to the musical may be enough to glean why a stageĪdaptation might have been problematic from the get go, even if certain elements of the film do in fact seem to be tailor made for peopleīursting into song or launching into a dance routine and the film's blatant theatricality seemingly similarly apt for a live theater adaptation. That had produced a Top 10 hit (an increasing rarity for a stage score in those days) in "If You Let Me Make Love to You, Then Why Can't I Touch Success with a kind of Hair-esque musical called Salvation Similarly responsible for the libretto of a little show called Fiddler on the Roof, and the music was by Peter Link, not exactly a Broadway legend, but a composer who had scored a significant That's at least a little surprising, given that the book was by the redoubtable Joseph Stein, Mouth wasn't especially strong about the show. King of Hearts, a show which kind of limped into New York with the bad luck to open during a newspaper strike, though even word of One of the other interesting 1970s era flops with a cinematic Had seen shows like No, No Nanette and Follies feature stars of a bygone era (as 70, Girls, 70 did) and do considerableīusiness. Senior citizens who were slightly larcenous (but for good reason), and the musical debuted right at the height of the 1970s "nostalgia craze" that The play later became the well remembered British film Make Mine Mink, with all three There's a certain subset of live theater fans to which I may or may not belong (okay, I belong) that finds an unabashed fascination in flopĪn admittedly kind of odd interest that leads to speculation about everything from "what were they thinking?" exercises surrounding musicalĪdaptations of films like Carrie (and, yes, there is one for those who are unaware,Īnd it's one of the most notorious flops of all) to "how could this possibly have failed?" ruminations about shows like 70, Girls, 70, aĬharming piece written by the Cabaret team of John Kander and Fred Ebb that Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, June 6, 2018 ![]() Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Jean-Claude Brialy, Geneviève Bujold, Adolfo Celi, Julien Guiomar, Micheline Presle Will Charles be able to deactivate the bomb in time and save his newfound friends?įor more about King of Hearts and the King of Hearts Blu-ray release, see King of Hearts Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on Jwhere this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5. However, Charles is chased by some Germans and finds himself holed up at the local insane asylum, where the inmates are convinced that he is the "King of Hearts." Feeling obligated to help the inmates, Charles attempts to lead them out of town, but they are afraid to leave and frolic about the streets in gay costumes. King of Hearts Blu-ray delivers stunningly beautiful video and great audio in this excellent Blu-ray releaseĭuring the latter part of World War I, Private Charles Plumpick is chosen to go into the French town of Marville and disconnect a bomb that the German army has planted.
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