The Boy Friend (1971) on Netflix
G19712h 17mComedyMusicalRomance
At the Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, a small troupe stages The Boy Friend and its leading lady breaks her ankle. Assistant stage manager Polly Browne takes her place before a Hollywood director.
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- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.8/103,918 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
Trailer
Plot summary
It is the late 1920s, and Max Mandeville's company is staging The Boy Friend at the Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, usually to more performers than paying customers. The star, Rita Monroe, has broken her ankle, and Max tells Polly Browne, the assistant stage manager who has learned the part by heart, to take the role minutes before her first entrance. In the audience is De Thrill, a Hollywood director weighing a film version of the musical, so Max is anxious and the ambitious chorus girl Maisie angles for his notice. Polly, in love with the leading man Tony Brockhurst, wants mainly not to embarrass herself.
Cast
- Sally Bryantas Nancy
- Graham Armitageas Michael
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Boy Friend (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Filming started in April 1971, only ten days after Ken Russell finished work on The Devils. Russell said the film was "supposed to be a holiday after The Devils" and just entertainment, but that it had "turned out to be the hardest picture I've ever made".
- James Aubrey, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, ordered 25 minutes cut from the film for its U.S. release. Producer Michael Laughlin claimed Russell said he was going to Los Angeles to "murder Jim Aubrey"; Russell denied it, saying he had meant the film critic Rex Reed.
- 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 MGM executive then contacted him saying the studio had held the rights for years but could never figure out how to do it.
- Russell said that during filming Twiggy's partner, de Villeneuve, was feeling jealous and left out, which affected her performance, so Russell tried to keep him away from the set; at one stage de Villeneuve threatened to pull Twiggy out of the film.
- MGM bought the film rights in February 1957, with Ernie Martin and Cy Feur attached to produce and either Debbie Reynolds or Carol Channing to star. In January 1958 they announced the film would be made that year with Reynolds, but it was not made.
