Scant Story

The most disappointing thing about The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan IMO, is that the actual story of the two men is so lightly sketched out and then inserted as it were, as a buffer between the very impressively staged musical items. There's nothing really about their earlier lives and when the film opens they have already begun working together. Although there are efforts to age the characters as the years pass, there are no specified dates or time periods. Any dramatic conflicts between the two are generally played for laughs.

Considering the historical standing of both figures, it strikes me that this film might be fertile fodder for a possible remake at some stage in the future.🐭