The Butler Did It...to Everyone
Having first seen and loved "Something for Everyone" upon its original 1970 release, I had occasion to re-watch it only last night in a version taped from an old TV showing -- five minutes short and pan-and-scan, of course -- and was disappointed that neither my memory nor the film held up. Despite hefty credits such as Hugh Wheeler's dry script and Walter Lasally's stately photography, it's directed by Hal Prince with a heavy hand that crushes its humor, so much so that Ralph Rosenblum had to be called in to "save" it in editing. (Rosenblum was a famous fixer in the 70s, having been called in on "Take the Money and Run," "A Thousand Clowns," " "The Producers" and other films by first-time directors whose producers felt the footage needed a pace imposed on it in post-production). While "SFE" was considered daring at the time, it only repeated the screen image of homosexuals (here a bisexual) as stylish, opportunistic, murdering connivers. Compare this with Pasolini's "Teorama" (1968) where the hero uses bisexuality for an apotheosis. All right, all right, it's unfair to hold a 38-year-old film to narrative standards that have changed. But if one compares it to "Cabaret," made only two years later with the same producer, the same writer, the same composer, the same star, the same location, and some of the same themes, one can see how opportunities were squandered. Taken with Harold Prince's other film, "A Little Night Music," one notes that his directorial skills are best seen on the boards, not on the screen.
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