A Familiar Story
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I was surprised to find that neither Michael Phillips nor Cliff Rothman, in their respective Jan. 14 articles on “Topsy-Turvy,” mentioned “The Great Gilbert and Sullivan” (1953, British Lion/London Films, written and directed by Sidney Gilliat) with Robert Morley as Gilbert, Maurice Evans as Sullivan and Peter Finch as Richard D’Oyly Carte.
Spanning Gilbert and Sullivan’s entire careers (the British title is “The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan”), the film does indeed “brave the inside of a rehearsal room” and “the clenched niceties of a salary negotiation.”
In addition to Evans and Morley in top form, and a number of scenes from the operettas, there is a sample of Sullivan’s “serious” music and a glimpse of a private command performance of “The Gondoliers” for Queen Victoria.
I am looking forward to “Topsy-Turvy,” but I suspect I will enjoy it all the more forhaving recently revisited the earlier film.
KATHARINE M. MORSBERGER
Claremont
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