Television Reviews : Early-Talkies Hollywood in BBC ‘Once in a Lifetime’
“Once in a Lifetime,†by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, is nearly 60 years old and thriving. The L.A. Classic Theatre Works presented it on KCRW-FM last year, and La Jolla Playhouse is about to mount a production. Yet it’s the BBC, not a commercial network, which has seen fit to revive it for the larger television audience.
The result (tonight at 9 on Channels 28, 15 and 24; Saturday at 9 p.m. on Channel 50) is a snazzy, sharp-tongued satire of Hollywood in the first years of the talkie era. But it’s not just a period piece; Hollywood is not notably saner now than it was then. The spectacle of know-nothings wielding enormous power in the making of movies is still apt.
The play follows a trio of ex-vaudevillians who cross the country to get a piece of the Hollywood action. Kristoffer Tabori, all nervous energy, plays the spark plug of the trio. Zoe Wanamaker gets most of the wisecracks--and makes them crackle.
But it’s Irish-born Niall Buggy, as the naive “boy wonder†of the group, who’s the revelation of this production. His wide-eyed, double-chinned, bald-headed characterization is irresistibly funny.
Also getting more than her share of chuckles is Sheila Gish as the black-gowned, scatterbrained receptionist at Glogauer Studios, who can never quite remember the name of the frustrated playwright (Edward Petherbridge) who’s waiting to see Mr. Glogauer (David Suchet).
Staged in a London studio by Robin Midgley, “Lifetime†is presented here as part of WNET’s “Great Performances.â€
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