Wings of Fame (1993)

Enigmatic, Ethereal Peter O'Toole , Marie Trintignant & Colin Firth Perfection Personified

Otakar Votocek is the genius who penned this imaginative and insightful film which he also Directed WINGS OF FAME is a rare treasure in a world full of bad scripts where "personalities are replacing the true thespians" and worshipped as stars.Beautifully haunting in a world that is an island unto itself and the ocean is nowhere.Having Jello, Edie Sedgewick and Lassie all converge with the Lindbergh Baby on this island paradise is just the tip of the iceberg.Marie Trintignant is hauntingly beautiful as a lost siren whose song is mesmerizing.Peter O'Toole is an over the top movie star who demands to be worshipped and is so odious you really want to toss him into the pool with a scotch chaser.Colin Firth as O'Toole's stalker and killer is a bit of a puzzle at first.He seeks out a brilliant therapist to find himself while Einstein rolls around as vapid socialites use others as a form of entertainment and torment those they look down upon as they are self proclaimed great lovers and muses to the greatest people in history and literature.Is it Purgatory Island or Paradise Island?.A brilliant gilded cage.I hope it appears on DVD and that I can find the song that Marie Trintignant is eternally tied to. February 10, 2007

I liked this movie

I must echo being a huge Firth and O'Toole fan. I watched this film twice. The first time my mind was not on the film and I thought it was OK. After watching it more intently the second time I find this movie very good and fully of all the how fleeting is fame thoughts the movie evokes.

Not a movie that is likely to catch the interest of the general public but a very good movie, well acted and gets one to thinking about all the "things" in our lives that we think are important and setting us apart from others. December 24, 2005

A rare gem many people never heard of!

When I first watched it, back in 1990, this movie has amazed me by its grotesque, irony and sarcasm. Peter O'Toole's answer on the question what he thinks about the British cinema is priceless. I won't give away the answer, you should watch the movie. This little masterpiece instantly became my favorite movie ever. It is the one of those films you need to watch more than 1 time because every time you will definitely find something new in it. "Wings of Fame" is an absolute must-have for every O'Toole fan. It is an exceptional work and is definitely worth of a DVD treatment. Hopefully, Paramount will release it one day with some nice bonus features, and when it happens I will be the first on the line to buy it. August 31, 2004

Worth a shrug

WINGS OF FAME is one of those movies that might elicit a shrug and the thought that its creation may have seemed a good idea at the time.

Peter O'Toole stars as Cesar Valentine, a famous actor shot dead at a film festival by an aggrieved fan, Brian Smith (Colin Firth). In the immediate aftermath of the murder, Smith is himself killed by a falling spotlight, so both together enter The Afterlife, which is a grandly huge and somewhat forbidding, old hotel populated by the souls of those who still enjoy some measure of fame or infamy back among the living. Is it Limbo, or Purgatory? In any case, as the occupants' notoriety back in Real Life diminishes, they're shuttled from the grandest to the meanest hotel accommodations available until such time as the Famous become Nobodies, and are unceremoniously bundled out of the place to an unknown fate.

Oddly, there are few recognizable Historical Figures on the hotel's guest list. Most go unnamed, though they look as if we, the viewers, should know them. Only Lassie, Albert Einstein, and the kidnapped and murdered "Linbergh baby" are identified and obvious. Where are Hitler, Lincoln, Shakespeare, Alexander the Great, Mao Tse Tung, and Michaelangelo? Lawn bowling out back, no doubt. Or checking out the well-oiled babes by the pool.

The point director Otaker Votocek is trying to make, I gather, is that fame is ephemeral and fleeting even though it may be the very bread of life to those basking in it. Votocek's cautionary message perhaps stems from too many head-to-head confrontations with difficult stars. In any case, what probably seemed a clever premise, and could have provided sharp dialogue and piquant observations regarding The Limelight, is muted by the inane preoccupations of Valentine and Smith. The former needs to know why he was killed, and the latter wonders if love is possible in The Afterlife after being smitten with the (dead) singer Bianca (Marie Trintignant). O'Toole, one of the world's most colorful and charismatic actors, is always watchable no matter how big the Screen Bomb. Firth, in my opinion one of the industry's least colorful and charismatic actors, proves to me yet again that his taciturn and brooding roles have limited application, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and the GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING being prime examples of casting success.

WINGS OF FAME, at 109 minutes, is about 90 minutes too long. I can't recommend it in its entirety for any substantive reason. June 7, 2004

A witty, very well-acted movie

Superb acting and an interesting premise make this movie well worth watching, and watching more than once. April 10, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...