Brimstone and Treacle (1982)

Rock superstar Sting "exudes a gleaming, evil eroticism" (Playboy) in this sinister psychological thriller that is so wickedly perverse, its original production was banned from broadcast on the BBC! Co-starring OscarÂ(r) nominees* Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright, Brimstone & Treacle delivers a "devastating combination [of] black humor and titillations of terror" (The Hollywood Reporter)! A charming but mysterious man named Martin (Sting) convinces a couple that he is an old boyfriend of their daughter's, now bedridden and unable to speak. Though the husband is suspicious of him, the wife is happy to have someone help her care for her invalid daughter. But as Martin's true motives are revealed, so too is a frightening family secret one that could tear this family apart! *Elliot: Supporting Actor, A Room with a View (1986); Plowright: Supporting Actress, Enchanted April (1992)

Be Careful What You Allow Into Your Home...

Sweet words and the ability to lie with utter conviction. These are the tools that Martin Taylor (Sting) utilizes in order to bamboozle his way into the lives of total strangers. After initial failure, Martin "accidentally" bumps into Mr. Tom Bates (Denholm Elliott). Bates tries to give him the brush-off, but Martin is far too cunning for such a simple dismissal! Mr. Bates arrives home, where his wife, Norma (Joan Plowright) has been caring for their bed-ridden, brain-damaged daughter (Suzanna Hamilton from 1984). Home is not much of a refuge for Tom, as Norma is obsessed w/ their daughter's eventual return to normalcy. This both angers and frightens Tom, due to a little secret he is hiding from his wife. A secret that the daughter might somehow / some day remember. There's a knock at the door. Why, it's Martin, come to return Tom's wallet! That's funny, Tom can't recall being without it. Thank goodness Martin "found" it. Low and behold, he also happens to be the daughter's long lost boyfriend! This leads to Martin's slithering his way into a nice little stay at the Bates residence. He's even interested in taking over the unfortunate daughter's care! What an angelic person he is! Of course, we get to see that Martin has other plans for this beautiful, young, seemingly mindless invalid! Yep, he's about as trustworthy as Uncle Ernie in the movie TOMMY! The oblivious mum and suspicious (yet guilt-plagued) dad are unaware of just what it is they've allowed to cross their threshold! BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE is a disturbing, sometimes sickening tale of trickery, gullability, and terrible secrets. It's also funny as hell, in the best black comedy tradition. Watch and enjoy, but keep granny and the kiddies far away!... August 30, 2008

'When the Trumpet of the Lord Shall Sound and Men Shall Be No More'

The transition from play to film rarely works, `Sleuth' and `the Anniversary' spring to mind as successes, but the over-riding memory of these things, is those messy Joe Orton adaptations of the 60's, all garish colour and frenzied editing. It's as if the directors of the films want to make up for the inevitable staginess of the plays by projecting them as far away as possible from their original concepts. Imbuing them with sex and outrage to `modernise' them for audiences who wouldn't be seen dead at the National or the Everyman, and still think plays are the realm of a hideous time `before we had the telly.'
Adaptations from TV are slightly different in that they have already been filmed, but generally fall into the same trap. A film director who thinks he knows better than the TV people, and in due process of stamping his own 'visionary genius' on proceedings, only succeeds in mucking things up.
`BAT' is a great example. Adapted by Dennis Potter from his own original, and clunkily directed by Richard Loncraine, it's a resolute disaster from start to finish.
Potter's original was a morality comedy where the devil (named Martin) comes to stay with a lower middle class couple and their brain-damaged daughter. Much satire about demons and sulphur ensues, and brilliant gags like when Satan spots a picture of Mick Jagger in the girls bedroom, "Hello old pal" he growls.
Potter's bile is considerably distilled by Satan's (catastrophic!!) removal, in fact the devil is hardly touched on, which turns his pitch-black notions from a shocking drama into merely a slightly perverse thriller. The devil is transformed from being the malignant central core of the piece, to a survivalist, opportunistic con-man.
Sting plays Martin, and is poor in the role.(tho' he does show commendable shirtlessness, and indeed, trouserlessness in a hammy, mock Ken Russell dream sequence), and it'll come as no surprise to hear the horrifically over-rated Police do the banal soundtrack. All worthy ethnic instruments and dullness.
It's left to stalwarts Denholm Elliot and Joan Plowright, as the girls parents, to salvage something from the film. Plowright is vacantly inane and Elliot's performance is so intense, it's scarier than the villain's.
With the devil absent, the `sting' in the tale has been drawn, and it's left for Loncraine to utilise standard substitutes. Other films are relentlessly referenced with little effect, most noticeably the shadow on the house night shot from `the Exorcist', Loncraine dumbly telling us that this is no spiritual redeemer arriving.(Wow! Never woulda guessed.) Plowright listens to Squeeze's `Up the Junction' in the hairdressers, a back reference to Peter Collinson's excellent film, itself part of a gritty neo-realism that `BAT' would dearly love to find itself in the vanguard of.
The play was set in an ordinary terraced house, increasing the sense of the intrusion of `normalcy'. Here, we're in a classic horror film mansion, all gales and flashing lightning. Foreboding even before young Gordon arrives.
Although acting isn't Sting's strong-point (see `Dune' or `Quadrophenia' for irrefutable evidence), he does do creepy and ingratiating rather well, but some of the exchanges; "We don't use tea-bags", "I can tell. I can tell you're not that sort of lady at all" which might work with a better actor, seem trite and forced to the extreme with Sting. He listens to the atrocious Go-Go's on the radio(while dressed in women's clothes. Yay!) a device surely employed to make the Police sound good, and he seems to drift through the film without a hint of the required undercurrent menace.
The central premise, that a severely brain-damaged woman (no more than a gurgling vegetable) can be cured by having sex with a handsome young rake is quite offensive too, even to my jaded and corrupt sensibilities, but that's the only thing that makes any kind of sense.
Loncraine has a wretched view of mankind. All the sweaty, adulterous father's fears and suspicions are vindicated, just when seems to accept that not every-one in the world is as shallow and devious as he is.
Oh, and the plot-twist at the end is idiotic and rotten.
The BBC play is now available on dvd, so I'd go for that. Don't let salacious thoughts of a butt-nekkid Sting sway you to Loncraine's flop.
I'm tempted to give it an extra star for the performances of Elliot and Plowright, but at 3 stars I'd be lying to you.



March 14, 2008

Sting - Movie

Brimstone and Treacle 1982 - I loved this movie. Sting is very good in this movie as the devil's or perhaps the angel's advocate to help a family resolve their emotional problems. Sting's character, Martin Taylor, is the catalyst to help the Bates family expose their family secrets and bring their daughter Patricia back into the world from her self imposed hiding. She needed an emotional shock to bring her back to her family. This is the second version of this movie, with the first produced in the 1970s and banned by the BBC for about 15 years. This version is a little lighter but tells the story well. November 24, 2007

Very under-rated film that deserves more attention

To quote a review I remember reading when this film came out, "Never have nice manners seemed so menacing." This is a creepy film - without doubt. Some people will definitely be freaked out by some of the subject manner. However, nothing is quite as it seems in this movie.

Sting does a damn fine job of acting here. I don't think anyone other than Sting could have done justice to the lead role, except perhaps a young Malcolm McDowell. The script by Dennis Potter is very smart too. I won't summarize the plot as others have already done so.

What I like is all the questions that pop up in your head that the film refuses to answer. Is Martin just the father's personal demon? His guilty conscience personified? Is Martin good or evil? Is he neither?

This film deserves much more attention than it got. It was on video tape only briefly in the U.S. and was unavailble for more than a decade.

Thankfully, this DVD came along. A good weird little film for when you are in a slightly strange mood. July 6, 2007

classic Sting from way back when

At the height of The Police's rise to stardom, Sting decided he wanted to act. I'm not sure if he's acting here, but it's a great film for sure. Actually, the perfect role for Sting. Denholm Elliott is superb, and Joan Plowright is well...Joan Plowright - what can you say, she's an amazing person. Sting managed to get the other Policemen into a studio and cut a couple of tracks for the soundtrack, and did the rest of the score himself. I was so happy when this came out on DVD, my original home-recorded VHS copy of this movie was about to fall apart. October 11, 2006

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