This film started with the best intentions from the director. The star of the film was to be Marlon Brando eventually coupled with Richard Burton. But as it often happens in the movie world something went wrong somewhere and chaos followed. Bogarde reluctantly agreed to make the film (against a promise to get freed from his J. Arthur Rank contract), but he did not get along with John Mills (signed at the last minute) at all. So he decided, as a sort of retaliation against the company, the actors and the director to ham it up as much as he could. And he certainly could. Mylne Demongeot told me during an interview that the shooting in a small Spanish town was absolute murder, with everybody hardly speaking to one another. And yet And yet what came out of these hectic premises is a unique movie. I must confess that I have a soft spot for these one of a kind movies. Films that have almost no equivalent and which seems to have a life of their own despite whatever intentions led to their existence. Naturally enough these films generally get panned upon their releases and sometimes gain a real stature years later. Two films come to mind in this category, and I was lucky enough to see them both when they were first released, Michael Powell's Peeping Tom and Charles Laughton's The Night of The Hunter. I can still remember the deadly reviews that greeted these two films before their long overdue rehabilitations. Another handful of films could find a place in this category. But getting back to The Singer not The Song, without being on the same level as the Laughton or Powell's films, it nevertheless fits in the list of neglected "sort of masterpieces". Everything is this film is not what it seems, as a matter of fact it may be the only film where the story being openly told is in absolute contradiction with what we are shown. Almost every line spoken is continuously belied by the understatement it carries. Right from the beginning everything in the story appears improbable. Here we are in a small Spanish town where a ruthless anti-clerical bandit keeps getting rid (one way or another) of the local priest lest he should turn the town people against him. OK, we have the regular triangle, the bad guy, the good guy, a priest, and the girl. And what we witness is the old story of the good guy fighting the villain with the pretty girl thrown in in the middle of this tension. Except that this film turns the whole story upside down and we are left to witness the villain falling for the priest in front of the bewildered girl who cannot decide which one she wants. We somehow get two stories fro the price of one. No doubt that Dirk Bogarde does everything is his power to accentuate the homosexual tension. Clad in tight fit black leather costume he is absolutely over the top, perfect in every gesture, every look, every motion. His willingness to make fun of the whole story just add to the ambiguity of the script. Whereas he thought he would show his contempt for the project, in fact he brings it to a level probably nobody foresaw. If you are open to unusual film (and a British western is already unusual) this is an absolute must where the subtext is only acknowledged with the last sentence of the film (its title as a matter of fact). I have watched this movie many times and have always found something new to appreciate. Don't miss it. A real shame that the British DVD is pan and scanned. A French company has just released the original scope copy and it really shows the brilliant use of the location by Roy Ward Baker.
Review of The Singer Not the Song
