Ken Russell Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Allen Eyles

Critical Essay by Allen Eyles

[French Dressing has a] flimsy story—and indeed a tired old script—but it has been made with spirit and gusto into an enjoyable spree that's running, jumping and hardly ever standing still.

Ken Russell has struck out boldly to create a broad, nutty world of his own that is given depth by the natural settings (mostly Herne Bay) but never compromised by awkward glimpses of real and unexaggerated behaviour. It's a world of 'What the Butler Saw' machines, paper Union Jacks, municipal bands and formal dress, sly sniggers and petty ideas, watched bemusedly from the Outside…. (p. 24)

But, as a whole, French Dressing lacks bite: its vision is blinkered and superficial, bashing at the same old inoffensive targets. Aren't the real Gormleighs ridiculous enough, or would some pressure group not like it? (p. 25)

Allen Eyles, "'French Dressing'" (© copyright Allen Eyles 1964; reprinted with permission), in Films and...
(read more)