Robert J. Maxwell Charles Dance plays the greedy, suave, lying cad. He's a marvelous actor. His features are handsome in an oddly distant way and his hooded eyes are the color of that watery blue you can sometimes see deep in the interior of glaciers. God, is he rotten. He was rotten in "China Moon," too, but in the less demanding part of a drunken wife beater in a trashy movie.The point of the story is made clear in the first few minutes. It's 1940 and London is being bombed. After a roll in the hay, rich Greta Scacchi and her paramour, rich Hugh Grant, must take shelter in the underground, and they are two lovely, fashionably groomed people, amid the sweaty crowd of mothers and children. The milieu doesn't stop them from making out. The simply ignore the misery around them.Scacchi is married to Joss Ackland, older, rich, and satisfied with only looking at his wife when she's naked. (She's magnificent, with or without clothes.) But he's in financial trouble. His vast country estate is in jeopardy and he takes his wife to Kenya to see to his far-flung cattle empire.Kenya, they find, is loaded with other rich white Englanders who pride themselves on the produce they ship to England during the time of her troubles. The fact that their patriotism enables them to take baths in pound notes doesn't occur to them.What does occur to them is to get laid as frequently as possible and with diverse partners. Charles Dance, the cad, quickly seduces the stunning Scacchi and they exchange vows of love. Everyone in "the colony" knows all about it. Dance does everything but roger her on the pool table at noon. But does Dance really mean it? He's been married twice before, both times to rich women, and shrugged them off. Now he seems intent on winning Scacchi and her substantial divorce agreement away from Ackland. Ackland, now humiliated and feeling Scacchi's increasing estrangement, hints that maybe he won't honor the pre-nup that assured her of a lifetime income. Clouds of antipathy darken the savannah. The cattle grow restless.If Dance is a suave cad, we can't be sure about Scacchi either. As they lie in bed, planning to run off together, she says, "But we haven't any money." "Well, there's my Army salary." And she turns from him to flick ashes from her cigarette and replies, "Yes," in the most unenthusiastic tones ever committed to celluloid.The photography, wardrobe, and make up are unimpeachable. It's a story about Africa that takes place more than seventy years ago and there isn't a lion in it. (We get a glimpse of someone's pet leopard.) No elephants. No native uprisings. Only a colony of rich dissolutes in the foreground and impassive black Africans serving drinks and holding spears, while someone goes mad and an empire dies.

fastfilmhh Based on the book by James Fox (not the handsome English actor of a certain age) this film remains hard to pin down: it's part murder mystery, part sociological study, part history of pre-WW2 East African colonialism, part romance, part dionysian orgy (really), part Evelyn Waugh/Somerset Maughm, part romance, part.... etc. etc. And it's all true.Yes, the actors are more spectacular looking than their real life counterparts (particularly Scacchi, seldom more stunning.) Sarah Miles' strange character wafts through as most memorable of all in a rich ensemble set of louche decadents. (And yet the actress in real life admitted she may not have gotten a handle on the real woman, just an impression. Based upon my reading of Fox's and Trzebinski's books' accounts on the Alice de Janze, I'd have to agree. Nothing like her except the memorable quips and woozy flair.) Plus, most folks who didn't swim through the primo decadence of the 1960's firsthand might be appalled at what passes for entertainment in British colonial East Africa of the 1930'/40s. But what you'll get for your treasure hunt (this is a hard film to find) is the truth of a murder mystery, weird but real characters, a slice of history, all against the gorgeous panoply of Kenya, despite all its troubles one of the most beautiful spots on the entire planet, all shot on location right where the real events unfolded.

elgorrion The performances of Sarah Miles and John Hurt make this film worth watching; however it is disappointing that Michael Radford does not use the full storyline of the original film : "The Happy Valley" - made in 1987, nor is the source acknowledged in the credits. Other than that it is quite a good remake, but the original should not be missed, as the story continues for some length - indeed the end of "White Mischief" is about the halfway point of the story in "The Happy Valley". This is another of Radford's remakes that seemed to receive acclaim as if it were an original concept - just as his version of the tale of Pablo Neruda - "Il Postino" - was taken from the lesser known earlier film "Ardiente Pacientia" (Burning Patience) which for my money was the the better film.

rosscinema This story is loosely based on a real scandal that occurred in Kenya during the second world war and the film captures all the decadent events that were happening in an area nicknamed "Happy Valley". Story takes place in 1940 in Kenya where Sir Jock Delves Broughton (Joss Ackland) has brought back with him a much younger bride. Jock is in his 60's and his new bride Diana (Greta Scacchi) is probably more than 30 years younger. Diana meets the assorted British colonists that live there and spend their time drinking and going to parties and having sex with one another. Diana meets the local stud Josslyn Hay (Charles Dance) and it doesn't take long before the two are having a very public affair much to the chagrin of Jock. One night Joss drops Diana off and proceeds to drive down the road when someone appears out of the darkness and shoots Joss in the head killing him. *****SPOILER ALERT*****Jock is quickly accused of the murder and has to stand trial where it becomes a media circus. Jock is acquitted of the murder of Joss and Diana goes back to live with him but has serious thoughts that he was in fact guilty of her lovers murder. This film was directed by Michael Radford who also had directed the vastly underrated "1984". He would go on to direct other interesting films such as "Il Postino", "B. Monkey" and "Dancing at the Blue Iguana". In those films Radford has shown a knack for filming stories in exotic locations and also showing the more decadent lifestyles of individuals. He does that here in this film as well and even though the material is presented in a trashy manner, Radford still creates genuine moments with effective atmosphere. Scacchi is utterly beautiful to watch and her nude scenes are not easily forgotten. The best performance in the film comes from Ackland who has spent most of his film career being a character actor. His most effective scene is where he is sitting on his bed with a tear coming down his face while he contemplates what he should do. John Hurt plays a character named Gilbert Colvile and barely utters more than two words at a time. I had the feeling that his character was there just to make him another suspect in the murder. One of the more interesting bits of casting (For me anyway) is Jacqueline Pearce as Idina. I grew up watching Pearce in the Hammer horror films and it was quite the sight to see her in the nude in this film. Despite her age she was still very beautiful to look at. Also, a very young Hugh Grant has a small role at the beginning of the film. This is definitely a step down for a good director like Radford but he does capture the spirit of these people who are doing they're best to ignore the fact that a war is raging on in their own home country. The last shot in the film perfectly illustrates this as everyone gets together at the funeral of a close friend to have another party.