DIRECTOR: Melvin Frank
BOTTOM LINE: The year is 1973. The setting is London, and we have Glenda Jackson and George Segal in Melvin Frank’s declasse “ A Touch of Class,” another movie that nobody sees today because the bloom has faded from the rose (Jackson’s Oscar for Best Actress is on a par with Jack Lemmon’s Best Actor for “Save the Tiger” that same year – utterly undeserved and the worst of that year’s five choices – Joanne Woodward’s reaction to her being named the winner is priceless). Jackson’s character works in the garment industry, so we are on fairy alert. And, wouldn’t you know it, one of them does descend on her office just as Segal is visiting. He’s got a swishy fairy attitude, which he unwisely unleashes on Jackson as he minces about her office. His name is Cecil, and he is played, believe it or not, in an uncredited part by Benedict Cumberbatch’s dad, Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch, who is known professionally as Timothy Carlton. Jackson wonders why a certain document is not typed. The dialogue is as follows:
You know I only type with one finger and (pause), I’ve hurt it
Cecil
Don’t tell me how!
Jackson, dripping contempt.
Original screenplay by Melvin Frank and Jack Rose.
STREAMING: Amazon Prime
65 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) Part One. – TheBrownees
65 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967). Part Two. – TheBrownees
65 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (Table) – TheBrownees
45 Queer Films from 1967-1976: Queer Cinema Comes Out – TheBrownees
