| Decadence | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Steven Berkoff |
| Written by | Steven Berkoff |
| Produced by | Christoph Hahnheiser |
| Starring | Joan Collins Steven Berkoff |
Release date |
|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Decadence is a 1994 British comedy drama film written and directed by Steven Berkoff and starring Berkoff and Joan Collins. [1] It is based on Berkoff's 1981 play of the same name.
Two couples, representing the upper and lower ends of the British social classes, are having affaires. Lower-class Steve with Belgravia socialite Helen; and his nouveau riche wife Sybil with working-class Les, a private detective she has hired to kill her husband.
It was filmed entirely in Luxembourg.[ citation needed ]
Variety wrote:
Actor/playwright Steven Berkoff's own film of his stage play Decadence is a ripe, belching, heaving, power-drill satire of 1980s Thatcherite Britain that's as full of excesses as the passe targets it parodies. Essentially a two-hander, with Berkoff himself and Joan Collins in multiple roles, pic has some fine moments but finally sinks under the weight of its own ego. Brit legit bad-boy Berkoff looks set for a B.O. clunker here. [2]
Stella Bruzzi wrote in Sight and Sound:
Berkoff's style is gross, grandiose and expressionistic. His intention is to offend and appal with this vision of the tasteless classes making spectacles of themselves. However, it takes a while to get into Decadence as a film because the rhythmic verse Berkoff uses, the monologues to camera and the frozen tableaux are techniques better suited to the artificiality of theatre than to film, which rarely includes such verbal extravagances. ... The success of such an excessive style depends largely on the performances, and Decadence principally works because of Berkoff himself. He always has been and will most likely remain the performer most capable of realising his own idiosyncratic brand of physical acting appears inappropriately maniacal playing more traditional villains opposite Rambo, James Bond and the Krays as if the films were big enough to contain his violent caricatures. When interpreting his own material, the phrase 'tour de force' springs inevitably to mind. [3]
Steven Berkoff is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director.
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in Quick Millions (1931) with Spencer Tracy, Scarface (1932) with Paul Muni, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with James Cagney, Invisible Stripes (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, and Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon; and as a dancer in Bolero (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in They Drive by Night (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart.
Virgin Witch is a British horror sexploitation film directed by Ray Austin and starring Ann and Vicki Michelle, Patricia Haines and Neil Hallett. A prospective model and her sister join a coven of white wizards.
William George Linich, known professionally as Billy Name, was an American photographer, filmmaker, and lighting designer. He was the archivist of The Factory from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings, and sculptures. Linich became Billy Name among the clique known as the Warhol superstars. He was responsible for "silverizing" Warhol's New York studio, the Factory, where he lived until 1970. His photographs of the scene at the Factory and of Warhol are important documents of the pop art era.
Quest for Love is a 1971 British romantic science fiction drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Joan Collins, Tom Bell and Denholm Elliott. It is based on the 1954 short story Random Quest by John Wyndham.
The Beacon Theatre is an entertainment venue at 2124 Broadway, adjacent to the Hotel Beacon, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1929, the Beacon Theatre was developed by Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and built as a movie palace, with 2,894 seats across three levels. It was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager with decorations inspired by the Renaissance, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek, and Rococo styles. The theater is designated as a New York City interior landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Marcus Andrew Sinden is an English actor and film & theatre director and producer.
Cosh Boy is a 1953 British film noir based on an original play by Bruce Walker. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and featured James Kenney and Joan Collins. It was made at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
Nancy Meckler is an American born director, known for her innovative approach to theatre, specifically her work in the United Kingdom with Shared Experience, where she was a joint artistic director alongside Polly Teale. Educated in both the USA and England, she has directed for a number of prominent theatres, including the Globe Theatre, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has also directed feature films such as Sister My Sister, and Alive and Kicking/Indian Summer.
44 Inch Chest is a 2009 British crime comedy-drama film directed by Malcolm Venville in his directorial debut. The film stars Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Dillane and Joanne Whalley. The film was released on 19 October 2009.
80,000 Suspects is a 1963 black-and-white British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Yolande Donlan, and Cyril Cusack. It is based on the 1957 novel Pillars of Midnight by Elleston Trevor. An outbreak of smallpox in Bath, England, leads to a race to contain the virus.
The Hard Way is a 1943 Warner Bros. musical drama film starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, and Joan Leslie. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it is based on a story by Irwin Shaw which was reportedly based on Ginger Rogers' relationship with her first husband, Jack Pepper and her own mother, Lela.
Tim Dry is a mime artist, writer, photographic artist, musician and actor, best known for appearing in Return of the Jedi and the cult sci-fi/horror film Xtro. Tim was a member of the duo Tik and Tok, that popularised robotic mime in the UK in the 1980s.
Because They're Young is a 1960 American drama film directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Dick Clark as Neil Hendry, an American high-school teacher who tries to make a difference in the lives of his students. The film co-stars Tuesday Weld, Michael Callan, Warren Berlinger, Roberta Shore, Doug McClure, Victoria Shaw and Stephen Talbot. The screenplay was based on Harrison High, a 1959 novel by John Farris.
I Believe in You is a 1952 British drama film directed by Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, starring Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. Inspired by the recently successful The Blue Lamp (1950), Relph and Dearden used a semi-documentary approach in telling the story of the lives of probation officers and their charges.
Don't Get Me Started is a 1994 Anglo-German film directed and written by Arthur Ellis. It was shown that year at the London Film Festival and at the 51st Venice Film Festival, before going on general release in British cinemas from the beginning of June 1995. The film stars Trevor Eve as Jack Lane, Ralph Brown as Larry Swift and Steven Waddington as Jerry Hoff. It was the celebrated cinematographer Gilbert Taylor's final film.
Escape Route is a 1952 British black-and-white second feature thriller film, directed by Seymour Friedman and Peter Graham Scott, and starring George Raft, Sally Gray and Clifford Evans.
Nichola Bruce is a British avant garde film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and artist. Bruce uses an artistic approach to filmmaking alongside the use of digital technologies. Her use of digital film is accredited to the speed, creativity, and multi-layering that can be accessed through the technology. Daily Variety featured Bruce in their article "10 Digital Directors To Watch"(2000) and noted that Bruce takes her inspiration from the surrealists, Andrei Tarkovsky, and painting.
The Last Faust is a 2019 feature art film written and directed by the German artist Philipp Humm. Set in 2059, it is a contemporary interpretation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1808 Faust and the first film directly based on both parts of the tragedy. It stars English actors Steven Berkoff and, Martin Hancock (Faust). Its music is based on Richard Wagner with tracks from Swiss electronic music duo Yello.
Annette Sanders is an American jazz vocalist and studio singer. She is the mother of singer-songwriter Michelle Lewis.
 | This article related to a British film of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
