Plot
 | This article needs a plot summary.(March 2024) |
| Piccadilly Jim | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John McKay |
| Screenplay by | Julian Fellowes |
| Based on | Piccadilly Jim 1917 novel by P. G. Wodehouse |
| Starring | Sam Rockwell Frances O'Connor |
| Cinematography | Andrew Dunn |
| Edited by | David Freeman |
| Music by | Adrian Johnston |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Myriad Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Piccadilly Jim is a romantic comedy film directed by John McKay, starring Sam Rockwell and Frances O'Connor. It is based on the 1917 comic novel Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse. [1] The film was shot in 2004, shown at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, and released in the UK in 2006. The novel on which the film was based was also adapted into a 1919 film and a 1936 film.
| This article needs a plot summary.(March 2024) |
Kirk D'Amico, Marion Pilowsky, and Steve Christian were executive producers. Peter Czernin, Graham Broadbent, and Andrew Hauptman were producers. The director was John McKay and the screenwriter was Julian Fellowes. [1]
Ronnie Scheib, Variety : "Piccadilly Jim is a dizzy drawing room comedy with as many madcap entrances and exits as a French bedroom farce. Costumed and festooned to a faretheewell, [it] lavishes more attention on its eclectic mix of decor than its uneven ensemble of actors. … Production designer Amanda McArthur’s and costume designer Ralph Hole’s innovative meld of ’30s, ’50s and ’70s styles gives [the film] a jazzy freewheeling feel, further enhanced by Adrian Johnston’s era-sampling score. But in his haste to liberate his period reconstruction from any “Masterpiece Theatre”-type historical handcuffs, helmer John McKay also frees it from the discipline of pinpoint comic timing and the exercise of spirited, lively exchange." [2]
Chris Barsanti, Contactmusic.com : "A rather hysterical oddity that can't decide what era it's set in or what mood to play, Piccadilly Jim just chucks it all at the screen and hopes that some wit will come through and generate some laughs. … Careening from full-throttle farce to light-hearted badinage to earnest romance, there's no unified tone, and with the addition of pointless anachronisms (although the general look is the 1930s, there are some additions like modern automobiles and torch singers belting out new wave tunes) it just seems like a big old mess. In the midst of all this atonal turmoil, a good number of cast members are doing their game best to have a good time, and it shows." [3]
John Ralske, AllMovie : "Rockwell can't always save a film, but he's always fun to watch, and for the most part, Piccadilly Jim is engaging when he's onscreen. Director John McKay tries to capture a kind of anarchic spirit that he finds in P.G. Wodehouse's work, as opposed to sticking strictly to the text, so anachronisms abound, most notably in the set design, the music, and the mismatched style of the performances. … McKay is aiming for something freewheeling and loose-limbed, but Piccadilly Jim never quite comes together. It's mildly entertaining -- cute even -- but it's also kind of a mess." [4]
Brian Taves, in his book P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood, was critical of the film. Taves argued that, in attempting to modernize the story, the film lost much of the subtle, light-hearted humour that was present in Wodehouse's original novel and its 1936 film adaptation. Taves noted as an example that, whereas Jim's insouciance is shown in the 1936 film when the butler Bayliss finds Jim asleep after a late night with his feet on the pillow where his head should be, the 2004 film has Bayliss find Jim in bed with three scantily clad women. Taves further argued that the film presented Jim as a true wastrel and womanizer who is incapable of remorse, whereas Jim is a more remorseful and sympathetic character in the original novel. Taves also felt that the use of songs, costumes, and automobiles from various time periods created a lack of internal coherence. However, Taves was more positive about the portrayals of some of the film's supporting characters, particularly of Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of Bingley Crocker. [5]
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr. Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls.
The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British humorist P. G. Wodehouse. It is a gentlemen's club in London. Many of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members.
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth, home to many of his family and the setting for numerous tales and adventures. The stories were written between 1915 and 1975.
Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, commonly known as Uncle Fred, is a fictional character who appears in comedic short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse between 1935 and 1961. An energetic and mischievous old chap, his talent for trouble is the bane of his nephew Pongo Twistleton's life.
Summer Lightning is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 1 July 1929 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, under the title Fish Preferred, and in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1929 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It was serialised in The Pall Mall Magazine (UK) between March and August 1929 and in Collier's (US) from 6 April to 22 June 1929.
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 12 April 1935 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and, as Blandings Castle, in the United States on 20 September 1935 by Doubleday Doran, New York. All the stories had previously appeared in Strand Magazine (UK) and all except the last in various US magazines.
Heavy Weather is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 28 July 1933 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, and in the United Kingdom on 10 August 1933 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It had been serialised in The Saturday Evening Post from 27 May to 15 July 1933.
The Prince and Betty is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was originally published in Ainslee's Magazine in the United States in January 1912, and, in a slightly different form, as a serial in Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom between February and April 1912. It was published in book form, in the United Kingdom by Mills & Boon on 1 May 1912. A substantially different version, which incorporated the plot of Psmith, Journalist, was published in the US by W.J. Watt & Company, New York on 14 February 1912.
Piccadilly Jim is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 24 February 1917 by Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, and in the United Kingdom in May 1918 by Herbert Jenkins, London. The story had previously appeared in the US in the Saturday Evening Post between 16 September and 11 November 1916.
The Old Reliable is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 18 April 1951 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 11 October 1951 by Doubleday & Co, New York. The novel was serialised in Collier's magazine from 24 June to 22 July 1950, under the title Phipps to the Rescue.
John McKay is a Scottish film and television director. His initial career was as a playwright, before he began his film career by directing the short films Doom and Gloom (1996) and Wet and Dry (1997).
Thank You, Jeeves! is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Arthur Greville Collins, written by Stephen Gross and Joseph Hoffman, and starring Arthur Treacher, Virginia Field, David Niven, Lester Matthews, Colin Tapley and John Graham Spacey. It was released on October 4, 1936, by 20th Century-Fox.
The World of Wooster is a comedy television series, based on the Jeeves stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The television series starred Ian Carmichael as English gentleman Bertie Wooster and Dennis Price as Bertie's valet Jeeves.
Piccadilly Jim is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Robert Montgomery, Frank Morgan, Madge Evans and Billie Burke. The film is based on the 1917 novel Piccadilly Jim written by P. G. Wodehouse.
Step Lively, Jeeves! is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Eugene Forde, written by Frank Fenton and Lynn Root, and starring Arthur Treacher as P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves alongside Patricia Ellis, Robert Kent, Alan Dinehart, George Givot and Helen Flint. The film was released on April 1, 1937, by 20th Century-Fox.
The Blandings radio series is a series of radio dramas based on the Blandings Castle stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. The stories were dramatised by Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne. The series ran between 1985 and 1992 on BBC Radio 4.
Piccadilly Jim is a silent romantic comedy film released in 1919. The cast includes Owen Moore, Zena Keefe, and George Bunny. It is based on the 1917 novel Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse. Wesley Ruggles directed. It was filmed in New York City and produced by Selznick Pictures Corporation. Two other films based on the same novel were also released, 1936 film and a 2004 film.
A Damsel in Distress is a silent romantic comedy film released in 1919, starring June Caprice and Creighton Hale. The film is based on the 1919 novel A Damsel in Distress by English humorist P. G. Wodehouse. The director was George Archainbaud. The same novel later inspired a 1937 film.
Their Mutual Child is a lost 1920 American silent comedy-drama film directed by George L. Cox and starring Margarita Fischer, Joseph Bennett and Margaret Campbell. It was based on the 1919 novel of the same name by P. G. Wodehouse.