Rent Miss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall (2007)
3.5 of 5 from 48 ratings
1h 35min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
London's East End at the turn of the 20th century was the birthplace and home of music hall, and nobody personified the energy, bawdiness and humour of the halls more than Marie Lloyd, who became a legend in her own lifetime. She sang of a life of lewd behaviour and moonlight flits, but musical fiction paled next to the facts of her own outrageous life. Miss Marie Lloyd - Queen of the Music Hall depicts the star's rise to fame set against her troubled private life. Famed for her generosity and good humour, she scandalized respectable society with her rebellious attitude and with a string of love affairs, which were salaciously covered in the tabloid papers. The film features some of Marie Lloyd's most famous songs, including My Old Man and her theme song A Little Of What You Fancy Does You Good, painting a poignant portrait of public success and personal sadness. - Actors:
- Jessie Wallace, Richard Armitage, Shaun Parkes, Lee Williams, Amanda Root, Matthew Marsh, Angus Barnett, Tom Payne, Annette Badland, Star Ella Jones, Sue Elliott-Nichols, Tim Faraday, Paul Lowe, Michael Mears, James Puddephatt
- Directors:
- James Hawes
- Studio:
- Acorn Media
- Genres:
- British TV, TV Dramas
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Reviews (1) of Miss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall
Flawed Biopic of late 19th C/early 20th C Great Music Hall Singer - Miss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall review by PV
One thing which makes this TV drama enjoyable is the wonderful classic songs from Music Hall - some real classic which have lasted. The songs steal the show, basically.
However, this also feels padded out and you can almost hear it ticking the pc boxes - it makes Marie Lloyd almost a cartoon character victim of a series of selfish man, so removes from her agency which, paradoxically, makes it all rather sexist. People make choices, as did she - always presenting women as victims of men infantlises them. The actress playing her is great, though.
Some plotholes here - characters come and go, and we never find out what happened to them - some more biographical detail at the end would have been a help (eg how old was she at the end?)
A totally unnecessary token black music hall narrator adds nothing at all, merely pads it all out. It just doesn't work. Ticking pc boxes often doesn't. Reminded me of the great video for ATOMIC by BLONDIE - watch from the start to see how a ringmaster can introduce a song or drama well. Here,. the character is just a 2-D token to tick boxes and adds nothing. But this is a BBC drama...
So not too bad - could have been done in an hour not 90 minutes though. 3 stars.
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