Noises Off...

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Noises Off...

Directed by	Peter Bogdanovich
Produced by	Frank Marshall
Written by	Marty Kaplan
Starring	Michael Caine Carol Burnett Denholm Elliott
Music by	Roy Budd
Cinematography	Tim Suhrstedt
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	1992
Running time	101 minutes
IMDb profile

Noises Off... is a 1992 comedy about a motley and disorganized theatre company and their misadventures. It is based on the play by Michael Frayn.

It utilises the play-within-a-play (or in this case play-within-a-film) format, with the play being a pastiche of the farce genre, but the movie being a farce itself. We see the play several times, and comedy emerges from the subtle variations in the performance each time as off-stage chaos affects on-stage performance.

[edit] Cast

Carol Burnett Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett
Michael Caine Lloyd Fellowes
Denholm Elliott Selsdon Mowbray/The Burglar
Julie Hagerty Poppy Taylor
Marilu Henner Belinda Blair/Flavia Brent
Mark Linn-Baker Tim Allgood
Christopher Reeve Frederick Dallas/Philip Brent/The Sheikh
John Ritter Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain
Nicollette Sheridan Brooke Ashton/Vicki

[edit] Trivia

The last names of Lloyd Dallas and Frederick Fellowes from the play version were switched in the movie version.
The bridge scenes, with Caine's voiceover narration, including the opening scene where he leaves the theatre and the ending scene where he returns, were written for the film and do not appear in the play. In the play, the last line is the frantic call for "Curtain"!
This is Denholm Elliott's last film before his death in 1992