THE CRICKLEWOOD GREATS is a spoof documentary presented, written and directed by Peter Capaldi, dedicated to the fictitious Cricklewood Studios, from it's early days making silent comedies, it's WWII homefront morale boosters, onto it's Sixties heyday, when it was responsible for the THUMBS UP series of comedies (sample titles THUMBS UP MATRON, THUMBS UP MARIE ANTOINETTE, the sci-fi THUMBS UP URANUS and the prison-set THUMBS UP HER MAJESTY'S PLEASURE) and also became home to the horror production company Acton Films.
Capaldi tells Cricklewood's story by focusing on the lives & careers of four key performers from the studio's various eras: the facility's founder, silent comedian Arthur Simm; music hall star and wartime nation's favourite Florrie Fontaine; classically-trained horror icon Lionel Crisp; and B movie starlet Jenny Driscoll.
The re-creation of archive material (excerpts from Cricklewood films, newsreels, behind-the-scenes footage, the stars' home movies, paparazzi photos and publicity stills) is stunningly accurate and probably will be utterly convincing to anyone unaware that this is a mockumentary. Expensive too: Capaldi confessed in interviews that he ran out of money, didn't have an ending, and Terry Gilliam rode to his rescue, agreeing to appear in an inexpensive closing sequence in which Capaldi interviews him about how Cricklewood was forced into bankruptcy and closure in the mid-Eighties by the numerous delays & accidents that befell the production of his unfinished epic PROFESSOR HYPOCHONDRIA'S MAGICAL ODYSSEY, starring Marlon Brando. Gilliam sends himself up mercilessly, and is clearly enjoying every second.
THE CRICKLEWOOD GREATS is riddled with in-jokes for movie buffs, and Capaldi also pokes fun at the art documentary format itself, especially in a scene where he and the president of the Cricklewood Studios Appreciation Society visit the site of the facility, now a Wickes DIY superstore, and wander down aisles of kitchen tiles and bathroom fittings, speaking in hushed, respectful tones while bemused shop staff and customers walk around them.
Amongst the comedy, Capaldi also makes some serious observations about the fickle & fleeting nature of fame and the dark side of showbusiness: the story of Jenny Driscoll's descent into porn, obscurity and suicide is told almost entirely straight.
The re-creation of archive material (excerpts from Cricklewood films, newsreels, behind-the-scenes footage, the stars' home movies, paparazzi photos and publicity stills) is stunningly accurate and probably will be utterly convincing to anyone unaware that this is a mockumentary. Expensive too: Capaldi confessed in interviews that he ran out of money, didn't have an ending, and Terry Gilliam rode to his rescue, agreeing to appear in an inexpensive closing sequence in which Capaldi interviews him about how Cricklewood was forced into bankruptcy and closure in the mid-Eighties by the numerous delays & accidents that befell the production of his unfinished epic PROFESSOR HYPOCHONDRIA'S MAGICAL ODYSSEY, starring Marlon Brando. Gilliam sends himself up mercilessly, and is clearly enjoying every second.
THE CRICKLEWOOD GREATS is riddled with in-jokes for movie buffs, and Capaldi also pokes fun at the art documentary format itself, especially in a scene where he and the president of the Cricklewood Studios Appreciation Society visit the site of the facility, now a Wickes DIY superstore, and wander down aisles of kitchen tiles and bathroom fittings, speaking in hushed, respectful tones while bemused shop staff and customers walk around them.
Amongst the comedy, Capaldi also makes some serious observations about the fickle & fleeting nature of fame and the dark side of showbusiness: the story of Jenny Driscoll's descent into porn, obscurity and suicide is told almost entirely straight.