"White Mischief" is dramatised version of real events that occurred in Kenya in 1940. As such, it has to be accepted that there is a degree of theatrical licence and that the principal participants may not have been quite as portrayed. Nonetheless, the film does show the hedonistic, dissipated and largely useless lives led by a bunch of rich expats and which led to a murder and 2 apparent suicides.
The setting is good, the casting and acting also. The script is perfectly fine and the direction mostly good although there are some points at which it seems to lose focus and a few occasions on which scenes appear to have little relevance to the main story. Joss Ackland, as the cuckolded husband, is exactly as wooden as his part demands, stiff upper lip and all until he finally loses control. Charles Dance provides a perfectly good philanderer and Greta Scacchi is a suitably desirable source of the all the problems, even if she comes across as a rather pointless individual - perhaps that's what the real Lady Broughton was like.
The rest of the cast slips in and out mostly not making a huge impression. Sarah Miles is a sadly comical figure as Alice de Janzé, and John Hurt a somewhat mysterious one as Gilbert Colville, whom Lady Broughton later married. Trevor Howard's part seemed almost superfluous unless it was intended to simply introduce a sounding board for 'Jock' Broughton's thoughts or a vaguely plausible co-conspirator in the murder of Lord Errol. The other names in the cast seemed to do little more than provide scenery for the unfolding drama.
This is not a bad film and it's very watchable. However, neither is it a great film nor one that I would rush home to see. It's a solid effort worthy of a 7 in my estimation, but no more than that.
The setting is good, the casting and acting also. The script is perfectly fine and the direction mostly good although there are some points at which it seems to lose focus and a few occasions on which scenes appear to have little relevance to the main story. Joss Ackland, as the cuckolded husband, is exactly as wooden as his part demands, stiff upper lip and all until he finally loses control. Charles Dance provides a perfectly good philanderer and Greta Scacchi is a suitably desirable source of the all the problems, even if she comes across as a rather pointless individual - perhaps that's what the real Lady Broughton was like.
The rest of the cast slips in and out mostly not making a huge impression. Sarah Miles is a sadly comical figure as Alice de Janzé, and John Hurt a somewhat mysterious one as Gilbert Colville, whom Lady Broughton later married. Trevor Howard's part seemed almost superfluous unless it was intended to simply introduce a sounding board for 'Jock' Broughton's thoughts or a vaguely plausible co-conspirator in the murder of Lord Errol. The other names in the cast seemed to do little more than provide scenery for the unfolding drama.
This is not a bad film and it's very watchable. However, neither is it a great film nor one that I would rush home to see. It's a solid effort worthy of a 7 in my estimation, but no more than that.