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Product Information

The relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking point as Arthur Sullivan starts to run out of musical ideas for William Gilbert's predictable plots. One day Mrs Gilbert talks her husband into visiting an exhibition of Japanese life...

Product Identifiers

ProducerSimon Channing-Williams

EAN5060002830413

eBay Product ID (ePID)3945864

Product Key Features

ActorTimothy Spall, Wendy Nottingham, Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Ron Cook, Lesley Manville

Film/TV TitleTopsy-Turvy

DirectorMike Leigh

LanguageEnglish

Run Time160 Mins

Aspect Ratio1.85 Wide Screen

Release Year2000

FormatDVD

FeaturesCommentary by Mike Leigh\Original Theatrical Trailer, Widescreen, Closed Caption

GenreDrama, General

Additional Product Features

Number of Discs1

Certificate12A/12

ComposerCarl Davis

MakeupChris Blundell, Trefor Proud

Costume DesignerLindy Hemming

Sound sourceDolby Digital 5.1

Director of PhotographyDick Pope

Hearing ImpairedEnglish

Production DesignerEve Stewart

Additional InformationDirector Mike Leigh's high-minded telling of the story of legendary musical team Gilbert & Sullivan is one of the director's most thorough, highly ambitious efforts. Concentrating mainly on the tumultuous period just before the conception and production of the pair's THE MIKADO (first staged in 1885), Leigh's film rings true with an authenticity that transports the audience back to Victorian England with remarkable ease. Leigh, who comes from an extensive theater background, researched this period in English history exhaustively, from etiquette to the costumes to the production numbers. Both Jim Broadbent (as the negative-minded William Schwenk Gilbert) and Allan Corduner (as the "genius," Arthur Sullivan) deliver impassioned, entirely believable performances, as do the supporting players--particularly Kevin McKidd, Lesley Manville, and Leigh regular Timothy Spall. Notably different from the director's previous brutally realistic, modern day examinations (such as NAKED and SECRETS AND LIES), Leigh's film bears genuine affection for the work of Gilbert & Sullivan, which shines through in every frame. Successfully blending comedy, music, historical drama, and human emotion, TOPSY-TURVY proves that Leigh is not just a brilliant chronicler of modern class conflicts in England; he is a thorough, sensitive filmmaker with a tight grasp on the human condition.

ReviewsTotal Film - ...Beautiful to look at...as funny as it is poignant, TOPSY-TURVY boasts a handful of great supporting turns..., Variety - ...[A] beautifully crafted and lively romp..., Rolling Stone - Ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's "Ten Best Movies of 1999" -- "A touching masterwork about the art of making art..."

ScreenwriterMike Leigh

MusicArthur Sullivan

Format DescriptionDVD 9

EditorRobin Sales

Movie/TV TitleTopsy-Turvy