The Singer Not the Song DVD (1960)

The Singer Not the Song details

Format:	PG DVD
Starring:	Dirk Bogarde, John Mills, Mylene Demongeot
Director:	Roy Ward Baker
Genre:	Action/Adventure - Westerns
Studio:	SPIRIT ENTERTAINMENT

DVD 1 disc

Name	Discs
The Singer Not the Song	PG Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	2 hours 13 minutes
Rental release:	20 Jun 2011
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review The Singer Not the Song

Not So Secret Love...

By crazycrone (5 reviews) from london , 05 Jul 2011

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

[Highly rated reviewer]

This looked so bizarre I thought I'd rent it, and although it's complete tosh and has longeurs aplenty, there are scenes so very funny that I can guarantee you'll ROFL. It's supposed to be serious,I think, although I find it hard to believe that Dirk Bogarde wasn't deliberately cutting the campest figure in the history of the world as the bloodthirsty villain and hater of religion, Anacleto. We have a lot of deep smouldering looks passing between him and the understandably worried-looking priest (John Mills with very intermittent brogue), who wants to convert him and save the dreary little Mexican town he and his louche sidekicks hold in thrall. There's also a gormless girl, who's kind of in love with both of them, but mainly the elderly priest, who reciprocates her crush, but has to smother his feelings, to serve God..and devote his time to Anacleto.

Priest and bandit both end up shot, and the final image is of their dead hands nearly touching, Father Keogh's draped over Anacleto's shiny leather crotch. There's a wonderful sub-spaghetti-Western score blaring out all the time, too, to emphasize the moments of steamy emotion. See this film!
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Rank Productions does gay Duel In The Sun - what's not to like?

By BeatBoy (8 reviews) from London , 04 Nov 2012

John Mills is the new Catholic priest in a Mexican border town run by wicked old Dirk Bogarde. Bogarde is a gay atheist with a fine line in leather strides and a stern grip on the locals. Mills thinks he can be saved. They both wear black. This is not going to end well.

By 1960 Dirk Bogarde's contract with Rank was running out. He'd been kicking against it for years and was positively panting to be gone. Despite this, Rank decided to double down and let him do whatever he wanted in a last ditch attempt to get him to sign back on. What he wanted, it turns out, was to tear up the screen in a complete repudiation of the matinee idol image built in the series of Doctor movies. He also wanted Richard Burton to play the priest - he was less than impressed with Mills, although the latter's natural stiff upper lip persona works quite well as he plays the straight man. He's less convincing as the object of Mylène Demongeot's affection, and very unconvincing indeed when he remembers he's supposed to be Irish. Bogarde of course makes no attempt at all to be Mexican.

The result is a minor masterpiece. It's wildly uneven - Bogarde goes from Puck to Lucifer to Simon Sparrow scene by scene, and I personally was startled by as scene 3/4 of the way through the movie when Bogarde drives off in a big American car - the first indication that this isn't taking place in the 1870s. But there is a real edge in Bogarde's performance - he was wildly out on a limb here - and the gay subtext that eventually comes to dominate the movie gives it bite. A word also for Roy Ward Baker's direction and Phillip Green's unusual music.

Alas, the film was laughed out of theatres and Bogarde was gone.
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Not So Secret Love...

By crazycrone (5 reviews) from london , 05 Jul 2011

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

This looked so bizarre I thought I'd rent it, and although it's complete tosh and has longeurs aplenty, there are scenes so very funny that I can guarantee you'll ROFL. It's supposed to be serious,I think, although I find it hard to believe that Dirk Bogarde wasn't deliberately cutting the campest figure in the history of the world as the bloodthirsty villain and hater of religion, Anacleto. We have a lot of deep smouldering looks passing between him and the understandably worried-looking priest (John Mills with very intermittent brogue), who wants to convert him and save the dreary little Mexican town he and his louche sidekicks hold in thrall. There's also a gormless girl, who's kind of in love with both of them, but mainly the elderly priest, who reciprocates her crush, but has to smother his feelings, to serve God..and devote his time to Anacleto.

Priest and bandit both end up shot, and the final image is of their dead hands nearly touching, Father Keogh's draped over Anacleto's shiny leather crotch. There's a wonderful sub-spaghetti-Western score blaring out all the time, too, to emphasize the moments of steamy emotion. See this film!
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