Murder mystery maven and puzzle provocateur extraordinaire Stephen Sondheim collaborated with actor Anthony Perkins on The Last of Sheila, a twisty if ultimately overly verbose whodunit.
The Production: 3.5/5
Murder mystery maven and puzzle provocateur extraordinaire Stephen Sondheim collaborated with actor Anthony Perkins on The Last of Sheila, a twisty if ultimately overly verbose whodunit. Set among the show business types that both knew so well and directed by another show business baby Herbert Ross who had worked his way up from Broadway chorus dancer to now film director, The Last of Sheila hooks the viewer early on and offers a satisfactorily complex puzzle to solve before its leisurely pacing and overly wordy execution dilutes some of the fun of its unassailably intelligent plotting.
On the first anniversary of his wife Sheila’s (Yvonne Romaine) hit-and-run murder, movie producer Clinton Green (James Coburn) invites six of his show business chums on board his yacht named after his wife for a week of scavenger hunting mystery games in the south of France hoping to uncover some clues that might lead him to the identity of his wife’s killer. His suspects include screenwriter Tom (Richard Benjamin) and his delicate wife Lee (Joan Hackett), fading movie director Philip (James Mason), high-powered agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), and international screen star Alice (Raquel Welch) and her less well known manager/husband Anthony (Ian McShane). During the second night of the games, however, a murder is committed, and the spotlight of blame begins to shine on the remaining players, each hiding some guilty secrets.
Screenwriters Sondheim and Perkins have many tricks up their sleeves (little surprise they won that year’s Edgar Award for Best Mystery Screenplay presented by the Mystery Writers of America), and for much of the film, not everything is as it seems at first glance. The murder game they’ve devised with its cards filled with real-life secrets passed among the players lends a palpable air of tension to the proceedings, and despite the Riviera setting, the first two sites for solving the mysteries are rather eerie and nerve-jangling. Once the murder occurs and the game proper stops, however, the unraveling of that latest murder begins to hold center stage, a clever bait-and-switch but the moment where the film’s momentum comes to a dead halt. From then on (approximately halfway through the movie), talking replaces action giving director Herbert Ross precious little to do to improve the film’s increasingly laggard pacing and sedentary stars. Before then, in addition to the activities surrounding the scavenger hunt, we get a murder attempt at sea filmed provocatively from under water as the ship’s engine is suddenly started churning up the water and bringing all those in the sea ever-closer to the murderous whirling blades of the engine. A later tussle between accused and accuser snaps some vitality back into the film, too, but it’s over within seconds. Ross punctuates the accuser’s denouement with flashbacks to show us earlier clues we likely missed (Sidney Lumet was to handle this far more adroitly the next year in the brilliant Murder on the Orient Express), but it still amounts to a great deal of rather monotone chatter.
The all-star cast is appealing on paper, but only four really deliver the goods: Dyan Cannon is playing a variation of agent Sue Mengers for all its worth, and she’s hilariously animated and loads of fun. Richard Benjamin’s screenwriter always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else and has a firm handle on his character’s flaws. James Mason plays the unruffled director (now reduced to shooting dog food commercials) with his own patented unflappable ease while Joan Hackett’s loving wife always on the edge of losing her control is probably the most appealing of the players. James Coburn’s toothy producer is a bit over-the-top while Raquel Welch walks through her role with stilted line readings and a real lack of authority. Ian McShane brings nothing memorable to the underwritten role of Welch’s manager.
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
The film’s 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully rendered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Though the transfer is perfectly clean with no age-related artifacts, sharpness is not consistent throughout the presentation. Apart from soft-focused close-ups of the ladies, other scenes likewise don’t dial in the detail as we might expect though there are great portions of the movie that are perfectly sharp and most ideal. Color hues are nicely saturated without going overboard, and skin tones are very lifelike. The movie has been divided into 27 chapters.
Audio: 4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix is unremarkable and often underwhelming. The volume levels are such that dialogue is sometimes hard to hear without cranking up levels that throw other parts of the soundfield out of balance. Billy Goldenberg’s background score and the sound effects are blended professionally, but the dialogue levels need to be adjusted somehow for better overall effect.
Special Features: 2/5
Audio Commentary: stars Richard Benjamin and Dyan Cannon sit together and reminisce about the making of the film pointing out things they remembered with fondness or regret. Raquel Welch adds additional comments edited in later. As the film runs, the stars get involved in the story and forget to talk making the latter half of the commentary rather lackluster.
Theatrical Trailer (3:01, HD)
Overall: 3.5/5
Herbert Ross’s The Last of Sheila gives the murder mystery genre a jolt of new blood with its screenplay by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, but its cleverness and nastiness notwithstanding, the film could have been better with faster pacing and tighter storytelling.
Now retrieving an image set.
The Last of Sheila (blu-ray)
31% Off $21.99 $15.10 (as of May 25, 2023 03:14 GMT -07:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Other New Releases You May Like
Post Disclaimer
Some of our content may contain marketing links, which means we will receive a commission for purchases made via those links. In our editorial content, these affiliate links appear automatically, and our editorial teams are not influenced by our affiliate partnerships. We work with several providers (currently Skimlinks and Amazon) to manage our affiliate relationships. You can find out more about their services by visiting their sites.
Published by
Alan Tully
One of a growing pile of Blu-rays to watch over the Christmas holidays.
Ryan Barrett
Stunt Coordinator
AnthonyClarke
Alan Tully
I don't think those comments are fair to WA considering the profit margin on this BD release isn't exactly profitable.
Worth
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2009
- Messages
- 4,862
- Real Name
- Nick Dobbs
Conrad_SSS
Second Unit
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2003
- Messages
- 445
David Weicker
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 4,552
- Real Name
- David
Yes
The case says 2.40:1, but the actual film, as displayed, is 1.85:1 (thin letterboxing as opposed to thick letterboxing)
It is misguided to judge the soundtrack based on a review. It's a excellent transfer of an intelligent fun film written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.
It is. When I was writing the review, I had it down as 1.85 and then when I saw the liner notes, I allowed myself to be persuaded that I must have made a mistake without going back and checking for sure. I have amended the review to correct the errors.
AnthonyClarke
I wish people (sorry Robert) would stop assuming that every criticism of a Warners release is an attack on Warners per se. Never intended.
Wayne Klein
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2005
- Messages
- 230
I agree about the soundtrack. I understand they did the best they could with the source (assuming the original stems don’t exist anymore) but, at least initially, it didn’t sound that great. It does improve though.
Will Krupp
For what it's worth, while the soundtrack is definitely limited, I thought it sounded fine.
AnthonyClarke
It was mono in the 70s that did not have Dolby
edgarwright on Twitter
He only wrote one screenplay, but it’s an absolute gem of a whodunnit. Why not pay tribute to the great Stephen Sondheim by watching his parlor game cult classic ‘The Last Of Sheila’. (Co-written with Anthony Perkins, no less). RIP xhttps://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...dgarwright/status/1464376711336841216/photo/1
Similar threads
