Watch Mrs. Henderson Presents For Free

good back-story, and good acting

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Great acting is the first statement you'll make about this film. After that you'll simply want to re-watch it over and over to catch all the little things we all miss the first time through. A great story and pictorial of what life during the bombing of London must have been. It shows the real strength of the British people at their very best and most troubled of times. Each actor selected uses his/her character to the fullest in describing individual feelings of the times. The sets are simple with excellent lighting effects. This would not be considered a big budget film by anyones standards however, the size of the budget in no way hurts the production.

I had such high expectations when sitting down to watch this film being a self-confessed 'Denchphile' and fan of genuine, honest British film. However, sadly I found myself underwhelmed by a lacklustre display despite the casting of some British acting heavyweights.First of all, the positive. Naturally, being an admirer of the Dame, Judy was the stand-out of this film insofar as without her casting, I feel this film would have barely poked its head above the water. Although not the 'brilliant' performance the reviewers promised on the DVD cover, especially when compared to recent Dench performances in the likes of 'Notes on a Scandal' and 'Ladies in Lavender', she nevertheless delivered a heart-warming show which allowed for smiles and titters. Be prepared for witty lines and examples of the classic British humour we expect in down-to-earth British cinema but don't expect any real 'laugh out loud' moments. What is charming is the music, costume, and feel of the film alluding to its musical theme. In this respect, the film succeeds in entertaining on stage, however it is the 'back-stage' story which really lets it down.Despite a positive start, setting the scene after Mr. Henderson's death and humorously showing how Mrs. Henderson acquired the Windmill theatre and Van Damm, the story soon gets all messed up, the pace and humour disappear and we're left waiting for it to end. Even the onset of the war and uncertainty about the future of the theatre fail to stir any real emotion. When main characters face atrocities, I fail to be moved towards sympathy because each of the characters is too shallow to really feel anything for, even Mrs. Henderson herself (the deepest of the lot). When the film reaches its climax (with Mrs. Henderson revealing her motives for pursuing her dream), the reason fails to convince, even though it should. Its difficult to pin-point what the missing ingredients are although the lack of character development and depth is the most obvious one. Aside from that the subplots fail to add any real value to the film and fail to prop up the weak narrative. Oh and Will Young gets a bit irritating by the end, mainly because we actually never really know who he is despite his high billing.All in all, this film gets 6/10 from me mainly for Dench's performance, its musical and aesthetic quality portrayed through the costume, song and dance. In other words the stage scenes, brief moments of Dench humour and charm. However, it fails to hit the spot because it doesn't make us care about the theatre, her motives, the characters or anything really. In the end we are just a bored audience sitting through a smiley but flawed musical stripper show which even Judy Dench could not save.

I came to this movie after seeing Bent and getting to Martin Sherman. Wanted to lap everything that he had created and looked forward to this treat.What a disappointment! What starts an endearing quip between Judi and Biob becomes repetitive and after a while 'oh shut up'. The research that must have gone to make this was very inadequate so the plot remained centred around rich woman, arrogant manager of the theatre she owned, nude women - that was it..and of course a world war. one would think that would be enough, instead the writer scrapes for material and makes conversations out of thin air which are mere reel-fills.you don't really know where its going after a while, and unless you are seriously interested in female nudity - this will be a big yawn. its a tragedy that a movie with sound potential could become a big disaster sustained only by the might of its actors - even they however need heavy duty lifting to manage.

Elderly though indefatigable British widow in 1937 decides (seemingly on a whim) to invest her time and money into renovating a shuttered theatre in London, hiring a savvy show manager to coordinate the programs and help her with such wonderful tasks as auditions. After several weeks of success, the lovingly bickering business partners find the West End is draining them of their audiences, so Mrs. Henderson nonchalantly offers an invaluable solution: to bring the frisky style of France's Moulin Rogue to England--but will the stuffy Lord Chamberlain permit them to showcase nude women on the stage? Alternately endearing and creaky mixture of comedy, drama, pathos, sentiment, and war-time nostalgia easily gets by on the strength of stars Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins (who also served as executive producer). The editing is a bit sloppy, rendering the narrative slapdash on occasion, while the WWII backdrop is so artificially presented it seems almost to represent a fantasy (perhaps intentionally). However, Dench is a winner, creating an enjoyable and three-dimensional characterization: at once willful, exasperating and loving. She's both mother-hen to her girls and wife-substitute to Hoskins, who works very well with her. Watching this great actress glide through the simple material so bemusedly reaps its own rewards and, though the heaviness of the film's midsection appears to be leading nowhere, the picture does finally move us by focusing on character instead of on incident. **1/2 from ****