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Powerful

Great Film overall

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The story of Harry H. Corbett's (Jason Isaacs') decline in fortune, from an aspiring star of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop to a pathetic wreck in the mid-Eighties, reduced to playing pantomime and embarking on a pointless tour of Australia in a stage version of Steptoe and Son, is a familiar one. Although brilliant in his portrayal of Harold Steptoe, he became so typecast that no one could see him performing anything else. Wilfrid Brambell (Phil Davis) experienced no such agonies - as a character-actor, he was glad of the regular work. Nonetheless he had his own personal problems - as a closet homosexual at a time when it was illegal in Britain, he was reduced to making brief assignations in public rest-rooms. Apparently Brian Fillis' drama upset the Corbett family due to its portrayal of the Brambell/ Corbett professional relationship; as a result, the drama is now prefaced with a warning that some of the scenes are fictionalized versions of the truth. One wonders why there was so much fuss: the relationship between the two actors is portrayed as cordial on set, while off-set they chose to lead totally separate lives. Once the series finished in 1974 (on television, at least) they said goodbye to one another quite civilly. The drama suggests that Corbett was in a sense a victim of his own desire for fame and fortune - goaded by Tom Sloan (Roger Allam), the BBC's long-serving head of comedy - he agreed to make series after series, even though he protests to his wife Sheila Steafel (Zoe Tapper) that he will quit as soon as humanly possible. Isaacs and Davis give convincing characterizations; they capture the mannerisms of the two actors quite uncannily.

The Curse of Steptoe was reputedly a film about how abrasive the relationship between the actors who played the roles of Steptoe and Son were and how the popularity of the sit-com damaged the reputation of actor Harry H Corbett who was once touted as the young British Brando.Well Corbett's family were unhappy with the film and future broadcasts will mention that the work is based on facts but some scenes have been dramatized.According to the Corbett's both Harry and Wilfred got on well and when Wilfred appeared on the news shows after Harry had died he seemed to be visibly upset.Also Harry H Corbett was only a year younger than Marlon Brando, so it seems rather weird how he would be touted as the young Brando of the British theatre.Factual inaccuracies aside this is still a terrific film with well judged performances.

Jason Issacs was on top form as Corbett and Phil Davis was absolutely stunning as the tragic Wilfred Brambell all in all one of the best pieces of drama to grace the BBC in a hell of long time. The whole affair although telling a sometimes very dark tale was handled with a great deal of affection and care. Having loved Steptoe & Son from an early age I will certainly view it in a different light knowing the heartache it appears to have caused the Brambell and Corbett. Costumes and sets were spot on and the piece really gave you a feel for how writers and performers of that era behaved towards one another. Much like the actual show I regret this show having to end as it left me wanting more from two of the finest most underrated actors in the UK.

"I am not what I am..." seems to have been the personal and professional ethos of both Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett. In the latter's case this was a constant battle between artistic aspirations and typecasting, in the former's an approach to acting as a trade - and a battle with his attraction to trade of the rough variety.In his autobiography, Brambell perceived acting as " the lesser of the arts" as it was "interpretive". Career-wise he was at stalemate, knew he was a character actor and was comfortable in the niche. Corbett, retaining a sense of the Chinese-whispered "Method" technique fashionable in the early sixties, was a talented mimic and character actor, but perceived himself more as a leading man. He could have joined the ranks of Burton, Finney and Harris had 'Steptoe' not held firm grasp of his ambition.The BBC is embodied, in one producer character, as a gently patrician factory boss. The writers, Galton and Simpson, are expected to churn out scripts as a mill would cotton, and, in this nationalised industry, the actors are the workers on the shop floor.Corbett's curbed aspiration is reinforced at key points throughout the film. Initially it is Finney who wins a job over him - in the end Corbett is second choice to Bernard Bresslaw. This is telling. In fighting the comic acting he so deftly made a talent, Corbett suppressed the life of his career out with Steptoe into any other sphere. Bresslaw, an equally skilled classical actor with a popular comedy persona, embraced these gifts and did well in both milieu.The more Corbett fought for a credible acting reputation the more manacled he became to Harold Steptoe. Not all the fault of the typecasting as the film pointed out. Corbett was possessed of a near child-like rage and arrogance toward his career and women. A key scene shows his initial joy at doorstepping paparazzi on the day after the first series of 'Steptoe & Son' began. He thought every glory would come knocking and did little of the footwork his contemporaries did. Like all "curses" this was self-perpetuated misfortune, self-fulfilling prophecy.