At death's door, George Frederic Handel reflects, rages, and narrates his life. From his womanizing youthful days, to his rise in fame as a composer, God Rot Tunbridge Wells! pulls no punches in this wild romp of a biopic.
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Title: God Rot Tunbridge Wells! (TV Movie 1985)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Trevor Howard | ... | Georg Friedrich Handel | |
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Dave Griffiths | ... | Middle-aged Handel |
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Christopher Bramwell | ... | Young Handel |
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Ranald Neilson | ... | The Boy Handel |
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Tracey Spence | ... | Mary Granville |
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Anne Downie | ... | Vittoria Turquini |
| Simon Donald | ... | Prince Ruspoll | |
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Peter Stanger | ... | Domenico Scarlatti |
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Beth Robens | ... | Handel's Mother |
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Mitzi Mueller | ... | Francesca Cuzzoni |
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Elizabeth Lax | ... | The Second Soprano |
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Chris Young | ... | Buxtehude |
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Caroline Woolley | ... | Marie Sallé |
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Shona Drummond | ... | The Handmaiden |
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Isabella Connell | ... | The Princess of Wales |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Shortly before death, George Fredrick Handel (1685-1759), old, blind, portly, sometimes raging and usually reflective, narrates a look back over his life. As he tells his story, his music plays as background or is performed on screen. As a youth, he is Buck, a prodigy, attractive to women and to patrons. He travels from Halle to Italy then to London, where he finds himself completely at home. He composes constantly. He pleases princes and dukes; he displeases prelates and critics. He's in court to defend his copyright. He makes and loses money; he engenders a cat fight between two divas. At the end of his life, he observes that he helped the English with their religion. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
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Music by George Frideric Handel (as G.F. Händel)
Performed by John Shirley-Quirk
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Did You Know?
Quotes
Georg Friedrich Handel: I do not think that I have been truly corruptible. I may have, yes, have been... pagan ...in spirit, but I have always known there is more sincerity in religion than politics. More truth also.See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening credits are written as if they were a comment on the action, and they paraphrase Shakespeare: "Flatbroke Films presents A Tragic Historical Comedy, or A Comic historical Tragedy Or What You Will". The names of the actors and creative staff are all written with a "Mr." or "Mrs." preceding the name, just as they would have been in the eighteenth century. See more »Soundtracks
Awake the ardour of the breastMusic by George Frideric Handel (as G.F. Händel)
Performed by John Shirley-Quirk
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OK presentation of George F. Handel's personal memoirs ("almost"). With Trevor Howard doing a fine job prancing about in his nightshirt and chewing through a script by playwright John Osborne. Summed up nicely by the phrase "It was always my policy, even as a small boy, never to willingly fart in front of ladies." The visuals are fine, with nice attention to period detail (smoke filled rooms due to poorly working chimneys, for example) but it was clearly shot without sound with everything added later in the indubitable BBC manner. On the whole it may have been better as a radio play without the images distracting us from the music and words.