Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)

STARS: Sarah Miles, Jon Finch, Richard Chamberlain, John Mills, Margaret Leighton, Pamela Brown, Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, Peter Bull.

DIRECTOR: Robert Bolt. DURATION: 123mins.

SYNOPSIS: Based on a true story. Aristocrat and wife of a politician, Lady Caroline whips up a scandalous storm by embarking indiscreetly on a two-month affair with the poet Byron - a move which brings about her downfall.

RC PLAYS: Lord Byron.

Take a bunch of famous faces, scandal and an acclaimed playwright and what do you get? Well, in this case not the financial or critical success such ingredients should produce. But then when an all-star cast is quite obviously underused, suspicions are aroused that maybe they're only present to create interest at the box office.

However, Richard as Lord Byron put in a decent performance - if a little on the eccentric side - while the many top English actors floundered around him thanks to poor material written by Robert Bolt, who also made the movie his directorial debut.

Byron certainly gave Chamberlain something to get his teeth into, deliberately portraying the poet as unlikeable in probably the most foppish ever performance by a leading man.

"Byron was like the first pop star. When Childe Harold hit England it was like The Beatles," explained the actor. "A few years ago, I would have been afraid to wear so much eye make-up, but Robert Bolt convinced me it would be alright. Lord Byron was amazingly vain. He wore his hair in curlers, went on reducing kicks, ate potatoes and vinegar to whiten his complexion. I played him as a kind of mad genius, but with a kind of cheapness. I could only do that because I felt more secure as an actor."

Chamberlain's risky performance ended up being the only part of the movie which gained any kind of positive reaction. One critic said of him "Richard Chamberlain is physically startling - as if Aubrey Beardsley had supervised his dress, diet and decadence." While another wrote: "Bright spot: Richard Chamberlain as Byron gets the white-clad early 19th-century ladies' knickers in a twist very effectively in eye-liner and lip colour."

Perhaps then if Lady Caroline Lamb had been built around the flamboyant Byron it might have been more interesting. However, it seemed Bolt was more concerned with offering his wife (Sarah Miles) a meaty role than telling a good story.

Certainly the whole sordid affair (the film, not the storyline) ended up being more pathetic than poetic.

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