Customer Reviews

The Rainbow [Region 2]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An interesting adaptation of part of the D.H. Lawrence novel of the same title. Sammi Davis plays Ursala, the young woman who is eager to experience Life. One wishes for more depth of passion from this woman than we get here (her whiny voice is a definite negative), but the Lawrence themes of love, marriage, and personal freedom are presented in an interesting way.

Lawrence's book is long and thorough; director Ken Russell errs by merely touching upon certain themes that were more fully explored in the book (the miners, for instance, and the war) and then letting them drop. It also ends abruptly with Davis chasing the rainbow. The movie lacks depth of feeling and intelligence, but it's well photographed and the whole thing might be closer to Lawrence than we'd like to admit.

A little too much emphasis on the saphic subplot but otherwise fairly good as adaptations of Lawrence's work.

Adapted from D. H. Lawrence's novel, this is really a prequel to the Lawrence novel WOMEN IN LOVE that Russell directed two decades earlier. Interestingly, Glenda Jackson plays the mother of the character she portrayed in the previous film. It's rather muddled drama, nowhere near the artistry of Russell's earlier adaptation, even with its nudity and central lesbian affair. This film is not yet available on home video in the USA. Strangely, Russell is said to have considered this his best film.

This is a very good take on on a very human,D. H. Lawrence novel. It has an excellent cast. And a very good feel for the time period.

"The Rainbow" (1989) is an adaption of D.H. Lawrence's lengthy novel brought to the screen by a Lawrence champion, director Ken Russell who brought Lawrence's "Women in Love" to the screen so triumphantly in 1970 bringing Glenda Jackson an Oscar (and would later bring "Lady Chatterley" to audiences). By the time of "The Rainbow," Russell was considered because of his tendency to excess and not taken too seriously and filmed this picture just before "Lair of the White Worm" which rests on a lot of campiness. He is somewhat restrained here. Russell used many of his stable including Sammi Davis who would probably have a hard time finding work even though her lead performance as Ursula is one of the picture's attributes. Amanda Donohoe, Paul McGann, David Hemmings, Christopher Gable and Glenda Jackson are also in the cast. The story is suited for our time about a rebellious young girl who defies her parents and society's morality, engaging in affairs with her same-sex schoolteacher (Donohoe) and later with a soldier (McGann) who wants to marry, with whom she may have become pregnant and who she eventually loses due to her fierce independence, and by wanting to work as a schoolteacher when women were relegated to staying home, and being married. This is my favorite Ken Russell even though I understand from the critics of the film, the film does not do the novel justice. To me, Sammi Davis is memorable, sometimes astonishing in a film that always leaves me with a curious pondering long after the credits roll and that wonderful theme music by Carl Davis resonates. This Reg. 2 from Lionsgate is full screen. I've never seen "The Rainbow" otherwise. It deserves a general release.

Ok I loved this book but I find Ken Russell's adaptations sappy and I find the adaptations of the dialogue from this book to be off the mark. Lawrence can be cheezy, fine, but the book isn't half as cheezy as this movie. I think part of it is just that DH Lawrence books are full of repetitive abstract ideas that don't translate well to a movie which is essentially a fluff piece that belongs on Lifetime as to PBS. Paul McGann, Anton, I liked him. I watch period British films all the time but I don't really think this movie does the book any justice. Yes she's a modern woman in 1915 or whatever, yes there are pretty good sex scenes. The sets? I liked them, they seemed realistic. The clothing? Eh, not so much, Paul McGann looked better in Hornblower 25 years later. The script- again, kind of cheezy and I don't know where he finds his actors. The music is typical to Ken Russell- cheezeball. The woman who plays Ursula- I suppose I kind of liked her but she's kind of whiny and they make her look crazy with that hairdo.