Slamming Doors

A revival of Boeing-Boeing just opened on Broadway. Well-reviewed, it's received six Tony nominations.

The play is a farce about a man who juggles relations with three different stewardesses in one apartment. In the 1960s it was a huge hit in both Paris and London, but flopped in New York. A recent hit revival in London was enough, however, to make the producers give it another shot on Broadway.

I recently watched the 1965 film version, starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis, which was not especially well-received. But even if it were better, there's invariably trouble adapting stage farce to film. What makes a farce work live is the split-second timing and sense of mounting hysteria. Having it canned, with numerous takes and editing, removes a certain sense of danger, the feeling that the whole thing may fall apart any second.

Another problem is with regular stage comedies, opening them up--adding scenes in other venues--doesn't necessarily hurt the mood, but what makes a stage farce so exciting (when done well) is seeing it all at one time in one place. (That's the classical unities for ya.) Moving outside, or elsewhere, can kill your momentum.

I'm not saying no one should try to make films of good farces. I'm just saying they have to figure out some filmic equivalent to keep the pace going, and it's never easy.