De-Lovely (2004)

Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in "Nosferatu" (1922)

Film Arts Guild

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." This 1922 classic of cinema based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (but with names changed) directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schrek in one of films most famous and frightening make-up jobs.

CinemaSource

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM)

Studio: United Artists Films

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: Jul 2, 2004

Running Time: 125 mins.

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin McNally, Sandra Nelson, Allan Corduner, Peter Polycarpou, Keith Allen, James Wilby, Kevin McKidd

director: Irwin Winkler

De-lovely

A musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter in which the musician looks back on his life as if it was one of his spectacular stage shows, with the people and events of his life becoming the actors and action onstage. Through elaborate production numbers Porter's elegant, excessive past comes to light--including his deeply complicated relationship with his wife and muse, Linda Lee Porter.

Cole Porter was one of America's most clever songwriters, but you wouldn't know it from De-Lovely, which gives no insight into the man, and ruins his music with artifice.

Story

Loaded with contradictions, Porter (Kevin Kline) is a small-town Midwesterner who becomes a Parisian bon vivant, an openly gay man who maintains a relatively happy marriage to his wife Linda Thomas (Ashley Judd), and a gifted tunesmith who actually enjoys slumming in Hollywood. But when a riding accident leaves him…

PETER TRAVERS - June 16, 2004

In voice, manner, patrician charm and private torment, Kevin Kline is perfection as legendary composer Cole Porter (1893-1964). His marriage to socialite Linda Lee (a strong Ashley Judd) included a gay life his fans never imagined. Director Irwin Winkler and writer Jay Cocks trip over their admirable ambitions to show Porter's secret heart beating in his music, sung by contemporary artists from Elvis Costello (fine) to Alanis Morissette (feeble). But Kline makes Porter's coaching of a Broadway…