The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More | |
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Directed by | Wes Anderson |
Screenplay by | Wes Anderson |
Based on | "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" "The Swan" "The Ratcatcher" "Poison" by Roald Dahl |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography |
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Edited by | |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More is a 2024 American fantasy anthology film written, directed and co-produced by Wes Anderson, based on four short stories by Roald Dahl. This is the second film adaptation of a Dahl work directed by Anderson, following Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, and Rupert Friend, all playing different roles throughout.[1]
The film was released on 15 March 2024.
Plot[edit]
The anthology consists of four short film vignettes, each one based on the corresponding short story by Dahl.
1. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar[edit]
2. The Swan[edit]
Adapted from the 1977 short story with the same title.
3. The Rat Catcher[edit]
The penultimate short film is based on the story The Ratcatcher from the 1953 collection.
A rat-catcher (Ralph Fiennes) comes to a petrol station to combat a rat infestation there. Station attendant Claud (Rupert Friend) and reporter (Richard Ayoade) take him to a hayrick across the road and the ratter scatters some oats around the hayrick. He repeats that for 2 more days and on the fourth day he places poisoned oats in little piles at every corner of the hayrick.
Arriving the next day and demanding a sack to collect the expected large number of dead rats, he is peeved to find not a single one. To regain the waning respect of Claud and the reporter, the rat-catcher performs a demonstration: he takes a live rat out of one of his pockets and a ferret out of another pocket, puts both animals down his shirt and then has the ferret kill the rat on his body. The catcher then performs the second demonstration as a bet how he can kill a rat without using his hands: he takes another live rat out of his knapsack, ties it to a petrol pump and kills it with his teeth. Having spat the dead animal's blood out and retrieved the won money, he states that confectionery factories and chocolate-makers use rat blood to make liquorice and then leaves. Thoroughly disgusted, Claud and the reporter are relieved to see him go.
4. Poison[edit]
Concluding vignette of the anthology is a short film adaptation of the story published in 1950.
The film ends with an original song by Jarvis Cocker titled "Rules For Being a Fictional Writer" being played with the closing titles.[2]
Cast[edit]
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, Max Engelman, and Harry Pope
- Ralph Fiennes as Roald Dahl, the Policeman, and the Rat Man
- Dev Patel as Dr. Chatterjee, John Winston, and Timber Woods
- Ben Kingsley as Imdad Khan, the Dealer, and Dr. Ganderbai
- Richard Ayoade as Dr. Marshall, the Great Yogi, and the Editor/Reporter
- Rupert Friend as Peter Watson/Narrator and Claud
- David Gant as Casino Croupier
- Jarvis Cocker cameos as a casino receptionist and several friends of Henry Sugar.
Reception[edit]
Roger Moore in his Movie Nation blog gave the film a rating of 3.5/4, concluding with,[3]
The way Anderson uses the actors, deadpan performances (mostly), narrating in a stacatto style, parked in front of clever settings in varying degrees of surreal “realism,” is almost animation... His style can be grating, especially that self-aware mugging-to-the-camera that he insists on. But here we see its greatest application, deadpan turns played underneath screwball-comedy-speed dialogue...
The real Dahl was a real piece of work. But the work is timeless, and Anderson has rendered it in its most entertaining cinematic form with this short story collection feature film.
References[edit]
- ^ Peralta, Diego (2024-03-11). "Wes Anderson's Netflix Short Films Will Be Combined Into a Single Anthology". Collider. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
- ^ "Wes Anderson's Oscar-Winning 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' to Be Repackaged Into Netflix Anthology". thewrap.com. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
- ^ "Netflixable? Wes Anderson adds "Three Other" Roald Dahl stories to his Oscar-winning short film, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"". Retrieved 1 June 2024.
External links[edit]
- 2024 films
- American adventure comedy films
- American anthology films
- English-language adventure comedy films
- Films based on British short stories
- Films based on works by Roald Dahl
- Films directed by Wes Anderson
- Films produced by Steven Rales
- Films produced by Wes Anderson
- Films set in London
- Films shot in 16 mm film
- Films shot in London
- Films with screenplays by Wes Anderson
- Indian Paintbrush (company) films
- Netflix original films