Great Moments in Aviation
Encyclopedia
Great Moments in Aviation is a 1994 romantic drama film, set on a 1950s passenger liner. The film follows Gabriel Angel (Rakie Ayola
), a young Caribbean
aviator who falls in love with the forger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce
) on her journey to England. Stewart is pursued by his nemesis Rex Goodyear (John Hurt
), and the group are supported by Dr Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave
) and Miss Gwendolyn Quim (Dorothy Tutin
), retired missionaries who become lovers during the voyage.
The film was written by Jeanette Winterson
, directed by Beeban Kidron
and produced by Phillippa Gregory, the same creative team that collaborated on Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
in 1990. Winterson intended the screenplay to be reminiscent of a fairytale, and was unhappy at being asked to write a new ending for its American release.
The film was shown at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival
and broadcast on British television in 1995. Although originally intended for theatrical release, it failed to find a theatrical distributor, and was released straight to video in the United States in 1997 under the title Shades of Fear. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and while the lesbian sub-plot in particular was generally well received, Winterson's scripting was a focal point of criticism.
), a young Caribbean woman from Grenada
who embarks on a cruise to England with the intention of becoming an aviator. Upon boarding the ship, Gabriel finds herself assigned shared sleeping quarters with fellow passenger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce
). The rest of the ship's passengers, including missionaries Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave
) and Gwendolyne Quim (Dorothy Tutin
) assume the two are married, and when Professor Rex Goodyear (John Hurt
) appears to recognise Duncan as his old acquaintance Alasdair Birch, Duncan fosters the assumption to maintain his cover. It transpires that Duncan is a forger, who many years ago stole a Titian
painting from Goodyear and had an affair with his wife. Goodyear believes that his painting is on board the ship, and leads Gabriel to believe that Duncan was responsible for his wife's death. She is furious with Duncan for lying to her, but the two go on to reconcile and later make love. Their romance is complicated by the fact Gabriel professes to have a husband waiting for her in England. She explains that he has been there for two years working, and she is joining him so that she can fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming a pilot — inspired by her grandfather Thomas (Oliver Samuels
) who flew off into a storm and never came home. They begin a relationship nonetheless, supported by Angela and Gwendolyne, who also come to realise that they have feelings for one another. They each confess to having secretly been in love with the other for years, and become lovers, vowing to live together in their retirement. It comes to light that the death of Goodyear's wife was an accident, caused as he and Duncan fought over her. Duncan returns his painting, and goes on to burn all his forged documents and papers in front of Gabriel. She confesses that her marriage to Michael is over, and she and Duncan resolve to begin a life together. The film ends with Gabriel's grandmother Vesuvia (Carmen Munroe
) reading her family a letter from England, informing them that Gabriel and Duncan are happy together, and are expecting a child. As the family express their delight, Gabriel flies overhead, having finally attained her pilot licence and become an aviator.
, directed by Beeban Kidron
and produced by Phillippa Giles, the same creative team who, in 1990, adapted Winterson's novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
for television
. Giles, for whom Great Moments was her first feature film, believes that it was the success of Oranges which lead the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) to approve the film so easily. The screenplay is inspired by the emigration story of the mother of actress Vicky Licorish, a close friend of Winterson. It is adapted from a short story Winterson wrote entitled "Atlantic Crossing", published in 1999 in her anthology The World and Other Places. The central themes of the story are "race, Hemingway, colonialism, love, lust, the [and the] '50s", adapted into the screenplay in a manner Winterson intended to be reminiscent of a fairytale. She ascribes the roles of hero and heroine to Duncan and Gabriel, fairy godmothers to Miss Quim and Dr Bead, and non-archetypal villain to Rex Goodyear. Setting the film on a passenger liner, with brief scenes in Gabriel's native Grenada were intended to contribute towards this fairytale atmosphere, with Winterson explaining that the opening sequence in the Caribbean is "designed to draw the audience out of the world of their own concerns and into a world whose customs are strange. In the new world, objects are unfamiliar and events do not follow the usual rules. The coincidence of colour and language, each more vivid than normal, pull the viewer forward with fairytale immediacy." Of the passenger liner aspect, she explains that it provides the film with: "a sealed and contained world with its own identity and rituals, at once both recognisable and odd. Fairytale never leaves the reader in a familiar spot, we are whisked away to a wood or a lake or a castle or an island, each a law unto itself made all the more uncomfortable because it isn't as weird as, say, planet Mars. We think we will be able to cope just by using out usual tool kit, how disconcerting it is when we can't."
The film originally had a different ending to the one later released in America under the title Shades of Fear. Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein
requested that the ending be reworked prior to distribution, and Winterson was highly unhappy at being asked to write an additional conclusionary scene. Winterson's preferred ending sees Rex Goodyear burn the painting he believes to be fraudulent, only to discover he actually had the genuine item in his possession all along, and has now destroyed it. This ties in with the major theme of the film in Winterson's eyes, whereby "Duncan, Gabriel, Miss Bead and Miss Quim all find something valuable where they least expected it, Rex Goodyear finds that the things we value are very often worthless." Winterson has called Weinstein "a bully who knows the gentle touch", referring to the new ending as "the most expensive words I will ever write". While she believes that the new ending is satisfying, she feels the film has lost some dimensions which were important to her and concludes: "It is a good movie but it is not the movie I thought we could make. [...] I do like Great Moments but there is another film in there somewhere that has got lost."
Of the starring cast, Pryce, Hurt, Redgrave and Tutin were already established screen actors, while Ayola had previously only acted theatrically. She appraised of her screen debut: "it was a wonderful experience for me to be appearing alongside so many established names. It was very exciting although I must admit at first I was a bit daunted by the prospect." The film featured several minor black characters, either as members of Gabriel's family, or as workers aboard the ship. When these roles were cast, complaints were made by black members of the British actors' union to the BBC and the Department of Employment at having been "passed over" in favour of overseas artists. The film was shot from 23 September to 6 November 1992. It was funded in the most part by the BBC, though a quarter of the budget came from the American Miramax. While Kidron had previously come to dislike directing for major studios when filming My Cousin Vinny
for Fox, she found the low budget of Great Moments in Aviation "just as horrendous a compromise". Though originally intended for theatrical release, the film failed to find theatrical distribution. It was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival
in 1994, then broadcast in Britain on BBC Two
on 11 November 1995. It was released on video in the United States under the alternate title Shades of Fear two years later, on 11 November 1997.
writes that: "while flight is the sustaining theme, the film never soars. The characterisation is Cluedo
with pretensions, and the dialogue suspends the actors in that ungainly, undignified dangle which you associate with stage flying, the wires robbing them of all powers of independent movement." While he describes the scene which culminates the lesbian storyline as "radiant" and "beautifully acted by Vanessa Redgrave and Dorothy Tutin", he opines of the acting in general that "for the most part, these people are simply Winterson's puppets, jerked around by the symbolic demands of the plot." He deems Kidron's directing "a kind of surrender, dutifully supplying visual equivalents for Winterson's sterile symmetries but despairing of any greater vivacity", and is particularly critical of Winterson's screenplay, noting that: "everything unrolls at the same stately pace, a religious procession bearing the reliquaries of Winterson's prose. It's as though the author thinks every word is infinitely precious. She's right, though perhaps not in the way she imagines." Variety's
David Rooney agrees the film's coming-out scene is a "potential jewel" and "captivatingly played", however, in line with Sutcliffe's criticisms, opines that the film's pacing means that "the scene is lobbed in and robbed of its impact". He summarises the film as "a willfully theatrical, sporadically magical romantic comedy embracing three barely compatible narrative strands, not one of which ever gets full flight clearance". Rooney deems the film "Damaged beyond repair by a mannered scripting style and evident recutting", and opines that "Jeanette Winterson's preposterous dialogue and comic mistiming serves up more misses than hits". Of the film's major themes, he writes that: "Questions about the line between truth and falsehood, genuine and fake, are too flimsily voiced to mean much. Likewise, the intro of race issues in the closing voiceover only makes the haphazard mix even more lumpy".
More positively, Rooney praise Remi Adefarasin's cinematography and Rachel Portman's soundtrack, as well as Ayola's acting, writing: "In the film's most naturalistic turn, Ayola is a constant pleasure to watch. Unforced and appealing, she often succeeds in pulling the fanciful fireworks momentarily back down to Earth." The Boston Herald' s Paul Sherman agrees that Ayola gives "a winning performance", and deems the film "generally charming", though is critical of Miramax's decision to hold the film's release back until 1997, change its title, and market it as a mystery rather than a romantic comedy-drama. Lorien Haynes, writing for the Radio Times
, also praises the acting in the film, however is critical of the cross-genre approach, opining: "Unfortunately, the mixture of romance and mystery doesn't work and even the combined acting talents of Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Pryce, John Hurt and Dorothy Tutin can't save it." She deems the film "disappointing", and writes that it fails to match the success of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Gilbert Gerard for The Independent selected the film as recommended viewing upon its BBC Two
television debut, giving the mixed review: "So much acting talent, so little substance to play with - but the 1950s are authentically enough evoked."
David Bleiler is more positive about the film, writing in his TLA Video & DVD Guide that it "isn't some third-rate, quick-paycheck hack job mystery which the advertising suggests." He calls it "an unusual, rewarding drama [...] Well-written by Jeanette Winterson and directed with just the right amount of sensitivity and humor by Kidron". Bleiler states that the cast are "stellar", Ayola is "radiant", and the revelatory scene between Angela and Gwendolyne is "wonderful", asserting: "Although slight, this is a perfect film for a nice, quiet evening at home". Alison Darren in her Lesbian film guide is also positive, asserting that: "Great Moments in Aviation is a little gem of a British film". She describes the resolution of the lesbian storyline as "a golden scene, beautifully photographed and exceptionally well paced", and asserts that "For women of a certain age, this may be the most heart-rending (not to say, inspirational) depiction of a coming-out moment ever seen on screen. Whimsical, comic, dramatic and gentle."
and Ethan Frome
. Variety
magazine's David Rooney praised Rachel Portman's composition as "stirring".
Rakie Ayola
Rakie Ayola is a Welsh actress, best known for her role as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City. She first rose to prominence in the lead role of the 1993 Jeanette Winterson screenplay Great Moments in Aviation...
), a young Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
aviator who falls in love with the forger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
) on her journey to England. Stewart is pursued by his nemesis Rex Goodyear (John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
), and the group are supported by Dr Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) and Miss Gwendolyn Quim (Dorothy Tutin
Dorothy Tutin
Dame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
), retired missionaries who become lovers during the voyage.
The film was written by Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, directed by Beeban Kidron
Beeban Kidron
Beeban Kidron is an English Film Director known for her much-lauded adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and for directing Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
and produced by Phillippa Gregory, the same creative team that collaborated on Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (TV serial)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a critically acclaimed 1990 BBC television drama, directed by Beeban Kidron. Jeanette Winterson wrote the screenplay, adapting her semi-autobiographical first novel of the same name . The BBC produced and screened three episodes, running to a total of 2 hours and...
in 1990. Winterson intended the screenplay to be reminiscent of a fairytale, and was unhappy at being asked to write a new ending for its American release.
The film was shown at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
and broadcast on British television in 1995. Although originally intended for theatrical release, it failed to find a theatrical distributor, and was released straight to video in the United States in 1997 under the title Shades of Fear. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and while the lesbian sub-plot in particular was generally well received, Winterson's scripting was a focal point of criticism.
Plot
Set in 1957, Great Moments in Aviation follows Gabriel Angel (Rakie AyolaRakie Ayola
Rakie Ayola is a Welsh actress, best known for her role as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City. She first rose to prominence in the lead role of the 1993 Jeanette Winterson screenplay Great Moments in Aviation...
), a young Caribbean woman from Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
who embarks on a cruise to England with the intention of becoming an aviator. Upon boarding the ship, Gabriel finds herself assigned shared sleeping quarters with fellow passenger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
). The rest of the ship's passengers, including missionaries Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) and Gwendolyne Quim (Dorothy Tutin
Dorothy Tutin
Dame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
) assume the two are married, and when Professor Rex Goodyear (John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
) appears to recognise Duncan as his old acquaintance Alasdair Birch, Duncan fosters the assumption to maintain his cover. It transpires that Duncan is a forger, who many years ago stole a Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
painting from Goodyear and had an affair with his wife. Goodyear believes that his painting is on board the ship, and leads Gabriel to believe that Duncan was responsible for his wife's death. She is furious with Duncan for lying to her, but the two go on to reconcile and later make love. Their romance is complicated by the fact Gabriel professes to have a husband waiting for her in England. She explains that he has been there for two years working, and she is joining him so that she can fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming a pilot — inspired by her grandfather Thomas (Oliver Samuels
Oliver Samuels
Oliver Adolphus Samuels is a Jamaican comedian and actor. He is often described as the Jamaican "King of Comedy" performing both stand up and comic theatre.-Career:...
) who flew off into a storm and never came home. They begin a relationship nonetheless, supported by Angela and Gwendolyne, who also come to realise that they have feelings for one another. They each confess to having secretly been in love with the other for years, and become lovers, vowing to live together in their retirement. It comes to light that the death of Goodyear's wife was an accident, caused as he and Duncan fought over her. Duncan returns his painting, and goes on to burn all his forged documents and papers in front of Gabriel. She confesses that her marriage to Michael is over, and she and Duncan resolve to begin a life together. The film ends with Gabriel's grandmother Vesuvia (Carmen Munroe
Carmen Munroe
Carmen Munroe OBE is a British actress, born in Berbice, Guyana. Since the early 1950s she has been a resident of the UK. She made her West End stage debut in 1962 and has since played an instrumental role in the development of black British theatre and representation on small screen...
) reading her family a letter from England, informing them that Gabriel and Duncan are happy together, and are expecting a child. As the family express their delight, Gabriel flies overhead, having finally attained her pilot licence and become an aviator.
Cast
- Rakie AyolaRakie AyolaRakie Ayola is a Welsh actress, best known for her role as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City. She first rose to prominence in the lead role of the 1993 Jeanette Winterson screenplay Great Moments in Aviation...
as Gabriel Angel - Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as Duncan Stewart - John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
as Professor Rex Goodyear - Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Doctor Angela Bead - Dorothy TutinDorothy TutinDame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
as Miss Gwendolyne Quim - Carmen MunroeCarmen MunroeCarmen Munroe OBE is a British actress, born in Berbice, Guyana. Since the early 1950s she has been a resident of the UK. She made her West End stage debut in 1962 and has since played an instrumental role in the development of black British theatre and representation on small screen...
as Vesuvia - Oliver SamuelsOliver SamuelsOliver Adolphus Samuels is a Jamaican comedian and actor. He is often described as the Jamaican "King of Comedy" performing both stand up and comic theatre.-Career:...
as Thomas - David HarewoodDavid HarewoodDavid Harewood is a British actor.-Biography:David Harewood was born and grew up in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, England, where he attended St. Benedict's Junior School and Washwood Heath Comprehensive School. As a schoolboy, he excelled at all sports—from sprinting to basketball to rugby...
as Steward
Production
Great Moments in Aviation was written by Jeanette WintersonJeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, directed by Beeban Kidron
Beeban Kidron
Beeban Kidron is an English Film Director known for her much-lauded adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and for directing Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason...
and produced by Phillippa Giles, the same creative team who, in 1990, adapted Winterson's novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a novel by Jeanette Winterson published in 1985, which she subsequently adapted into a BBC television drama...
for television
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (TV serial)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a critically acclaimed 1990 BBC television drama, directed by Beeban Kidron. Jeanette Winterson wrote the screenplay, adapting her semi-autobiographical first novel of the same name . The BBC produced and screened three episodes, running to a total of 2 hours and...
. Giles, for whom Great Moments was her first feature film, believes that it was the success of Oranges which lead the British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(BBC) to approve the film so easily. The screenplay is inspired by the emigration story of the mother of actress Vicky Licorish, a close friend of Winterson. It is adapted from a short story Winterson wrote entitled "Atlantic Crossing", published in 1999 in her anthology The World and Other Places. The central themes of the story are "race, Hemingway, colonialism, love, lust, the [and the] '50s", adapted into the screenplay in a manner Winterson intended to be reminiscent of a fairytale. She ascribes the roles of hero and heroine to Duncan and Gabriel, fairy godmothers to Miss Quim and Dr Bead, and non-archetypal villain to Rex Goodyear. Setting the film on a passenger liner, with brief scenes in Gabriel's native Grenada were intended to contribute towards this fairytale atmosphere, with Winterson explaining that the opening sequence in the Caribbean is "designed to draw the audience out of the world of their own concerns and into a world whose customs are strange. In the new world, objects are unfamiliar and events do not follow the usual rules. The coincidence of colour and language, each more vivid than normal, pull the viewer forward with fairytale immediacy." Of the passenger liner aspect, she explains that it provides the film with: "a sealed and contained world with its own identity and rituals, at once both recognisable and odd. Fairytale never leaves the reader in a familiar spot, we are whisked away to a wood or a lake or a castle or an island, each a law unto itself made all the more uncomfortable because it isn't as weird as, say, planet Mars. We think we will be able to cope just by using out usual tool kit, how disconcerting it is when we can't."
The film originally had a different ending to the one later released in America under the title Shades of Fear. Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
requested that the ending be reworked prior to distribution, and Winterson was highly unhappy at being asked to write an additional conclusionary scene. Winterson's preferred ending sees Rex Goodyear burn the painting he believes to be fraudulent, only to discover he actually had the genuine item in his possession all along, and has now destroyed it. This ties in with the major theme of the film in Winterson's eyes, whereby "Duncan, Gabriel, Miss Bead and Miss Quim all find something valuable where they least expected it, Rex Goodyear finds that the things we value are very often worthless." Winterson has called Weinstein "a bully who knows the gentle touch", referring to the new ending as "the most expensive words I will ever write". While she believes that the new ending is satisfying, she feels the film has lost some dimensions which were important to her and concludes: "It is a good movie but it is not the movie I thought we could make. [...] I do like Great Moments but there is another film in there somewhere that has got lost."
Of the starring cast, Pryce, Hurt, Redgrave and Tutin were already established screen actors, while Ayola had previously only acted theatrically. She appraised of her screen debut: "it was a wonderful experience for me to be appearing alongside so many established names. It was very exciting although I must admit at first I was a bit daunted by the prospect." The film featured several minor black characters, either as members of Gabriel's family, or as workers aboard the ship. When these roles were cast, complaints were made by black members of the British actors' union to the BBC and the Department of Employment at having been "passed over" in favour of overseas artists. The film was shot from 23 September to 6 November 1992. It was funded in the most part by the BBC, though a quarter of the budget came from the American Miramax. While Kidron had previously come to dislike directing for major studios when filming My Cousin Vinny
My Cousin Vinny
My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American comedy film written and produced by Dale Launer, directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Lane Smith, Bruce McGill and Fred Gwynne...
for Fox, she found the low budget of Great Moments in Aviation "just as horrendous a compromise". Though originally intended for theatrical release, the film failed to find theatrical distribution. It was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in 1994, then broadcast in Britain on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on 11 November 1995. It was released on video in the United States under the alternate title Shades of Fear two years later, on 11 November 1997.
Reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Thomas Sutcliffe for The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
writes that: "while flight is the sustaining theme, the film never soars. The characterisation is Cluedo
Cluedo
Cluedo is a popular murder/mystery-themed deduction board game originally published by Waddingtons in Leeds, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro, which acquired its U.S...
with pretensions, and the dialogue suspends the actors in that ungainly, undignified dangle which you associate with stage flying, the wires robbing them of all powers of independent movement." While he describes the scene which culminates the lesbian storyline as "radiant" and "beautifully acted by Vanessa Redgrave and Dorothy Tutin", he opines of the acting in general that "for the most part, these people are simply Winterson's puppets, jerked around by the symbolic demands of the plot." He deems Kidron's directing "a kind of surrender, dutifully supplying visual equivalents for Winterson's sterile symmetries but despairing of any greater vivacity", and is particularly critical of Winterson's screenplay, noting that: "everything unrolls at the same stately pace, a religious procession bearing the reliquaries of Winterson's prose. It's as though the author thinks every word is infinitely precious. She's right, though perhaps not in the way she imagines." Variety's
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
David Rooney agrees the film's coming-out scene is a "potential jewel" and "captivatingly played", however, in line with Sutcliffe's criticisms, opines that the film's pacing means that "the scene is lobbed in and robbed of its impact". He summarises the film as "a willfully theatrical, sporadically magical romantic comedy embracing three barely compatible narrative strands, not one of which ever gets full flight clearance". Rooney deems the film "Damaged beyond repair by a mannered scripting style and evident recutting", and opines that "Jeanette Winterson's preposterous dialogue and comic mistiming serves up more misses than hits". Of the film's major themes, he writes that: "Questions about the line between truth and falsehood, genuine and fake, are too flimsily voiced to mean much. Likewise, the intro of race issues in the closing voiceover only makes the haphazard mix even more lumpy".
More positively, Rooney praise Remi Adefarasin's cinematography and Rachel Portman's soundtrack, as well as Ayola's acting, writing: "In the film's most naturalistic turn, Ayola is a constant pleasure to watch. Unforced and appealing, she often succeeds in pulling the fanciful fireworks momentarily back down to Earth." The Boston Herald
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
, also praises the acting in the film, however is critical of the cross-genre approach, opining: "Unfortunately, the mixture of romance and mystery doesn't work and even the combined acting talents of Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Pryce, John Hurt and Dorothy Tutin can't save it." She deems the film "disappointing", and writes that it fails to match the success of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Gilbert Gerard for The Independent selected the film as recommended viewing upon its BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
television debut, giving the mixed review: "So much acting talent, so little substance to play with - but the 1950s are authentically enough evoked."
David Bleiler is more positive about the film, writing in his TLA Video & DVD Guide that it "isn't some third-rate, quick-paycheck hack job mystery which the advertising suggests." He calls it "an unusual, rewarding drama [...] Well-written by Jeanette Winterson and directed with just the right amount of sensitivity and humor by Kidron". Bleiler states that the cast are "stellar", Ayola is "radiant", and the revelatory scene between Angela and Gwendolyne is "wonderful", asserting: "Although slight, this is a perfect film for a nice, quiet evening at home". Alison Darren in her Lesbian film guide is also positive, asserting that: "Great Moments in Aviation is a little gem of a British film". She describes the resolution of the lesbian storyline as "a golden scene, beautifully photographed and exceptionally well paced", and asserts that "For women of a certain age, this may be the most heart-rending (not to say, inspirational) depiction of a coming-out moment ever seen on screen. Whimsical, comic, dramatic and gentle."
Soundtrack
While the soundtrack to Great Moments in Aviation was not released independently, nine tracks from the film appear on the album "A Pyromaniac's Love Story", which also features music from the film of the same nameA Pyromaniac's Love Story
A Pyromaniac's Love Story is a 1995 American romantic comedy film directed by Joshua Brand. The original screenplay is by Morgan Ward. The movie was filmed in Toronto .-Plot synopsis:...
and Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome is a novel published in 1911 by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, New England, United States...
. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine's David Rooney praised Rachel Portman's composition as "stirring".