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Reviews
Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)
Standing Ovation in London
Caught the London screening. The place was packed, not an empty seat in the house, and Mr. Hunter received a thunderous well-deserved standing ovation.
This is one of the best celebrity biography docs for a long time, and will bring to a new, younger audience the reality of how the old Hollywood studio system manipulated its stars for their own corporate gain.
In Tab Hunter Confidential, Mr. Hunter narrates, sharing his insightful and honest view of the Hollywood star-making system of the 50s and his personal rise, success, frustration and fall at Warner Brothers Studios. With self-deprecating humor and warmth, Mr. Hunter reflects on the policies, plans and politics of the studio which dictated how to live in and survive the public life of a movie star, generating popularity and the adoration of his fans. He combines this with honest reflections of his closeted life as a gay man when the word gay did not even exist at the time. Mr. Hunter's frank and authentic portrait of his loves, his family and his faith are complicated, moving and intelligently presented.
Kudos to getting this fascinating autobiography onto the screen with taste and elegance.
What's the Name of the Dame? (2009)
Not To Be Missed!
Take nine drag divas, who each turn an ABBA song upside-down and inside-out, with a pinch of Joan Rivers, an ounce of Christine Baranski and a dash of Benny Anderson, and you have "What's the Name of the Dame?" Director Allan Neuwirth has served, on a sequined platter, a worthy close-up into the personal lives and often hilarious world of drag queens, men who bowl everyone over with their talent, humor and humanity. You can't help but laugh and wonder at the stars of this show who share their unusual and fascinating talents, bringing us unique, endearing, and often powerful performances of the wonderful music of ABBA. "What's the Name of the Dame?" is witty, feel-good entertainment with a heart of gold lamé.