Very few would ever dare deny that Peter Bogdanovich was one of the greatest directors of his generation – a hardworking filmmaker who was able to run the gamut in terms of projects, directing in many different genres and oscillating between deeply personal works and those that would be a perfect fit for a journeyman artist known for their ability to adapt their style to the writing or cast. Yet, even in such a storied career, there are still a few hidden gems, slightly obscured from view as a work that is considered lesser or not widely discussed, at least not in comparison to their more popular films. This is almost inexplicable since many of his best works are those that are not prominently featured in conversations about his career, but rather those that we stumble upon and find ourselves as delighted and enthralled as we would be when watching one of the canonical works. One of his greatest achievements that has been mostly ignored is Noises Off, in which he adapts the stageplay by postmodernist writer Michael Frayn, which tells the story of a theatre troupe rehearsing for an upcoming production, as seen through the eyes of their director, who seems to be only inches away from a complete mental breakdown as a result of his ensemble’s ineptitude, and the realization that anything that can go wrong very likely will, as part of some pre-written fate bestowed on this production. Hilarious and irreverent, as well as being consistently daring in both its perspective and its underlying these, Noises Off is one of Bogdanovich’s most unheralded masterpieces, a simple but incredibly effective work that sees him attempting a few very different directorial approaches to the material, and emerging triumphant in a way that is far more engaging than we would have expected. Its reputation has not quite matched its quality, and many aspects are still undeniably quite raw and could have been subjected to further polishing, but for the most part, Noises Off is a strong offering from a truly gifted filmmaker and one that is more than deserving of some form of re-evaluation from a contemporary perspective.

Noises Off came about at a curious time in the director’s career – the late 1980s and early 1990s were a period in which Bogdanovich was attempting to cast a much wider net, which is fascinating considering he had often been driven by the desire to be as original and versatile as possible right from the start of his career. It was not his most celebrated era (and some may even assert that he was over the hill as far as critical acclaim and audience interest were concerned, but neither of those is solid metrics on which we can assess someone’s artistic prowess), but it was one where he was doing decidedly fascinating work. A quintessentially British story, particularly as Frayn wrote it from such a perspective and the original productions were steeped heavily in these cultural details, Bogdanovich only slightly tweaks the material to bring the action to the United States, while still retaining the quirks of the original text – and its even more impressive that he was able to craft it in such a way, considering it was made in between two works of distinct Americana in the form of Texasville and The Thing Called Love – and yet he still manages to make it such a personal project, despite the text being written by someone else entirely. The ideas that inform this story supersede any flaws in the final product since both the play and this subsequent adaptation are about something that only a veteran director like Bogdanovich could convey, which is the frustration and despair that comes when working in a medium based on collaboration and being surrounded by people who are technically talented on paper, but in practice, they prove to be hopelessly incompetent, and how anyone who has ever been in charge of leading a team (whether artistically or otherwise) will very likely run into the feeling that nothing is going quite as well as perhaps they imagined at the outset. Noises Off is a film designed to pander to anyone who has ever felt like they are the only competent person in their immediate surroundings – and more importantly, it conveys the very strong message that sometimes those with the most severe delusions of grandeur are the most hopelessly inept, which is what gives this film such a pleasantly subversive meaning and allows it to flourish into a delightful romp.

Many qualities define Bogdanovich’s style of filmmaking, but it’s his willingness to take risks that is perhaps most impressive, and which makes him a perfect fit for Frayn’s frantic and off-the-wall play, especially one that wasn’t aiming to simply be the stage production transposed onto the screen. In the journey the text took from the page to the screen, the director makes many daring choices, which immediately differentiates this from other theatrical adaptations, which oscillate between some of the most ingenious and daring works of cinema, to profoundly lazy and prosaic when made without an ounce of effort, which is unfortunately quite common, particularly as we find more instances where the original stage director is enlisted to adapt their work for the screen, an entirely different medium and one that doesn’t always yield the most positive results. This film proves the sentiment that sometimes a Hollywood filmmaker can be trusted to handle such material, granted there is some sense of originality in their direction. Bogdanovich had the benefit of an extremely strong screenplay, which Marty Kaplan adapted from Frayn’s original text, and his vision very much aligned with the sensibilities of the play, into which he brought his perspective as a director who had his fair share of frustrations throughout his career. Equipped with all the necessary components, all that was left was to set everything in motion – and the results speak for themselves. It is a dynamic film in which at least five or six different things are happening on screen at any given moment, with the story being told with rapid-fire intensity, starting right at the apex of the distinct blend of comedy and tension, and never slowing down until the cathartic final moments. This is one of the most impressively directed films of Bogdanovich’s entire career, in the very literal sense that he had to essentially direct around a dozen actors, each one in brutal conflict with the other, leading to a series of errors that ultimately result in wall-to-wall chaos. Only a truly skilled filmmaker could handle such challenging material and yet make it all seem so incredibly seamless from beginning to end.

Yet, as much as we can praise Bogdanovich for how he approaches this material, Noises Off would be nothing without the cast – and considering he was always insistent on the importance of actors in bringing his films to life, he would have likely felt the same about the ensemble he recruits for this film, many of whom are amongst the greatest of their entire generation and who turn in splendid work throughout this film. Choosing a standout is nearly impossible, since more or less everyone is on an even keel, and each has their moments to shine, which makes the act of selecting one or two highlights a difficult task. Michael Caine is perhaps the de facto lead, insofar as his character is the one that narrates the film, and is mainly the guiding perspective throughout the film – and he is suitably perfect in the part, being as hilarious and irreverent as he has been known to be on many occasions. He’s joined by the iconic Carol Burnett, who steals every scene as the veteran actor who seems to be incapable of choosing an accent, as well as the always-wonderful Christopher Reeve (in a performance that showed he could be genuinely funny and a strong actor, even when in a genre as challenging as a comedic farce), Marilu Henner, Nicolette Sheridan and John Ritter, all of which are tremendous. Noises Off also features the final performance of acting legend Denholm Elliott, who is outrageously funny in the part of the drunken thespian who has trouble staying sober but proves to be just as gifted as any of these young upstarts, albeit only a couple of moments too late in every instance. The cast of this film works together brilliantly, which is quite an accomplishment considering how much of the story requires the ensemble to be in some form of combat, so it takes an abundance of effort and a lot of chemistry to evoke such chaos and make it seem both hilarious and cohesive. Both the director and the cast deserve credit for this, as it essentially ties the entire film together.

Brilliant and subversive, and wickedly funny to boot, Noises Off has only grown in estimation as time has progressed, although slowly but still with a genuine sense of enthusiasm from those who see its values with much more clarity than many of those at the time. It’s the complete antithesis of many of Bogdanovich’s more straightforward, almost minimalistic films – it plays like a combination of screwball comedy and comedy-of-errors (both of which the director had considerable experience in making based on previous work), as well as old-fashioned camp theatricality, which we don’t find as often anymore. It is a mostly solidly crafted, detailed comedy with many unique elements that make it such a thorough delight – the cast is impeccable, the writing sharp and subversive, and the direction a marvel unto itself, being a massively engaging and daring effort that is as irreverent as it is compelling. This is not merely a straightforward stage adaptation, and the director works to ensure that there is a sense of dynamic storytelling that prevents any allegations that he was simply filming a production of the play – and he does this without changing the body of the text, only adding a few scenes to the beginning and end of the film, as a means to bookend the story and give it some structure that would have been lost in the transition to film. As a whole, Noises Off is a solid and entertaining film – it is bitingly funny, genuinely heartfelt and filled to the brim with offbeat humour and genuinely fascinating insights into the art of creating theatre. A masterful farce that moves at breakneck speed and manages to be genuinely quite bold, the film is a brilliant jumble of ideas carefully crafted into an engaging and hilarious comedy that is as bold as it is entertaining.