August Week End

CinemaSerf

The wealthy Washburne family are having a soiree during which we are presented with a family of fairly objectionable rich people who obsess about themselves, their money and care little for anyone else. Valerie Hobson is "Claire", a young beauty objectified by the elder Washburne (Paul Harvey) but fancied by a younger, less successful man from her town "Kim" (G.P. Huntley). What ensues is a fast moving, mildly amusing, but very simplistic social class drama with the stereotypes abounding all over the place. The writing is a wee bit dull, the direction is remarkably two-dimensional and there is precious little chemistry on screen - indeed, Hobson seems quite distinctly out of sorts with her co-stars. I reckon it could work better on a stage, keeping the focus of this conceivably quite pithy and entertaining character study more focussed than in this rather meandering cinematic flop. As it is, it's a bit of a waste of effort all round.