In a small art theater in the Carlton district of Melbourne, here in Australia, I was taken to see this classy period piece telling a small bit of the story of Orson Welles (the man who famously read War of the Worlds on the radio so dramatically that some people were jumping out of buildings thinking the aliens had landed). This movie certainly has teen appeal with the easy on the eyes Zach Efron playing the main lead, with Claire Danes as the female lead.  Christian McKay plays the larger than life figure of Orson Welles,  who was arrogant, bombastic, domineering, manipulative, emotive….and by the way a remarkable actor with a remarkable voice.  Perhaps some will remember that his last role of all was on an episode of the TV hit Moonlighting starring Cybil Shepherd and a very young Bruce Willis.  For an hour and 57 or so minutes we are transported back into 1937 New York with all its music, vintage cars, and classy clothes…and it is a wonderful experience of time travel.

The movie in fact is a romance about young love and Welles is but a side piece to that story.  Efron plays the 17 year old Richard who longs to be an actor, and miraculously gets a small part in Welles pre-WWII production of  Julius Caesar at the old Mercury theater, with all the characters dressed in modern uniforms to remind the audience of Nazi Germany and its dictatorial leader. Implication, maybe that Caesar should received the brutal Brutus treatment as well.   Claire Danes plays the assistant to Mr. Welles who longs to hit the big time herself and has an interview with David O. Selznick just before he will be filming Gone with the Wind.  It is perhaps no accident that Danes is dolled up to look like one of the lead figures in Gone with the Wind.  Indeed at points in the movie she also looks like a very young Katherine Hepburn.

This movie is not a profound reflection on life or the theater, but it does have its moments, especially when Welles in a moment of clarity says that actors long to be the characters they play on stage, they long for that 90 minutes when they can forget all their real life troubles and become someone else for a short period of time.  Truer words were never spoken, if you know anything about the lives of the young and the restless on the stage or silver screen.   Meanwhile young Richard woos and seems to win the girl of his dreams, only to discover another young lady whom he helps get published is more his speed.   It is a charming little movie, and it deserves the high ratings it gets.  It is not marred by notable bad language, nor lurid sex scenes, nor much of anything, unless you don’t like any of the characters in the film.  In short, this is the perfect date movie for young romantics or even old fogies and I highly commend it.   A good time will be had by all.