Shanghai Surprise
|
Leading Role:
Gloria Tatlock |
Director:
Jim Goddard |
Studio:
HandMade Films |
US Box Office (US$)
2,315,683 |
Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 British adventure comedy film starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna, produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In response to critics who had claimed Madonna's success was largely due to playing herself, Madonna now sought to build on her promising debut in Desperately Seeking Susan by deliberately choosing to portray a character opposite to her own personality. Consequently she chose the role of a prim missionary in the adventure/romantic drama Shanghai Surprise (1986). The choice seemed ideal as it also allowed her to star alongside her then husband, Sean Penn. However, in a career characterised by many canny moves, this was not one of her better choices as the film was a critical and commercial failure.
Plot
1930's Shanghai. Gloria Tatlock (Madonna) is a nurse looking for a stash of opium to administer to her patients. Glendon Wasey (Sean Penn) is a crook looking for the fastest way out of China. Together they cook up a smuggling scheme, but it attracts the unwanted attention of... just about everybody.Madonna's quest to find a load of hijacked opium for conversion to morphine to help the troops fighting the Japanese.
The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. The book was reprinted (under the film's title and with a film-centric cover) as a piece of tie-in merchandise for the film.
Production
Production was hampered by a series of on-set bust ups. Rumours abounded of increasing tension between the veteran director Jm Goddard and the young, ambitious would-be director, Sean Penn. Pictures from the shoot show Penn, in his character costume, peering through the camera lens and tales abound of his offering of unsolicited advice to an increasingly exasperated director.
Madonna was also not in the best frame of mind. At a press conference held during a brief visit to England for one of the shoots, she was asked by a journalist what she thought of England. Her contemptuous response was that ‘it must be nice somewhere’!
While the media lapped up stories of petulance - one of which being that the Penns repeatedly refused to leave their trailers - George Harrison was eventually obliged to fly in to keep the peace between his increasingly volatile star couple and their fractious relationship with rest of the production crew. It did not auger well for the film.
Reception and Awards
The film, and Madonna’s performance in particular, received withering reviews. The movie was panned by critics and failed at the box office grossing only $2,315,683 (just 8.5% of that garnered by Desperately Seeking Susan) nearly bankrupting ‘HandMade Films’ in the process.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in October, 1986: "The movie opened so poorly in its first wave of playdates (late August in the Northeast and Midwest) that MGM has made severe cuts in its marketing budget. One MGM exec was quoted in the trades as saying this was necessary because 'the interest in the film has been non-existent.'"
The movie received almost universally bad reviews receiving a rash of 1 star ratings. One of which came from The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Shanghai Surprise is so dismally scripted and directed that no one could redeem it... an atmospheric, handsomely shot and, sadly, utterly empty piece of work."
The Lexington Herald-Leader called it "a turkey" and declared: "This film is bad. The acting is terrible. The hackneyed screenplay traffics in stereotype and yuk-yuk jokes. And the point is non-existent."
The San Diego Union said, "In its campy nostalgia for old adventure films, Shanghai Surprise is cloddish. There's something rotten at the core about a movie that would recycle lines like "That's mighty white of you." Even sadder is the realization that some of the old cornball movies are still fresher, more alive, than this regurgitation."
The Chicago Sun-Times - awarding the movie only half a star - complained of its "warped attitudes toward women," adding, "It's hard to know for whom this wretch of a film was made. Idiotic dialogue should turn off the adults, teens will be disappointed by their rock heroine and kids shouldn't even be watching."
Film professor Michal Conford, of Ryerson University, reviewed the film for the San Jose Mercury News with another half-star rating, saying sardonically, "Shanghai Surprise stars Madonna and Sean Penn together for the first time and has songs by George Harrison. That is the most positive sentence that can be written about the film, now playing locally. MGM must have suspected -- the company tried to open the film in places like Iowa to avoid getting slaughtered. Nice try... The film is supposed to be a shaggy dog adventure... Shaggy, no. Dog, yes."
Metacritic reviewer Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle, giving a rating of "(SNOOZING VIEWER)", attempted a balanced review (one "reason to see the flick is that it's got a nice period look, and the costumes aren't half bad"), but described Madonna's acting as "wimpy," Penn's as "stiff," and the movie as "a stinker."
In the UK a respective review by Time Out dismissed the film as “A water-coloured, watered-down romantic comedy set in Shanghai in 1937, with the helplessly miscast Madonna (would you buy a used Bible from this woman?) trading on her ironic stage name to play an American missionary. She, with the aid of Penn's gaudy tie salesman, is desperately seeking 'Faraday's Flowers', a hidden opium stockpile which will help relieve the suffering of soldiers wounded in the war with Japan. The action is simply an implausible chain of events sensationally strung together, a Saturday morning serial formula which worked for Raiders of the Lost Ark; here, the heavy-handed manipulation of genre ingredients simply results in vulgar, often embarrassing, kitsch.”
A further retrospective review by Empire Magazine gave the film the lowest one star rating and its review, by Will Lawrence, was as brief as it was withering: “Really, really bad. Production company-destroyingly bad.” Furthermore it pointed out: “Shanghai Surprise sadly - but, ironically, not surprisingly - marked the beginning of the end for British production house Handmade Films.”
Despite having chosen the role precisely because it was the polar opposite of previous roles Madonna later commented that she had "struggled to come to terms with her character in Shanghai Surprise, because the innocence and repressed personality I was required to portray was so at variance with my own character." Which amounted to an admission of her limited skills as a character actress.
With such a plethora of reviews it was not surprising that the film was at least the ‘five star’ performer at the 7th Golden Raspberry Awards receiving more nominations that any other film that year:
Worst Actress - Madonna Nominated (and won)
Worst Picture - Nominated
Worst Director - Jim Goddard Nominated
Worst Screenplay - John Kohn and Robert Bentley Nominated
Worst Original Song - "Shanghai Surprise" Nominated
Worst Actor - Sean Penn
Despite an impressive array on nominations only one category was actually won – Madonna for Worst Actress.
UK Video Releases
Shanghai Surprise followed the standard format in being initially available in a large box. The video was then reissued in 1989 in a standard sized box and also came in alternative packaging with a red background on the rear.
For the collector there is also a unique promo sample sleeve issued to promote the video release.
For all promo items see the video entry within the PROMO page
In response to critics who had claimed Madonna's success was largely due to playing herself, Madonna now sought to build on her promising debut in Desperately Seeking Susan by deliberately choosing to portray a character opposite to her own personality. Consequently she chose the role of a prim missionary in the adventure/romantic drama Shanghai Surprise (1986). The choice seemed ideal as it also allowed her to star alongside her then husband, Sean Penn. However, in a career characterised by many canny moves, this was not one of her better choices as the film was a critical and commercial failure.
Plot
1930's Shanghai. Gloria Tatlock (Madonna) is a nurse looking for a stash of opium to administer to her patients. Glendon Wasey (Sean Penn) is a crook looking for the fastest way out of China. Together they cook up a smuggling scheme, but it attracts the unwanted attention of... just about everybody.Madonna's quest to find a load of hijacked opium for conversion to morphine to help the troops fighting the Japanese.
The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. The book was reprinted (under the film's title and with a film-centric cover) as a piece of tie-in merchandise for the film.
Production
Production was hampered by a series of on-set bust ups. Rumours abounded of increasing tension between the veteran director Jm Goddard and the young, ambitious would-be director, Sean Penn. Pictures from the shoot show Penn, in his character costume, peering through the camera lens and tales abound of his offering of unsolicited advice to an increasingly exasperated director.
Madonna was also not in the best frame of mind. At a press conference held during a brief visit to England for one of the shoots, she was asked by a journalist what she thought of England. Her contemptuous response was that ‘it must be nice somewhere’!
While the media lapped up stories of petulance - one of which being that the Penns repeatedly refused to leave their trailers - George Harrison was eventually obliged to fly in to keep the peace between his increasingly volatile star couple and their fractious relationship with rest of the production crew. It did not auger well for the film.
Reception and Awards
The film, and Madonna’s performance in particular, received withering reviews. The movie was panned by critics and failed at the box office grossing only $2,315,683 (just 8.5% of that garnered by Desperately Seeking Susan) nearly bankrupting ‘HandMade Films’ in the process.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in October, 1986: "The movie opened so poorly in its first wave of playdates (late August in the Northeast and Midwest) that MGM has made severe cuts in its marketing budget. One MGM exec was quoted in the trades as saying this was necessary because 'the interest in the film has been non-existent.'"
The movie received almost universally bad reviews receiving a rash of 1 star ratings. One of which came from The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Shanghai Surprise is so dismally scripted and directed that no one could redeem it... an atmospheric, handsomely shot and, sadly, utterly empty piece of work."
The Lexington Herald-Leader called it "a turkey" and declared: "This film is bad. The acting is terrible. The hackneyed screenplay traffics in stereotype and yuk-yuk jokes. And the point is non-existent."
The San Diego Union said, "In its campy nostalgia for old adventure films, Shanghai Surprise is cloddish. There's something rotten at the core about a movie that would recycle lines like "That's mighty white of you." Even sadder is the realization that some of the old cornball movies are still fresher, more alive, than this regurgitation."
The Chicago Sun-Times - awarding the movie only half a star - complained of its "warped attitudes toward women," adding, "It's hard to know for whom this wretch of a film was made. Idiotic dialogue should turn off the adults, teens will be disappointed by their rock heroine and kids shouldn't even be watching."
Film professor Michal Conford, of Ryerson University, reviewed the film for the San Jose Mercury News with another half-star rating, saying sardonically, "Shanghai Surprise stars Madonna and Sean Penn together for the first time and has songs by George Harrison. That is the most positive sentence that can be written about the film, now playing locally. MGM must have suspected -- the company tried to open the film in places like Iowa to avoid getting slaughtered. Nice try... The film is supposed to be a shaggy dog adventure... Shaggy, no. Dog, yes."
Metacritic reviewer Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle, giving a rating of "(SNOOZING VIEWER)", attempted a balanced review (one "reason to see the flick is that it's got a nice period look, and the costumes aren't half bad"), but described Madonna's acting as "wimpy," Penn's as "stiff," and the movie as "a stinker."
In the UK a respective review by Time Out dismissed the film as “A water-coloured, watered-down romantic comedy set in Shanghai in 1937, with the helplessly miscast Madonna (would you buy a used Bible from this woman?) trading on her ironic stage name to play an American missionary. She, with the aid of Penn's gaudy tie salesman, is desperately seeking 'Faraday's Flowers', a hidden opium stockpile which will help relieve the suffering of soldiers wounded in the war with Japan. The action is simply an implausible chain of events sensationally strung together, a Saturday morning serial formula which worked for Raiders of the Lost Ark; here, the heavy-handed manipulation of genre ingredients simply results in vulgar, often embarrassing, kitsch.”
A further retrospective review by Empire Magazine gave the film the lowest one star rating and its review, by Will Lawrence, was as brief as it was withering: “Really, really bad. Production company-destroyingly bad.” Furthermore it pointed out: “Shanghai Surprise sadly - but, ironically, not surprisingly - marked the beginning of the end for British production house Handmade Films.”
Despite having chosen the role precisely because it was the polar opposite of previous roles Madonna later commented that she had "struggled to come to terms with her character in Shanghai Surprise, because the innocence and repressed personality I was required to portray was so at variance with my own character." Which amounted to an admission of her limited skills as a character actress.
With such a plethora of reviews it was not surprising that the film was at least the ‘five star’ performer at the 7th Golden Raspberry Awards receiving more nominations that any other film that year:
Worst Actress - Madonna Nominated (and won)
Worst Picture - Nominated
Worst Director - Jim Goddard Nominated
Worst Screenplay - John Kohn and Robert Bentley Nominated
Worst Original Song - "Shanghai Surprise" Nominated
Worst Actor - Sean Penn
Despite an impressive array on nominations only one category was actually won – Madonna for Worst Actress.
UK Video Releases
Shanghai Surprise followed the standard format in being initially available in a large box. The video was then reissued in 1989 in a standard sized box and also came in alternative packaging with a red background on the rear.
For the collector there is also a unique promo sample sleeve issued to promote the video release.
For all promo items see the video entry within the PROMO page
UK Video - 1986 original release in large case with blue background on rear
UK Video - 1991 reissue in standard case with red background on rear
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© madonna-decade 2013
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