Christopher and His Kind
- Director: Geoffrey Sax
- Writer: Kevin Elyot
- Producer: Michele Buck; Celia Duval
CGiii Comment
Bad...
Smith is robotic and, frankly, too strange to look at for any length of time.
Isherwood was an attractive man...you can understand his appeal BUT Smith...that's stretching plausibility too far.
As for the writing...Elyot is as unconvincing as ever...
With cheap production values and flat direction - two vital errors that make this a shameful addition to the BBC's declining quality.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross, who sings tunelessly in a seedy cabaret club. They and others he meets get put into his stories. After a fling with sexy rent boy Caspar, he falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt. With Fascism rapidly rising Christopher returns to London with Heinz but is unable to prevent his return to Germany when his visa expires. Years later Christopher, now a successful writer, returns to Berlin for a final meeting with Heinz, now married with children.
Cast & Characters
Imogen Poots as Jean Ross;
Matt Smith as Christopher Isherwood;
Toby Jones as Gerald Hamilton;
Douglas Booth as Heinz Neddermayer;
Lindsay Duncan as Kathleen isherwood;
Iddo Goldberg as Wilfred Landauer;
Will Kemp as Bobby Gilbert;
Stuart Graham as Passport Officer;
Tom Wlaschiha as Gerhardt Neddermayer;
Clare Louise Connolly as Frl. Schmidt;
Alexander Doetsch as Caspar;
Perry Millward as Richard Isherwood;
Issy Van Randwyck as Frau Thurau