Seaside Special
A German documentary examines the very English phenomenon of the end-of-pier variety show.
Regardless of any reservations that I have about this film, I feel sure that it will be a hit with the right audience and it has already proved highly popular in Germany. Seaside Special was shot in Cromer, Norfolk but it is not surprising that the film appeared in Germany before reaching the UK because it is the work of Jens Meurer who comes from that country. Furthermore, this filmmaker is far better known there than he is here. However, despite his nationality Meurer has spent time in a number of other countries and has made documentaries in those locations. As for this new project, Meurer already knew England since he had studied at Baliol College in Oxford in the 1980s and he has clearly developed a fondness for the UK since when this film’s title comes up it also carries the inscription "A love letter from Europe".
From that it might be assumed that Meurer’s chief focus is on Cromer as a typically English seaside resort and one whose inhabitants are engagingly representative in tone, outlook and character of what Meurer regards as being quintessentially English. But, in point of fact, there is a strong case for saying that in Seaside Special Cromer comes second to a study of the theatre at the end of its pier which for years has regularly put on a summer show. Even if this entertainment is not so very different from the kind of show still staged on many cruise ships that set off from these shores, the style of it can be seen as deriving from the bills once found in the variety theatres of Britain. Indeed, the professional company that is assembled each year includes comics, singers, dancers, an impressionist and a magician. When filming took place in 2019 this offering, the Cromer Pier Show, had become the last surviving example of its kind to be found anywhere in the world. Although at its close the film expresses uncertainty about the show’s future, Covid has not been a death blow since I see that a 2024 show has been announced online.
The first half of Seaside Special balances these two aspects rather well. Mainly built around the show, the film introduces us to those behind the scenes such as the general manager, the producer, the director and the designer and also to the leading performers. These early scenes come under the heading ‘Spring’ and consequently we see the assembling of the company, glimpse rehearsals and observe the build-up to the opening night in the Pavilion Theatre. Marlene Duniam who runs a school of dancing in Cromer supplies the children for the show and is just one of the locals that we meet. Others range from a fisherman to a LibDem councillor. In this way we gain an impression of the townsfolk and one sufficient for us to be aware of the split in opinion over Brexit. If such footage captures attitudes that can be considered typically English while reflecting the outlook of both the young and the old, seen today Seaside Special also captures what now seems like a bygone age: this is England before the full impact of Brexit was felt and ahead of the arrival of Covid on our shores.
Despite the other elements that are present in Meurer’s film, I feel that it is the show that lies at its heart. But there is a drawback to that since, while the lead up to opening night initially provides the film with an effective shape, Seaside Special continues thereafter with all sorts of bits and pieces shot during the summer. Here we still get snippets from the show but they are interspersed with odds and ends: news headlines about the doings of Boris Johnson, background stories revealed in comments made by the show artists, street footage of Carnival Day in Cromer and a variety of comments from its inhabitants among them a young man who is Caribbean. These segments are not without value and there are some fine comic moments among them, but the mixture no longer blends readily to make a satisfactory whole. However, once the film is drawing to a close, it can firmly come back to the show by choosing to make its closing night the climax.
I started out by saying that I believed that this warm-hearted and affectionate film would have strong appeal for the right audience and I would define that audience as being first and foremost those who love films about working in the theatre. While the artists who take the stage here are professionals, I think that anybody involved in amateur theatricals would take a special delight in following the Cromer Pier Show through the season. But those more inclined to be critical may share my feeling that the second half of Seaside Special is uneasily split between its two aims. Nevertheless, this is a distinctly likeable piece and I wish it well.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Emily Jarrow, Harvey James, Paul Eastwood, John Lee, Olly Day, Marlene Duniam, Polly Duniam, Sophie Duniam, Millie Duniam, Kwame Boyce-Deacon, Nigel Hogg, Di Cooke, Alex Wengel.
Dir Jens Meurer, Pro Judy Tossell, Jens Meurer, Cloé Garbay and Bastien Sirodot, Screenplay Jens Meurer, Ph Bernd Fischer and Torsten Lippstock, Ed Matthieu Jamet-Louis, Music Steve Willaert.
Instant Film-Tull Stories.
93 mins. Germany. 2023. UK Rel: 10 November 2023. Cert. 12A.
