Britannia Hospital | Leonard Rossiter, Brian Pettifer

Britannia Hospital | Leonard Rossiter, Brian Pettifer | If... you want to stay a Lucky Man, don't enter Britannia Hospital

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Britannia Hospital

	Britannia Hospital Leonard Rossiter, Brian Pettifer Starz / Anchor Bay, 2001 average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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NOT PART THREE

Britannia Hospital was initially a disappointment because it is generally considered to be the third part of the Mick Travis trilogy, which it isn't. The script and preproduction were already under way before Malcolm McDowell became involved with the film, and he was added only as an afterthought and was wasted. One of the minor and somewhat incidental character's name was changed to Mick Travis. This decision to "cash in" was fatal to the millions of fans of `O Lucky Man' and `If.." who came to see the further adventures of Mick Travis. And it subsequently killed this film like a James Bond movie would if it didn't have much James Bond in it.
On its own, it is a quirky tale of a British government hospital that caters to the elite members of society as it prepares for a visit from H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness). The hospital director will stop at absolutely nothing to make this happen, to the point of absurdity. He persists despite the fact that outside the gates appear thousands of violent, communist, anti-monarchial protesters who despise the exclusivity of Britannia Hospital and also will stop at nothing to achieve their destructive goal.
Between these two clashing groups is the staff research scientist, the Dr. Frankenstein-like Prof. Miller, who has perfected his technique for the revivification of flesh which he plans to use on a body he has sewn together from parts of dead bodies, nothing will stand in his way either.
It is like the philosophy puzzle with a third element, "What happens when the unstoppable meets the immovable and the impossible?" Entertaining but very English in that the humor is dry and more of a `heh-heh' rather than a `HA HA'.

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If... you want to stay a Lucky Man, don't enter Britannia Hospital

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After I saw during the last week the first ("If...", 1968) and the final ("Britannia Hospital", 1982) films of Lindsay Anderson's satirical Mick Travis trilogy, I realized the whole scope and magnitude of his vision. In his three films ("O Lucky Man", 1973, is a middle chapter), he had covered all aspects, politics, and institutions of British Society from 1968 to 1982 with its complex system of class and caste differences and privileges, including its public schools, its international politics, its law system, and its health care system, and he found out that something was rotten in the British Kingdom, The third and final chapter of the trilogy, takes place almost entirely in the Britannia Hospital, one of the oldest and most respectable English medical centers in London that celebrates its 500th anniversary and expects the Queen Mother herself to attend. But there are many troubles at the hospital that mirror the problems the whole society suffers from and may turn the celebration into a nightmare. Our old friend, Mick "Lucky Man" Travis (Malcolm McDowell) who had become investigative reporter arrives with his crew to cover the celebration but accidentally he becomes a witness and then an unwilling participant in the sinister human experiments that are conducted by Professor Millar. The "mad scientist" had promised to Mick in the previous movie that as a result of the experiment, he would become much better... Well, Mick is just about to find out if that is true.

Very clever, very British, filled equally with dry humor and horrifying shocking sequences, "Britannia Hospital" ends the trilogy with the bang. Its final 20 minutes are the combination of the darkest surreal comedy and the serious compelling futuristic satire of the long-lasting power. As for Mick, "Britannia Hospital" left no hopes for another Mick Travis chapter ever. After all, Mick may not be a lucky man but we are the lucky viewers that have been following him on his crazy and unforgettable journey where Lindsay Anderson sent us.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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