Most notably, ‘The Shrine on the Second Floor’, a tribute to Rudge’s mother intended in the stage show as a merciless parody of showbiz sentimentality, is sung dead straight by Richard. Secondly, the original movie had already been toned down a little from Mankowitz and More’s original musical, where Rudge – or Bongo Herbert, as Jackson unforgettably renames him – is more of an idiot, and the writers clearly have little affection for his music. The re-editing of the film is ironic on two levels firstly, that the motor of the plot concerns Rudge’s increasing discomfort with the manipulation of his image and personality by his manager Johnny Jackson, played by Laurence Harvey. BFI Flipside’s new reissue offers the 1962 cut, but more importantly, it has Guest’s full, original cut, which repositions it as a major, overlooked British musical. That’s largely because it’s most familiar from a 1962 re-release that stripped out a lot of the songs, rendered the burlesque scenes a lot tamer and refashioned it as more of a star vehicle for Cliff Richard. While Expresso Bongo never had as poisonous a reputation as Showgirls, it still feels like the kind of film you have to prepare a briefing for the defence for. It’s also a fair description of Expresso Bongo, directed by Val Guest and adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from the stage musical he co-wrote with Julian More.
That, believe it or not, was the thought process that led to Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas making Showgirls. It would also use songs by cutting-edge rock artists, and just for added spice, it would take place in the world of burlesque dancing.
But not just any musical – this would be a musical powered by stage performances, rather than the familiar contrivance of people bursting into song. Let us imagine the pitch: a hotshot young writer and a director whose career spans groundbreaking horror, gritty drama and sexploitation decide to make a musical.
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