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| Beautiful Dreamers (1990) Director: John Kent Harrison Writer: John Kent Harrison Cast: Colm Feore, Rip Torn, Wendel Meldrum, Albert Schultz Character: Leonard Thomas Billing: 5th Plot: The humanitarian head of a mental institution seeks help from the controversial poet Walt Whitman in teaching his patients to sing, dance and play cricket. However, these methods provoke outrage from the townspeople. Review: An interesting period piece. I'm not entirely sure how much of it is factual, but it's certainly based on true events. Films with mental patients as either central or peripheral characters tend to either make them geniuses or rabid monsters, and Beautiful Dreamers at least succeeds in capturing the mental problems of relatively normal people. Colm Feore veers dangerously close to the "dull" line for part of the movie, but gets a handle on things when Rip Torn (Whitman) turns up to set the world to rights. I particularly liked the fact that the good doctor, his wife, and Whitman are shown to have problems themselves, rather than being depicted merely as saving angels. Tom plays one of the mental patients who has a tendency to bolt for the hills at the slightest opportunity. His acting in this movie is quite extraordinary, with Leonard remaining a living human being beneath his quirks. The film itself isn't quite interesting enough for many repeated viewings, but for Whitman enthusiasts and history students (all of whom will probably spend the time saying "that never happened!") it's enjoyable enough. Trivia: Tom is the first and last person onscreen. The Mutant X episode "Lit Fuse" has a lot of Walt Whitman books hanging about. Colm Feore has done some stuff at Stratford (My Fair Lady) and appeared with Tom in Century Hotel. |
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| About Tom * Chick Reid * Gallery * Interviews * Films * TV Theatre * FAQ * About Ground Control * Contact Info * Links |