* 17th century intrigue *

                  Women in puffy wire-frame dresses and men in waistcoats transformed a
                  Toronto landscape into a 17th century English garden for An Intrigue of
                  Manners.

                  A short comedy produced by Paul Anthony Davis, who codirected with
                  Wayne Craig, the $8,000 production was adapted from Sir George
                  Etherege's play Man of Mode and was shot over two days by dop Mike
                  Andringa.

                  Funding came from the National Film Board's Financial Assistance Program
                  and Bravo!fact.

                  The project had its genesis about a year ago when fight director Costa
                  Kamateros approached Davis with the idea to make a film in which he could
                  demonstrate his choreography in a rapier and dagger fight scene.

                  Over 300 actors from Ontario and Quebec sent in submissions for the
                  low-budget short.

                  Playing the lead is. Canadian talent Michael Mahonen (Road to
                  Avonlea) as Dorimant, who performs an intricate 110-move duel, Karyn
                  Dwyer (Better Than Chocolate) as Lady Emilia and Ellen Ray Hennessey
                  (Mercy) as Lady Townley. Paul Lampert is Mr. Medley and Kent Staines
                  (Poor Super Man) sports "one of the tallest periwigs in Canada" for his role
                  as the flamboyant Sir Fopling Flutter.

                  While shooting on what turned out to be one of the hottest weekends of the
                  year had the talent cooking in their costumes, the challenge for the directors
                  was capturing 15 pages of heavy dialogue and a two-minute sword fight in
                  20 hours.

                  Davis has been working as a production manager/ad on a documentary
                  about heroin with Imported Artists commercial director Richard D'Alessio.
                  An Intrigue of Manners is his first film involving heavy dialogue.
 

* Sir George Etherege "A Man of Mode" ...  to read the entire text of the play click on title.
then scroll down to authors name & title, click.

(June 14, 1999)

                               An Intrigue of Manners
 
                               A short restoration comedic drama set in England's 17th
                               Century. Loosely adapted from from Sir George Etherege's
                               restoration comedy "Man of Mode" , "An Intrigue" revolves
                               around the grandeur lives and sexual innuendos of the upper
                               classes of England. Our Protagonist, and reknowned womanizer,
                               Dorimant (Michael Mahonen) is in pursuit of the fair Lady Emilia
                               (Karyn Dwyer). Through his scheming, Dorimant learns that "a certain
                               Sir Fopling Flutter has recently arrived from Paris",the en vogue
                               city of the arts and high fashion, and has "certain designs on the
                               fair Emilia..". Determined to be deemed the more favorable in the
                               lady Emilia's eyes, Dorimant hatches a devilish plan to outwit the
                               extravagant fop (Kent Staines).