A recently widowed eccentric with money to burn and no intentions of settling
down enlists a showbiz professional to transform a run down theater in Soho into
London's most innovative entertainment hot spot in director Stephen Frears'
cinematic account of the groundbreaking Windmill Theater. The year is 1937 and,
despite having recently lost her husband, sixty-nine-year-old Laura Henderson
(Judy Dench) remains as ambitious and vital as ever. Aghast at her friend Lady
Conway's suggestion that she take up a mundane hobby such as diamond collecting
to pass the time, Mrs. Henderson instead shocks her well-to-do social circle by
purchasing the ramshackle Windmill Theater in the heart of downtown Soho.
Unafraid to take a risk in the venture, yet lacking the experience needed to run
the theater, Mrs. Henderson brings in showbiz veteran Vivian Van Damm (Bob
Hoskins) to line up an opening act that will set the stage ablaze. When the ever
curious Mrs. Henderson's intrusive spying begins to impede on Mr. Van Damm's
creative progress, the frustrated theater manager has her banished from
rehearsals. Though Van Damm's innovative idea to stage an unending stream of
entertainment dubbed "revudeville" proves a wild and profitable success, the
Windmill begins to suffer when other local theaters quickly follow suit. Now
faced with the prospect of seeing her once-lucrative endeavor fall by the
wayside due to the unoriginality of the copycats who surround her, Mrs.
Henderson decides to show audiences something they've never seen before by
making the Windmill the first theater to feature nude female entertainers live
on stage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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