Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story

Synopsis

MAD ABOUT THE BOY: THE NOEL COWARD STORY is a documentary feature from director and producer Barnaby Thompson (Pixie, St. Trinian’s).

2023 is the 50th anniversary of Noel Coward’s death so it seems the right moment to look back at his extraordinary life. He grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was queer in a very straight world. And yet by the age of 30, he was the highest paid writer in the world, and a star on the Broadway stage.

He wrote, directed, and acted in some of the finest plays and movies of all time, including Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter and In Which We Serve. He also became a world-renowned songwriter and performer of whom Frank Sinatra said, ‘If you want to hear how a song should be sung, go see Mr Noel Coward’.

And if that wasn’t enough, he discovered John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and David Lean and was a spy in the Second World War! Against all odds, Noel Coward became the most successful multi-talented artist of the Twentieth Century. He was the epitome of self-invention and defined an era. This is his inspirational story told in his own words and music, and unique home movies.

The film features Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Peter O’Toole, Harold Pinter, Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Michael
Caine, and Lucille Ball. It is narrated by Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett is the voice of Noel Coward.