There's a very clever movie out on DVD titled Mrs. Henderson Presents which was directed by Stephen Frears and starred Dame Judi Dench as the titular Mrs. Henderson and Bob Hoskins as Vivian Van Damm, the man who helped her run, of all things, a burlesque show in Britain at the height of World War II. The twist was that under English law, girly shows weren't allowed and the only way around the loophole was for the women in Mrs. Henderson's shows to stand perfectly still. So she presented dozens of naked girls on "frozen tableaus" while performers sang before them. In one scene, a naughty college student lets loose a mouse on stage, causing the naked women to recoil in fright. Van Damm rushes the college student and his friends out of the theater, yelling about what a scandal they have caused, only to turn to his assistant shortly afterwards and quietly order him to pay other young men to let loose another mouse on the stage during another performance. All just part of the show.
A couple of days ago, Marvel Studios held a special screening of Captain America: The First Avenger, for the U.S. Military. I had no idea such a screening even took place until someone posted a video on Facebook that had apparently been taken at that screening of what was described as a teaser for Marvel's upcoming movie The Avengers. The video having been taken (supposedly) on the sly and in a darkened room, it was of course of absolutely wretched quality. That particular video has since been removed from the site, but eagle-eyed fanboys looking for the bootleg footage will probably be able to find it scattered here and there for the next 48 hours or so.
Now, this close to its release, there were already reviews all over the place for Marvel Studios' Thor, and even for 20th Century Fox's X-Men: First Class. Three days before its release in the U.S., there has yet to be a single review of Captain America: the First Avenger, on either rottentomatoes.com, metacritic.com, or even "fanboy" havens like aintitcoolnews.com. Instead, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios have opted to push the film hard with trailers and TV spots, several dozen of which have been bombarding TV and the internet in the last couple of weeks.
Not being a marketing guy I have no idea what the thinking is behind the review embargo, though past experience has revealed that it often is not a good sign. What I really don't get is why Marvel not only screened the movie from someone other than the media but gave them something to leak to the public. How about some glowing reviews instead?
To me, this tactic, coupled with the bombardment of TV ads, feels like Marvel's belated way of responding to the Harry Potter juggernaut; while dozens of average joes like myself who want to see this movie succeed are still scratching our heads as to why Marvel chose to position it just one week after a film touted to be the biggest of the summer instead of pitting it against a similarly untested product as Jon Favreau's Cowboys and Aliens, apparently Marvel's marketing whizzes already have it all figured out. Or maybe they don't, considering the deluge of TV teasers and now this "leaked footage" stunt.
Now, while I'm not quite rooting for this movie the way I was for the first Spider-Man film or even Iron Man, I still want this movie to be good, and to succeed. I can only assume Marvel does too, considering how much is riding on it.
I just wish they wouldn't insult the collective intelligence of their viewers with this "leaked" nonsense, considering that they're making a major play for our hard-earned cash.
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