Captain Webb **
Dir: Justin Hardy.
With: Warren Brown, Steve Oram, Hannah Tointon, Georgia Maguire. 87 mins. Cert:
12A
This attempt to
elevate the reputation of Captain Matthew Webb, first man to swim the Channel,
suffers from a visibly stretched budget and a careworn structuring device,
flashing back mid-crossing to detail how Webb got his toes wet. Among those
dropping by the heritage locations to do director Justin Hardy a favour, Steve
Oram’s eccentric coach provides flickers of cheer, but Warren Brown’s oafish
central performance ensures a less than winning protagonist, and the supporting
cast is awash with stick-on sideburns and phoney yokel accents. Sporadic
hand-held photography, intended to lend this Victoriana a sexy modern edge,
instead points up how unconvincing it all looks.
Captain Webb is now playing in selected cinemas.
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