
Handily described at one point here by Greta Scacchi as “the most famous person you’ve never heard of”, Michael White is a Scots-born, Sorbonne-educated theatre and film producer and self-described playboy who’s had a most extraordinary, chequered career. He launched the first stage productions of Oh! Calcutta! and The Rocky Horror Show; his film producing credits include Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Polyester, and White Mischief; and he sort of invented “happenings” in the 1960s. He is, or at least was before a stroke slowed him down, friends with a vast number of celebrities, from Jack Nicholson to Kate Moss, many of whom speak lovingly of him on camera here. Undoubtedly, he’s a worthy documentary subject, but one gets the feeling in director Gracie Otto’s affectionate, only occasionally probing tribute that we’re not getting anywhere near the whole story. Still, White makes for a glittering prism through which to view a certain generation of bohemian excess and creativity.
