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| Jack MacGowran, David Selby. |
This epic dramatization (20 actors) of Mahatma Gandhi’s life
and ideas was dismissed—albeit nonviolently—by all the critics. It was
especially disappointing because of all the major talents assembled, including
the wasted performance of great Irish actor Jack MacGowan in the title role.
This was, of course, several years before casting a non-Indian actor as the
world’s most respected Indian would have been a nonstarter.
Clive Barnes summed up the general response when he called
the one-performance loser “well-intentioned, weak-minded and quite totally and
unutterably boring,” as well as an “insult” to the eponymous hero. MacGowran’s
presence gave this disaster what little cachet it had. As Barnes noted, “Ireland’s
finest actor . . . is magnificent. Sometimes he rises above his material to
suggest that insubstantial genius and mora flame that was the true Gandhi.”
Aside from MacGowran, perhaps the other most noteworthy
actor in he cast was David Selby.
