Mikado Movies

The first Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera I ever saw in full was a production of Patience, put on by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society at MIT, and I must say, I wasn't ready for it! Since then, I've mellowed a bit. But one thing that struck me was how the culture of movies, which depends so heavily on stereotypes, has adopted The Mikado as a suitable vaguely recognizable yet generic reference to "finer art".

These thoughts were prompted by a chance viewing of a few minutes of Chariots of Fire, during which members of the British team go out for some culture...and nothing lowbrow (they're University men), but nothing too fine either (this is a movie, and we have to like them!) Sure enough it's The Mikado that they watch, and just in case anyone doubts it, we see the song Three Little Maids Are We.

If you think for a few moments, you'll realize that a song or scene from Patience wouldn't do, and while the Major General song from Pirates of Penzance might almost do, it might not have the proper light but uplifting tone of The Mikado. And these same thoughts have trodden a well-worn path through many a director's mind.

It struck me that there must be 10 or 12 movies that use this same device. It's early days in this investigation, so pardon the paucity of proof, and of course, we're pretty liberal in the laws of evidence, so we're looking for any old movie with a Mikado theme or scene or significant mention:

• Chariots of Fire, team mates take time off to go to a performance of The Mikado.
• Foul Play, the Pope is to be assassinated in the San Francisco Opera House, during a performance of The Mikado.
• The Producers, one of the auditioners for Springtime for Hitler sings part of "A Wandering Minstrel I" (thanks to David Moses!).
• Topsy Turvy, a depiction of how Gilbert and Sullivan came to create The Mikado;