History Film / TopsyTurvy

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* LaserGuidedKarma: Grossmith, Barrington and Lely have lunch, at which they discuss the fall of Khartoum.[[note]]Charles George Gordon, Governor-General of the Sudan, had gone against all advice and retained a force there of about a thousand men, who were besieged by a local Muslim leader, Muhammad Ahmad, and his forces. Ahmad had offered Gordon the chance to surrender, but Gordon refused, and in the end Ahmad's forces overran the British forces and Gordon and almost all his men were killed.[[/note] Grossmith and Barrington are booked to have a chat with D'Oyly Carte about their salaries, at which they intended to push for generous pay rises, but Lely isn't booked to have such a chat. Grossmith and Barrington make extremely racist remarks about the natives in Khartoum, but Lely (who's Scottish) mildly reminds them of a massacre of the Scots by the English. Grossmith and Barrington indulge in an extra dozen of oysters, but Lely, who's having the sole, declines to have any. At their respective chats with D'Oyly Carte, Grossmith and Barrington are struck down with oyster poisoning and fail to obtain their pay rises, while Lely is perfectly healthy.

* DepravedDentist: A dentist pulls one of Gilbert's teeth apparently without anesthetic. To make matters worse, though, the dentist then goes on to remark that ''Theatre/PrincessIda'' is "too long"-- a point Gilbert is sore about -- while Gilbert has his mouth forced closed so he's unable to respond!

* HehHehYouSaidX: Sullivan chuckles when Gilbert reads the play's subtitle, "The Town of Titipu." (Of course, knowing Gilbert, that's probably quite intentional GettingCrapPastTheRadar.)

** In the film, Gilbert gets the idea to write ''The Mikado'' after visiting the Knightsbridge Japanese Village. The real exhibition did not open until 1885, long after Gilbert sent Sullivan the first plot sketch of ''The Mikado'' in May 1884.

* ArtisticLicenceHistory: In the film, Gilbert gets the idea to write ''The Mikado'' after visiting the Knightsbridge Japanese Village. The real exhibition did not open until 1885, long after Gilbert sent Sullivan the first plot sketch of ''The Mikado'' in May 1884.

* CostumeDrama

* BilingualDialogue: Numerous characters drop into French in the course of ordinary conversation, the most conspicuous example being the wardrobe mistress, who speaks mostly in French despite her working-class London accent.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In-universe. Actor Durward Lely is a Scotsman who affects a posh Southern English accent on stage and in most of his public dealings. Except when angered.
* Also in-universe for Mrs. Fanny Ronalds, who is an American society lady living in English society. When with Sullivan and other intimate English friends, she tends to be in a generic upper English accent, but in hosting private concerts for English society she slips into her normal American accent.

* ToneShift: The first half of the film dramatises the stagnation of Gilbert & Sullivan's creative partnership, with Sullivan becoming increasingly impatient with Gilbert's ideas, or rather (as Sullivan feels) Gilbert's lack of fresh ideas, and the two lead characters become more and more bad-tempered (although this establishes their characters: Sullivan deals with their joint CreatorBreakdown by going to Paris and living it up, whereas Gilbert deals with it by saying at home and becoming ever more grumpy.) As soon as Gilbert attends the Japanese exhibition, becomes inspired to write ''The Mikado'' and reads the resulting to libretto to an appreciative Sullivan, the whole tone of the film shifts into comedy and stays there throughout the ensuing rehearsal sequences. [[spoiler: It shifts back into drama at the end, as we see that the enormous success of the show hasn't necessarily fixed the characters' lives and that some of them are just as messed-up as they were to begin with.]]

* CloudCuckooLander: Mr D'Auban, the choreographer.

After earning disappointing reviews for ''Theatre/PrincessIda'', Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) decides to unilaterally dissolve his partnership with William Gilbert (JimBroadbent) creating comic operas for the Savoy Theatre. To get his mind off his troubles, Gilbert's wife, Kitty, drags him to the Japanese Village in Knightsbridge and he is inspired to write ''Theatre/TheMikado''. What follows is a comprehensive story of how the play was developed such as how it was written, how Sullivan prepared the music and the singing and how Gilbert dealt with the choreography, costuming and dealing with actors and their occasional moments of temperament.

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: The film's "R" rating apparently comes from just one gratuitous scene with some [[{{Fanservice}} topless burlesque dancers]]; there's hardly any other offensive content at all.

* GilliganCut: Gilbert says he would not visit the Japanese exhibition, "not for all the tea in China". The next scene is of him and Kitty wandering around it.

* ShowWithinAShow : Type 1, the production of the Mikado

* ShoutOut: Gilbert complains that Sullivan wants to write a serious opera about "a prostitute dying of consumption in a garret," an obvious nod to Verdi's ''Theatre/LaTraviata''.

* VictorianLondon

After earning disappointing reviews for ''Theatre/PrincessIda'', Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) decides to unilaterally dissolve his partnership with William Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) creating comic operas for the Savoy Theatre. To get his mind off his troubles, Gilbert's wife, Kitty, drags him to the Japanese Village in Knightsbridge and he is inspired to write ''Theatre/TheMikado''. What follows is a comprehensive story of how the play was developed such as how it was written, how Sullivan prepared the music and the singing and how Gilbert dealt with the choreography, costuming and dealing with actors and their occasional moments of temperament.

* GirlFriday: Helen Lenoir to Richard D'Oyly Carte. [[Note]]When D'Oyly Carte's wife died, he and Helen were married. She took over the running of the opera company, while he concentrated on the Savoy Hotel.[[/note]]

* GirlFriday: Helen Lenoir to Richard D'Oyly Carte.

-->'''Seymour''': I'm going out for some Italian hokey-pokey and I don't care who knows it.[[note]]It's a very hot day and he means that he's going to get some ice cream.[[/note]]

''Topsy-Turvy'' is a 1999 film written and directed by MikeLeigh that focuses on the partnership of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan when they reach a crossroads in their career.

* ShownTheirWork: Some of the characters reminisce about their past roles or sing parts of solos from other shows. Yes, in real life, those characters did indeed originate those roles.
** Quoth Website/{{IMDb}}, "Most modern recordings and performances of the Mikado's solo, 'A More Humane Mikado' feature a bloodthirsty laugh between the verses. This touch was added by Darrel Fancourt, a D'Oyly Carte performer from 1920-1953, and has been copied ever since - which is why the laugh is not performed by Richard Temple (TimothySpall)."

''Topsy-Turvy'' was nominated for four AcademyAwards and won for Best Costume Design and Makeup.