Noises Off...

Lloyd Fellowes is a stage director hired to mount an American version of a British play, and the production he has assembled is anything but stable. His leading lady is aging out of the roles she built her name on, his male star is short on confidence, and one of the smaller parts is played by an actor who is seldom sober. The friction among the cast keeps building as the Broadway premiere approaches, and the turmoil offstage begins to rival anything the audience will see on it.

Peter Bogdanovich directed the film, working from a screenplay by Marty Kaplan. It followed Texasville in his filmography and came before The Thing Called Love. The ensemble includes Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner and Mark Linn-Baker, with Frank Marshall producing and thirty performers in credited roles.

Made for about 12 million dollars, the comedy took in roughly 2 million worldwide, a small fraction of its cost. On IMDb it holds 7.4 from around 14,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 from roughly 229 votes, both pointing to a durable following. The critics' rating of 5.6 from 23 reviews is noticeably lower than those audience scores.