The middle of the film



I was given Michael Palin's first volume of diaries by my father-in-law and admired them so much that I was inspired (not for the first time) to keep a diary myself. I soon realised (not for the first time) that I'm not one of life's diary-keepers. The secret, if Palin is any guide, is to write up your previous day's adventures first thing the following morning. Presumably this requires an engaged brain at an early hour, so there's no hope for me.

I've resisted any urge to try again in the wake of Halfway to Hollywood, Palin's second volume of diaries. This is not a reflection on the book, which is just as admirable as the first volume; quite a surprise considering that the time period covered is, in hindsight, a lull between his great successes as a Python and as a travel documentary maker. Part of the joy is knowing the denouement before the author, the opposite of the normal reading experience.

The title is an accurate summation of the contents. As Palin notes in his introduction, the door to Hollywood was open, and he is involved with seven films over the course of the book. I would probably have got more out of it if I'd actually seen half the stuff he made: The Missionary and A Private Function in particular get a lot of coverage and I hadn't even heard of them before reading this. Meanwhile some of the films I have seen (Meaning of Life, Brazil) seem to come and go in a flash, although that might just be because I was more interested in reading about them.

This volume also charts the winding down of Python's big screen reincarnation. Not that there's much of a story to be told: it opens on a high with the success of Life of Brian, which transfers into enthusiasm for making the film that eventually became Meaning of Life, and then fizzles out for no obvious reason (though maybe their realisation early on that Meaning of Life isn't going to be a Brian-level masterpiece plays a part). Again it's interesting to read this from the viewpoint of a diary rather than a biography, where reasons would have to be supplied.

The greatest success of the decade is A Fish Called Wanda, which Palin is surprisingly sceptical about in its early stages. Wanda comes at the end of the book and seems to contradict Palin's statement that his chances of a Hollywood career had ended, given that people fall over themselves to congratulate him on his acting. He is also well on the way to making American Friends. But his enthusiasm for scriptwriting, if not acting, does wane over the years, and so it's not surprising that American Friends is the last film he's written to date.

As in the first book, if you're looking for dirt you'll be disappointed and there's nothing in here to suggest that Palin is anything other than the very nice guy we all assume him to be (though reassuringly he does get annoyed from time to time). Even his politics are likeable, at one point going as far as becoming chairman of a transport pressure group after letting his railway enthusiasm get the better of him. His ever-increasing despair at the Conservative government of the 1980's is a chilling reminder of what we might be about to face in a month's time.

The diary has been edited to around a quarter of its original size, and what's left concentrates on his work, as this is obviously of most interest to the average reader. But there are some interesting tales of his family too. One highlight is his 80-year-old mother's first ever trip to America, which ends up with her co-hosting Saturday Night Live.

I'm not sure how attractive the next volume of Palin's diaries will be. Around the World in 80 Days and its follow-ups are, after all, just edited versions of what he's been up to, so competing for the same territory as these books, and with better pictures too. Having said that, it's the in-between bits that make Halfway to Hollywood really interesting, the great jumble of work and family life, and the feeling that it gives of an unfiltered behind-the-scenes account of it all.


Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988
by Michael Palin
First published 2009

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