THE MIND'S EYE (THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR)

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Who remembers 'Jackanory'?

Everyone from my generation does.

The BBC children's series ran from 1965 to 1996 with famous actors sitting in armchairs reading children's novels or folk tales to viewers with the odd illustration by Peter Blake.

Wes Anderson's latest project - four short films for Netflix based on Roald Dahl stories - feels a little like a big budget cinematic 'Jackanory'.

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Except rather than confining the storytelling to Ralph Fiennes' Ronald Dahl, the narrative baton is passed on to a number of actors as the short story unfolds.

The first of these Dahl adaptations is 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' which was written by the Cardiff born author as part of a short story collection published in 1977 which also featured 'The Swan' which Anderson has also made.

We begin this typically quirky affair with Fiennes' Dahl showing the audience his writing rituals in a hut before he launches into a tale which he insists is a true and was told to him by an English millionaire's Swiss-based accountant in Lausanne.

Benedict Cumberbatch's subject of the story, Henry Sugar has been living off his family fortune and is described as being neither a good nor a bad person but typical of a type of wealthy man who lives in fear of his inheritance running out.

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Dahl notes some men like these often invest in land or stocks and shares to protect their wealth. 

Others risk it on gambling.

Henry falls into this latter camp.

While scouring his father's library - whose books disinterest him because he prefers crime novels - a blue exercise book in between the leather bound books catches Henry's eye.

Pulling it from the shelf, he is stunned to read an account by an Indian doctor, Dev Patel's Dr Chatterjee of an extraordinary patient he encountered from a travelling circus.

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The performer, Ben Kingsley's Imdad Khan claims he can see things when his eyes are covered up and wants the doctors to do just that.

Dr Chatterjee and his colleague, Richard Ayoade's Dr Marshall cover the performer's eyes and are stunned when he repeatedly gets right how many fingers they are holding up.

When Mr Khan asks him to seal his eyes and bandage his head ahead of his performance, their jaws drop when after the procedure finishes he walks confidently to the door, turns the handle and heads out onto the street.

Fascinated by what he has just seen, Chatterjee visits the show and is hugely impressed by Khan's act whose climax includes his bandaged head being covered by a bucket while he precisely puts a thread through the eye of a needle.

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Desperate to understand how Mr Khan is able to do it, Chatterjee visits him backstage and is told how the performer met a yogi, also played by Ayoade, who taught him how to train his mind.

Detailing what Mr Khan did to acquire his powers in a blue notebook, it winds up in the possession of Henry's father and eventually in Henry's hands.

Realising that if he follows the steps detailed in the exercise book he could make a fortune by learning how to read cards in London's casinos when they are face down, Henry embarks on intense training with the ultimate aim of getting phenomenally rich.

He succeeds on training his mind.

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But will the casinos twig what is going on?

And will he be truly happy?

'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' is a typical Anderson exercise - visually vibrant, narratively unconventional, extremely playful.

As the short story unfolds, Fiennes, Cumberbatch and Patel pass the narrator's role back and forth between them, directly addressing the viewer as they do.

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They also shuttle between highly stylised film sets as locations in the story change as if it were a relay race, telling the story with giddy excitement.

Ayoade isn't the only cast member to double up his roles.

Fiennes appears as a London copper, Patel as Henry's accountant, Kingsley as a card dealer in a casino and Cumberbatch as a friend of Henry's who verifies the tale to Dahl.

Pulp lead singer and frequent Anderson collaborator, Jarvis Cocker has several cameos in heavy disguise as a casino receptionist and several friends of Henry's.

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Scottish actor David Gant appears briefly as a croupier.

As amusing as these performances are, you cannot deny 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' is definitely one for Anderson and Dahl devotees.

If you don't get Wes Anderson's films, you'll probably be irritated by it.

However, if like me you admire most of his work, you'll be amused by this adaptation of Dahl's ripping yarn which he has also written for the screen.

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Adopting a Russian Doll approach of presenting a story within a story within a story, it's typically tongue in cheek and technically stylish.

While the cast clearly has a lot of fun with Anderson's interpretation of Dahl's story, Robert Yeoman's angular and vivacious cinematography is also breezily edited by Andrew Piling and Andrew Weisblum.

Adam Stockhausen's production design, Kevin Timon Hill's art direction, Kasia Walicka Maimone's costumes and Cathy Featherstone and Anna Pinock's set decoration has the vibrant colours of most of Anderson's films.

But they also give it a sense of theatricality as well.

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With a running time of just 41 minutes, 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' feels oddly much more satisfying than Anderson's rather rambling recent feature 'Asteroid City'.

Tapping into the vibes of 'The Darjeeling Limited,' 'The Grand Budapest Hotel,' 'The French Dispatch' and his previous Dahl adaptation 'The Fantastic Mr Fox,' 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' is one for the Anderson purists.

It's up to you if you really want to come along and join the party.

('The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar' was released on Netflix on September 27, 2023)