Tab Hunter Confidential is a fascinating and comprehensive biography that successfully conveys Hunter’s golden-boy status and subsequent career.

Through its logical structure, rare film clips and provocative interviews, this well-made profile expresses a dramatic, tempestuous, and eventually inspirational life story.

Significantly, the filmmakers have unprecedented access to to the man himself, who shares his experiences with humour, frankness and fairness.

However, fastidiousness can be a problem, and despite a commendable pace the amount of detail makes it difficult for Tab Hunter Confidential to maintain interest. Additionally, although meticulous in scope, the film only skims the deeper emotional waters.

Tab Hunter Confidential is an entertaining and substantial account of the former matinee idol, and will become an important record of Hollywood’s hidden history.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Tab Hunter, John Waters, Clint Eastwood, George Takei, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Portia de Rossi, Noah Wyle, Connie Stevens, Robert Osborne, Lainie Kazan, Rona Barrett

DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Schwarz

SYNOPSIS: Tab Hunter Confidential chronicles the full story of matinee idol Tab Hunter from teenage stable boy to closeted 1950s Hollywood star and beyond…

Please visit www.bfi.org.uk/flare for more information.