The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More

2024 1h 29m EN

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7.5

BANGER

★7.5TMDB · 245

ComedyDramaFantasy

Synopsis

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Four tales unfold in Wes Anderson's anthology of short films adapted from Roald Dahl's beloved stories, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", "The Swan", "The Rat Catcher", and "Poison."

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Benedict Cumberbatch
Henry Sugar / Max Engelman / Harry (archive footage)
Dev Patel
Dr. Chatterjee / John Winston / Woods (archive footage)
Ben Kingsley
Imdad Khan / The Dealer / Dr. Ganderbai (archive footage)
Richard Ayoade
Dr. Marshall / The Great Yogi / Various (archive footage)
Ralph Fiennes
Roald Dahl / The Policeman / Rat Man (archive footage)
Rupert Friend
Narrator / Claud (archive footage)
Asa Jennings
Peter Watson (archive footage)
Eliel Ford
Stagehand (archive footage)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Roald Dahl, Wes Anderson
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Wes Anderson, shot by Roman Coppola. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Andrew Weisblum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt31800329 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Wes Anderson directs. Roman Coppola behind the camera. Andrew Weisblum cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 2 years ago.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Wes Anderson, shot by Roman Coppola. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Andrew Weisblum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt31800329 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Roman Coppola
Editing: Andrew Weisblum
Production design: Adam Stockhausen
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2024)

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Wes Anderson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-09-23
★ 7/10
Sometimes it's really easy to think on Roald Dahl as a children's storyteller - without always remembering that a lot of his stories had some really quite dark undertones. Here, the almost as imaginative Wes Anderson takes four of his shorter stories and works them into this loose compendium of features that takes Dahl's themes and immerses them in his vivid and artistically colourful world of surrealism. Each of these threads is presented by way of a witty and quirkily delivered monologue all under the supervision of a series of personifications attributable to the author himself (Ralph Fiennes) and mixing up the styles of production and even animation to take us into the worlds of the benevolently rich, or perhaps just a make-up artiste, "Henry" (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the sagely guru-cum-croupier (Sir Ben Kingsley). Dev Patel and the surprisingly effective Rupert Friend also feature entertainingy as the stories shine lights on humanity - warts and all; on cruelty and on opportunity, but without ramming any philosophy or dogma down our throats. These are fun stories, generously adapted, but it's up to us to glean what we can from the sub-texts of ideas from one author whom this film-maker seems to "get". The one aspect of Anderson's films that I always struggle with is the usually fairly two-dimensional nature of his presentation, but by mixing up his styles here and by allowing the films to almost brew across their ninety minutes, what we end up with is something really quite thought-provokingly entertaining, mysterious and busy. I suspect like many, my favourite sequence is "The Swan" - which I felt had a much more turbulent storyline than the name might conjure up, but the others add to the richness and variety of these interpretations of what could really only be described as a whimsical imagination. One thing I ought to mention. Don't expect starts, middles and ends from this potpourri. They certainly have the former two, but conclusions can be frustratingly thin on the ground. Or, perhaps, they just provide us with some scaffolding to build our own conclusion instead. There's a lot on offer here, so a cinema screening does it most justice, if you can.

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