The Browning Version
1951 Directed by Anthony Asquith
Synopsis
On the last day of term at a boys private school, a new master arrives to familiarise himself. His predecessor, Crocker-Harris is much hated in the school but his younger wife seems more popular and not only with the pupils. Tensions erupt making this a day nobody in the school will ever forget...
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I watched this on a whim, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and what a lovely surprise it turned out to to. This is the story of Crocker-Harris, a Classics master at a public school (which in England means a very expensive private school) who is retiring due to ill-health and will be moving to work in a much less prestigious job. He is facing penury as he won't have a pension, his unfaithful and unpleasant wife does not wish to support him, although she has a private income, and he knows that not only does his wife not like him much, neither do his pupils nor his colleagues.
There seems to be not a single area of his life in… -
An understated, just under-the-surface, powerful performance by Redgrave as a classics professor whose career and subject of study has become increasingly unpopular in the modern age, and which has not been helped by his own temperament. He finds that one old epic Greek tragedy by Aeschylus parallels his own life in more ways than he at first suspected. It's got some memorable lines ("I am of the opinion that, occasionally, an anti-climax can be surprisingly effective." - "You must not be disrespectful to one of England's greatest poets, Taplow.") that are rendered as memorable as they are simply because of how Redgrave delivers them. A film both more intelligent and more heartfelt than Dead Poet's Society.
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The 2nd film in my very short season of 1950's British Classics.
Michael Redgrave is outstanding as retiring public schoolmaster Andrew Crocker-Harris, who's reflections at his time served teaching classics lead him to the painful discovery that his life has been a complete failure.
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Before last week I had never seen a film or play or read anything Terence Rattigan created, but in the last few days I have unintentionally watched two movies based on his plays. It started with David Mamet's powerful adaptation of The Winslow Boy, and then I moved up way earlier with The Browning Version, which Rattigan adapted for the screen himself just three years after he originally debuted the play in 1948.
This film won actor and screenplay awards at Cannes upon its release, and it's easy to understand why. The qualities of Rattigan's writing are numerous, chief among them being the extreme intelligence and unwavering focus on respectable morality in one's self. In the case of The Browning…
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I would not trust that kid near a chemistry set
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Michael Redgrave gives an unforgettable performance in Asquith's adaptation of Rattigan's play. A truly masterful and emotional telling, marking this as one of the best British movies of all time.
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A great film version of a great play by the great Terence Rattigan (who also wrote the screenplay), featuring the great Michael Redgrave. A true classic and personal favorite, very moving, with just the kind of small emotional turnings I love in a story.
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I watched this on a whim, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and what a lovely surprise it turned out to to. This is the story of Crocker-Harris, a Classics master at a public school (which in England means a very expensive private school) who is retiring due to ill-health and will be moving to work in a much less prestigious job. He is facing penury as he won't have a pension, his unfaithful and unpleasant wife does not wish to support him, although she has a private income, and he knows that not only does his wife not like him much, neither do his pupils nor his colleagues.
There seems to be not a single area of his life in… -
The 2nd film in my very short season of 1950's British Classics.
Michael Redgrave is outstanding as retiring public schoolmaster Andrew Crocker-Harris, who's reflections at his time served teaching classics lead him to the painful discovery that his life has been a complete failure.
-
Before last week I had never seen a film or play or read anything Terence Rattigan created, but in the last few days I have unintentionally watched two movies based on his plays. It started with David Mamet's powerful adaptation of The Winslow Boy, and then I moved up way earlier with The Browning Version, which Rattigan adapted for the screen himself just three years after he originally debuted the play in 1948.
This film won actor and screenplay awards at Cannes upon its release, and it's easy to understand why. The qualities of Rattigan's writing are numerous, chief among them being the extreme intelligence and unwavering focus on respectable morality in one's self. In the case of The Browning…
-
An understated, just under-the-surface, powerful performance by Redgrave as a classics professor whose career and subject of study has become increasingly unpopular in the modern age, and which has not been helped by his own temperament. He finds that one old epic Greek tragedy by Aeschylus parallels his own life in more ways than he at first suspected. It's got some memorable lines ("I am of the opinion that, occasionally, an anti-climax can be surprisingly effective." - "You must not be disrespectful to one of England's greatest poets, Taplow.") that are rendered as memorable as they are simply because of how Redgrave delivers them. A film both more intelligent and more heartfelt than Dead Poet's Society.