The Browning Version is a 1951 British drama film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and starred Michael Redgrave. In 1994, the play was filmed again with Albert Finney in the lead.
| The Browning Version | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Anthony Asquith |
| Written by | Terence Rattigan |
| Based on | The Browning Version 1948 play by Terence Rattigan |
| Produced by | Teddy Baird Earl St. John |
| Starring | Michael Redgrave Jean Kent Nigel Patrick |
| Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
| Edited by | John D. Guthridge |
| Music by | Arnold Bax Kenneth Essex (both uncredited stock music) |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) Universal-International (USA) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
editAndrew Crocker-Harris is an ageing Classics master at an English public school, and is forced into retirement by his increasing ill health. The film, in common with the original stage play, follows the schoolmaster's final two days in his post, as he comes to terms with his sense of failure as a teacher, a sense of weakness exacerbated by his wife's infidelity and the realisation that he is despised by both pupils and staff of the school.
The emotional turning point for the cold Crocker-Harris is his pupil Taplow's unexpected parting gift, Robert Browning's translation of the Agamemnon, which he has inscribed with the Greek phrase that translates as "God from afar looks graciously upon a gentle master".
Differences between play and film
editRattigan extends the screenplay far from his own one-act play, which ends with Crocker-Harris's tearful reaction to Taplow's gift. Therefore, the play ends well before Crocker-Harris's farewell speech to the school; the film shows the speech, in which he discards his notes and admits his failings, to be received with enthusiastic applause and cheers by the boys. The film ends with a conversation between Crocker-Harris and Taplow, and the suggestion that Crocker-Harris will complete his translation of the Agamemnon.
Cast
edit- Michael Redgrave as Andrew Crocker-Harris
- Jean Kent as Millie
- Nigel Patrick as Frank Hunter
- Ronald Howard as Gilbert
- Wilfrid Hyde-White as the Headmaster
- Brian Smith as Taplow
- Bill Travers as Fletcher
- Judith Furse as Mrs. Williamson
- Peter Jones as Carstairs
- Sarah Lawson as Betty Carstairs
- Scott Harold as Rev. Williamson
- Paul Medland as Wilson
- Ivan Samson as Lord Baxter
- Josephine Middleton as Mrs. Frobisher
Production
editRattigan and Asquith encountered a lack of enthusiasm from producers to turn the play into a film until they met Earl St John at Rank.
"I started out as manager of a small out-of-town cinema, and I viewed films from the out-of-London angle", said St John. "This experience made me realise that the ordinary people in the remotest places in the country were entitled to see the works of the best modern British playwrights."[1]
Eric Portman originated the role on stage but turned down the film role.[2] Margaret Lockwood was originally meant to play the role of Millie but turned down the part. Jean Kent played it instead.[3] (Kent often stepped into roles originally envisioned for Lockwood.[4])
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios in 1950 and generally released in April, 1951. The school exteriors were filmed on location at Sherborne School in Sherborne, Dorset.
The Greek text that appears on the blackboard in Crocker-Harris's classroom is the Agamemnon lines 414–9:
πόθῳ δ᾽ ὑπερποντίας
φάσμα δόξει δόμων ἀνάσσειν.
εὐμόρφων δὲ κολοσσῶν
ἔχθεται χάρις ἀνδρί:
ὀμμάτων δ᾽ ἐν ἀχηνίαις
ἔρρει πᾶσ᾽ Ἀφροδίτα.
Apparently a description of Menelaus's despair after his abandonment by Helen, the lines were translated by Robert Browning thus:
"And, through desire of one across the main,
A ghost will seem within the house to reign.
And hateful to the husband is the grace
Of well-shaped statues: from—in place of eyes
Those blanks—all Aphrodite dies."
Reception
editThe film was popular at the British box office.[5]
Awards
edit- Won
- Cannes Film Festival[6]
- Best Actor (Michael Redgrave)
- Best Screenplay
- Berlin International Film Festival[7]
- Bronze Berlin Bear (Drama)
- Small Bronze Plate
- Nominated
- Cannes Film Festival – Palme d'Or[6]
See also
edit- The Browning Version (1994 film), another feature film version starring Albert Finney
References
edit- ^ "FILMS REVIEWED Another "Mr. Chips"". The Argus. Melbourne. 28 April 1951. p. 15. Retrieved 31 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "They help a mouse to become a man". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 2742. Western Australia. 17 September 1950. p. 19 (Sporting Section). Retrieved 11 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Star's snap decision to play opposite unknown redhead". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 2719. Western Australia. 9 April 1950. p. 12. Retrieved 10 April 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (29 January 2020). "Why Stars Stop Being Stars: Margaret Lockwood". Filmink.
- ^ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
- ^ a b "Festival de Cannes: The Browning Version". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
- ^ "1st Berlin International Film Festival: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
Bibliography
edit- Vermilye, Jerry (1978), The Great British Films, Citadel Press, pp 150–152, ISBN 0-8065-0661-X.
External links
edit- The Browning Version at IMDb
- The Browning Version at the TCM Movie Database
- The Browning Version an essay by Geoffrey Macnab at the Criterion Collection