Cheap The Browning Version (Video) (Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent) (Anthony Asquith) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Browning Version

The Asquith Version
Michael Redgrave turns in a sterling performance as one of British cinema's most pitiful and tragic creatures: Terence Rattigan's despised schoolmaster, Andrew Crocker-Harris. Rattigan works from his own one-act play, the major difference being the longer (and more hopeful) ending. It is some ten or fifteen minutes or so before Redgrave appears, with the result that the character is built up in the mind of the audience as something of a legend, known of only through the semi-apocryphal caricatures related by the other characters. This sets the stage nicely for the gradual revelation of Crocker-Harris's humanity underneath the cold, passionless exterior. Redgrave is particularly campy when he initially appears, but soon settles down into a more subdued, but brilliantly acted performance. The actor (whose name escapes me) playing the young Taplow also manages an excellent performance, noticeably devoid of the stiltedness and artificiality that is present in so many other child actors of his generation.

Rattigan's story is told melodramatically, but believably, through the lens of veteran photographer Desmond Dickinson's camera, and (as expected) tightly executed by Anthony Asquith. The central performances are bolstered by impressive supporting players. Also worth seeing is Albert Finney's (almost equally affecting) performance in the Figgis version, some forty-five years later.

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Beautiful, Powerful, Heart-Rending, Delicate, Deft!
Terence Rattigan's screenplay for "The Browning Version" expands and greatly improves his short stage play of the same name. The title refers to a translation by the poet, Robert Browning, of "Agamemnon," a classical Greek tragedy. The film's protagonist, Andrew Crocker-Harris, an English private school teacher brilliantly played by Michael Redgrave, once wrote a translation of "Agamemnon," and has been trying for years to teach 14-year-old boys to read the Greek original. Because of poor health and general dissatisfaction with his performance, he has resigned his position.

In the tragedy, Agamemnon is murdered by his wife, aided by her lover. In the film, Crocker-Harris is spiritually dead, partly from spousal "murder," although the slaughter has been reciprocal, and his wife, Millie, is in worse shape than he. In tragedies, the hero starts out happy and becomes miserable. In this film, full of the sadness of professional and domestic failure, Crocker-Harris moves away from misery, via understanding and heartfelt repentance, to the possibility of happiness.

The reversal owes much to the intervention of Taplow, one of Crocker-Harris' students, and of Frank Hunter, his colleague and Millie's lover. The film deftly introduces these "good Samaritans" in a lively dispute, in which they display the personal qualities that will make them helpful to Crocker-Harris. Both are spirited, bold, good-natured, intelligent and well-rounded.

An interesting question is why they come to the rescue of Crocker-Harris and not of his wife. Her coarse brutality toward Crocker-Harris is hard to forgive, but so is his refined humiliation of students. At the outset, two huge defeats, heart disease and forced resignation, invite our compassion for him. His language, beautifully dressed, raised in pitch but never in volume, quiet, clear, restrained, invites attention and leaves room for helpers. Following Taplow's lead, we start the film wondering what is wrong, and hoping to fix it. But most important, Taplow and Hunter appreciate this man, who is really dying to be liked. They like him, and they don't like Millie.

My only criticism of the screenplay is the audience response, at a school assembly, to Crocker-Harris' farewell speech. The reaction is not realistic, I think, given the school's long-established fear and rejection of this man. But it is surely our reaction, after what we have just experienced.

At the Cannes Film Festival, Terence Rattigan was awarded Best Screenplay and Michael Redgrave, Best Actor. Emphatically deserved! The film is beautifully directed by Anthony Asquith, with a fine cast, especially Brian Smith as Taplow and Nigel Patrick as Hunter. (This review is based on the VHS edition.)

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IF YOU WANT TO SEE GREAT ACTING, HERE IT IS!
Michael Redgrave, that's who! Surely his has got to be one of the greatest performances of our century. The words "Magnificent" and "Brilliant" only come near to describing the work of this actor in this film.

Be prepared to feel sad, and even cry. This is a film about the death of humanity and the concommitant loss of self-esteem in a person. Yet the story bespeaks compassion and love of fellow man.

The perfect direction by Anthony Asquith and a fine supporting cast draws one in from the get-go. Redgrave holds one spellbound. I can't praise it too much, and if any film buff misses this one, he is sorely lacking in the knowledge and experience of the very best.