Rent The Terence Rattigan Collection (2011)

Worth watching - The Terence Rattigan Collection review by SB

This is a review of Disc 3, which contains BBC films of two works by Rattigan - 'The Winslow Boy' and 'The Browning Version'. It's important to note that while these are TV films, they are essentially films of the plays rather than attempts to use the filmic medium more fully. So both of them basically take place in one room, with only cursory glimpses of the outside world. This is restricting, but also helps focus on the characters and dialogue.

In The Winslow Boy, Eric Porter gives a fine performance as the determined, principled father who is willing to sacrifice anything to clear his son's name. Some other performances are less convincing but overall, it is a good production. The revelation is Michele Dotrice as the 'new woman' Catherine Winslow, brother of the accused. This is a big role and she carries it off so well that one regrets she was later seen mainly as a comedienne.

The Browning Version does not compare favourably with the classic Michael Redgrave film, but how could it? Ian Holm does well enough as the repressed school teacher, and Judi Dench is convincing as the needy wife. Other parts are adequately played, and it was interesting to see the young Steven Mackintosh as the schoolboy Taplow. But this suffers more than its companion piece from the restricted location, giving little sense of the school milieu, with too much being carried by description. It also means that the final scene cannot be included, so the ending is a little unsatisfactory.

Imogen Stubbs has a cameo role as the eager, beautiful wife of the enthusiastic new master, adding more pain by blithely praising the comforts of the home which their hosts are having to leave. This reminds one that there is an unlikely premise at the heart of this play, which no prodution has ever confronted satisfactorily - which is whether a man in Crocker-Harris' position would really have resigned in favour of an ill-paid job at a 'crammer'. But it is dramatically necessary that he does, for the story to exist at all.

Update:

This is a review of Disc 4, which contains two films. As with Disc 3, these are TV productions but are essentially filmed plays, with no location filming or opening out beyond interiors.

The Deep Blue Sea comes off better, not least because it is much stronger dramatically and is the right length. In this tale of a woman who tries to live (or die) by instinct rather than reason, there are some very good supporting cast performances, and an appropriately seedy 50s ambience. Colin Firth does his trademark baffled but attractive man, unable to deal with his emotions when he can no longer shoot up the Luftwaffe, and Ian Holm is quite good as the deserted lawyer husband, who wants to deny emotion a place in married life. The weak link is Penelope Wilton, who is miscast as the central character Hester Collyer. She is irredeemably domestic, and much better suited to Ever Deceasing Circles. A shame, but the production is still worth watching.

The other film, After the Dance, is both an oddity and a rarity. It tries to show how the lives of some lazy London people, whose main concerns are fashion, alcohol and literary matters, are disrupted by a new arrival in their mind-numbing daily routine. There's an unfortunate feeling that it is cod-Coward, a sort of cheap 'Design for Living'. It is too long, and would benefit from trimming. Anton Rodgers, who seemed at one stage to have cornered the TV market as the unlikely love-object of young women, does well as the bad writer who is convinced by the beautiful and forthright Helen (Imogen Stubbs) that his life can be changed for the better by marrying a passionate young thing. The supporting cast is good, especially John Bird as the very alcoholic friend. Worth seeing, but only once.