The Browning Version (Criterion Collection)

Starring:Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Nigel Patrick, Ronald Howard, Brian Smith, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Judith Furse, Josephine Middleton, Ivan Samson, Peter Jones, Russell Waters, Scott Harold, Paul Medland, Sarah Lawson, Bill Travers, Vivienne Gibson, Joan Haythorne, Johnnie Schofield
Director: Anthony Asquith
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Michael Redgrave etched his subtlest and, in its peculiar way, most beloved screen performance in this classic film version of Terence Rattigan's play. Play and film chronicle the final day of teaching for Andrew Crocker-Harris, a cold-fish public school instructor who has long since outlived his early promise. That his classics students, his colleagues, and even his somewhat younger wife refer to him as "the Crock" is not a mark of affection. Wheezing pedantically, making arcane classical puns without hope of raising a laugh, he's an anti-Mr. Chips to whom nearly everyone will be happy to say goodbye. Except that on this last day, with his health failing, his wife (Jean Kent) openly carrying on an affair, and his headmaster (the redoubtably smarmy Wilfrid Hyde-White) eager to whisk him off to retirement, Crocker-Harris achieves an order of triumph that the film marks without a whiff of sentimentality.

Amazon.com

Michael Redgrave etched his subtlest and, in its peculiar way, most beloved screen performance in this classic film version of Terence Rattigan's play. Play and film chronicle the final day of teaching for Andrew Crocker-Harris, a cold-fish public school instructor who has long since outlived his early promise. That his classics students, his colleagues, and even his somewhat younger wife refer to him as "the Crock" is not a mark of affection. Wheezing pedantically, making arcane classical puns without hope of raising a laugh, he's an anti-Mr. Chips to whom nearly everyone will be happy to say goodbye. Except that on this last day, with his health failing, his wife (Jean Kent) openly carrying on an affair, and his headmaster (the redoubtably smarmy Wilfrid Hyde-White) eager to whisk him off to retirement, Crocker-Harris achieves an order of triumph that the film marks without a whiff of sentimentality.

Description

Michael Redgrave gives the performance of his career in Anthony Asquith's adaptation of Terence Rattigan's unforgettable play. Redgrave portrays Andrew Crocker-Harris, an embittered, middle-aged school master who begins to feel his life has been a failure. Diminished by poor health, a crumbling marriage, and the derision of his pupils, the once brilliant scholar is compelled to reexamine his life when a young student offers an unexpected gesture of kindness. A heartbreaking story of remorse and atonement, The Browning Version is a classic of British realism and the winner of Best Actor and Best screenplay honors at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

Customer Reviews:

The Browning Version.......2007-06-26

Asquith's mournful, utterly absorbing ensemble drama was adapted by Terence Rattigan from his own play. Redgrave, in one of his greatest screen performances, is magnificent, communicating both the unrelenting severity and turbulent inner sadness of Crocker-Harris--who keeps a stiff upper lip about Millie's infidelities, the headmaster's disrespect for his years of service, and his own failed ambitions. With a stirring turn by young Brian Smith as Taplow, Crocker-Harris's chipper, well-meaning student, "Browning" is an outstanding drama about suffering and redemption that will stay with you long after the gut-wrenching graduation speech.

first rate actor & first rate director & second rate author add up to an (almost) first rate film.......2007-04-19

michael redgrave has the peak moment of his film career in this anthony asquith adaptation of terrence rattigans play. rattigan was a highly successful english playwright in the mid 20th century but i find most of his work to be stodgy and old hat (& btw, i am NOT a fan of the angry young men who came along in the 50s!); he is a second-rate writer but this is probably his strongest work, about a failed middle-aged teacher who has little left to live for until the worm turns. its an actors tour-de-force, and redgrave and the rest of the cast make the most of it.

THE LAST WORD.......2007-04-16

Terence Rattigan specialized in scripts about the rich upper classes who loved going to the theatre & seeing themselves on the stage. They rewarded him by making him a wealthy man. (It was a Rattigan play that prompted Shelagh Delaney to write A TASTE OF HONEY.) This work is somewhat unusual for Rattigan because the hero is decidedly not upper class & is the closest to a gay character his producers, public & times would allow him to write. (He was forced to change the Major's crime in SEPARATE TABLES from pinching a young man to pinching a young woman.) The hero here is a failed classics teacher at a second rate public school who is held in contempt by the boys, the headmaster & his own wife. Instead of GOODBYE MR CHIPS it's 'Sod off Mr Crock'. Because of poor health the man is being forced into early retirement. His wife delights in cuckolding him with passionless efficiency & the headmaster wants to get him out with no pension. But one of the boys who feels sorry for him gives him a copy of Browning's translation of the AGAMEMNON (the Browning version of the title) which makes all the difference. It would be easy to dismiss this as a prime example of the 'Let's not make a fuss shall we' school of English theatre except for one thing: Michael Redgrave. He's magnificient.

Portrait of a sad man.......2007-03-12

In a magnificent performance, Michael Redgrave plays a Latin teacher who has arrived at a sad station in life. Forced to retire by ill health, he has been denied his pension. His unfaithful wife despises him. He has not fulfilled his early promise, instead stagnating as an uninspiring teacher who is detested by his students. Humiliations are heaped upon him until it seems he must break under their pressure. However, he does exit with a measure of respect and we are given a glimmer of hope that he may yet reveal hidden talents.

I had thought that I was watching a 5-star film, but the conclusion was just a bit too restrained and tidy to capitalize on the powerful buildup. Nevertheless, this film is well worth watching.

Deeply honest and deeply moving..........2006-12-03

I had never heard of this film until Criterion announced it. I was surprised they would pick a somewhat obscure film such as this, but I'm glad they did. This is one of more moving films I've ever seen. It is a portrait of a sad man who has been dead inside for so very long, yet, the filmmakers make you feel sympathy for him. His life is in shambles. He feels worthless at his job, his wife is just as dead inside, and she's cheating on him on top of it. Yet, he somehow finds himself at the end of the film, and you actually believe it. It may be, technically, a "happy ending", but it works. A film like this could never be made today, as Michael Redgrave's (who gives one of his greatest performances) character would be treated with contempt, hostility, and scorn. Or, worse, he would hook up with some young bimbo, and find his youth through drunkeness and idiotic behavior. It reminds me of David Lean's Brief Encounter, another film that today the protagonists would be mocked beyond belief. Neither of these two films have dated in the least, we've just closed our eyes.

Average customer rating:

Scacchi and Finney positively make this Browning Version!
This is a truly excellent film.....
Flawed but worth watching
Where's the original Browning Version film?
I say--good show!

The Browning Version
Starring: Albert Finney , Greta Scacchi , Matthew Modine , Julian Sands , and Michael Gambon
Director: Mike Figgis
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AUHOD
Release Date: 2003-10-14

Description

Directed by Mike Figgis, THE BROWNING VERSION is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan about an English schoolteacher who is forced into retirement by a series of life complications. Albert Finney stars as Andrew Crocker-Harris, a professor who is at crossroads in his life. Not only is he hated by almost every student at school and asked to retire, but his seemingly lovely wife is also found to be having an affair. Coming to grips with his failed life, now Andrew must struggle to regain his own self-respect.

Customer Reviews:

Scacchi and Finney positively make this Browning Version!.......2007-03-27

Having seen Terrence Rattigan's play performed live several times,as well as having seen the original 1951 film adaptation,director Mike Figgis has scored a real triumph with Greta Scacchi and Albert Finney in the roles of Laura and Andrew Crocker-Harris.The play itself is not IMO the most lively of stories,nor certainly the finest play yet written,but what Scacchi and Finney bring to the table as this terribly ill suited husband and wife is screen magic and their performances alone put this BROWNING VERSION at the very top.Andrew,a professor of Greek at an exclusive English Prep School has been anything but endearing over the years to his students.Obviously his younger and gorgeous wife,Laura,has enough baggage of her own to be a sexual minx with an American faculty member (Matthew Modine,who seems like...well...Matthew Modine-not a memorable performance).It is one student,Taplow (Ben Silverstone),who has been sincerely touched by his crochety professor, who , wise beyond his years,is the key to unlocking the long-ago closed heart of Andrew.But it is the outstanding performances of Finney against Scaachi that really set this film into gear.It is their relationship that director Figgis shows us in such gut-wrenching detail with long,reflective closeups.Figgis has chosen to allow the camera to dwell into the faces and souls of his characters,instead of pushing along the story.This is Figgis' decision and it works magnificently.You will be hard pressed to find a better piece of directing and acting when it comes to expressing the regrets and failures of a mismatched couple.This is a film of regret and resignation,not of a happy ending....hmmmn....like life sometimes,huh?

This is a truly excellent film............2006-09-09

If you love Albert Finney, & Gretta Scacchi (as all humans in their right mind should of course), you will enjoy this movie. I saw another person here complaining about Albert Finney's performance, but I think it's wonderful, & he "carries" the film IMO. Gretta Scacchi......well, I would go watch her read the phone book, but this may not be her absolute best film performance--hard to say if that's the direction, or what, but she still does a great job at portraying the gorgeous (adulterous) wife of a repressed English School teacher.

The one "Clinker" here is Matthew Modine, IMO. He doesn't seem to have much range as an actor, & in scenes with Albert Finney & Gretta Scacchi, that is even more painfully apparent. Another Plus tho is Michael Gambon (who played LBJ in the HBO movie Path to War), as the Headmaster.

Highly recommended.

Flawed but worth watching.......2006-07-04

I had never seen the Redgrave movie and I watched this for Finney. I never cried so hard, mainly for lost opportunities. Yet, there was hope for Crocker-Harris at the end. I would hope so. His decision to part from his wife was his first step towards freedom. My problem is that since it was updated to the nineties, why didn't they divorce? She could have left him years before that, when divorce was acceptable.

And Matthew Modine. Unfortunately, in too many British films and television series, the Americans are portrayed as loud mouth buffoons. When Modine's character says he never heard of Aeschylus, I have to wonder about the anti-American attitudes that the Brits have for us.

And while I think Crocker Harris seemed cold, he did what a teacher should do: teach and try to open minds. Today's youths want things "easy" and spoon fed. Much easier to mock the teacher than actually think.

Scacci was perfect: brutal, uncaring, passionate and long suffering. Too long suffering; I don't know why she didn't leave him long before.

Still, now I want to see the Redgrave version. But Finney is remarkable here, as he always is.

Where's the original Browning Version film?.......2005-03-10

I am astounded first of all about the rave reviews of The Browing Version film starring Albert Finney produced in 1994 when the first and finest version (to use a pun) was released in 1951 starring Michael Redgrave.

The 1994 release is a very poor remake compared to the original classic and if you think Finney's film is great, then you have much to look forward to see the other picture.

Why oh why can't the Redgrave movie be converted to DVD? Anyone out there know if such a CD is available or being planned for release?

I say--good show!.......2004-11-11

Fine tear-jerker about English boarding school teacher (Albert Finney) who is unceremoniously dumped because of his stubborn adherence to the classics and academic rigor as opposed to the school cricket spirit...and that's just not cricket, old boy.

Average customer rating:

Browning Version
Starring: Redgrave , and Kent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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