Five Finger Exercise

An interesting flick, if not a great one, based on a play by Peter Shaffer. I can't quite grasp the meaning of the title, which refers to a piano playing exercise. A bourgeois family finds itself going through some contortions following the arrival of a nice young tutor from Germany, who moves in with them. The woman of the house, whose love of culture and the finer things is not shared by her husband, is drawn to him, and he begins a love/hate friendship with their bright but troubled son. Things get a little melodramatic towards the end (not surprisingly), but the fine cast makes things work. The character of Philip, who is played perfectly by Richard Beymer, was the outstanding feature.

What a terrible shame that this film of Peter Shaffer's amazing play was turned into an uneventful melodrama. The amazing dynamics of the five character's interaction on-stage, has been reduced in the film to a domestic, "kitchen sink" drama. Perhaps the close of the Second World War was too close at hand for the film maker and the studio to really trust the power of the play and the horrors of the Nazi Germany. The English family is American in the film, which takes most of the punch from the drama, and the erotic undercurrents of the mother /son relationship pitched against the German tutor, Walter have been set aside. With the raw emotional core of the drama removed, what sadly remains is a stereotypical, Hollywood drama with little true emotion and a film that sadly serves the startling brilliance of the play.

Based on a play by Peter Shaffer, "Five Finger Exercise" from 1962 stars Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, Richard Beymer, and Maximillian Schell.

The plot concerns the presence of a German tutor (Schell) for the daughter (Lana Wood) in the family, and ensuing domestic problems that come to a boil.

Russell plays Louise Harington, an unhappily married social climber who has nothing in common with her hard-working, down to earth husband Stanley (Hawkins). The son Philip (Beymer) joins them for the summer at their ostentatious vacation home, and the tension is immediate.

Stanley wants Philip to join him in business, but Philip isn't sure what he wants to do. Then a tutor, Walter, is brought in to teach French to the daughter, and tensions really boil over. For Louise, he represents culture and romance, for Stanley, he's a pretentious annoyance, and for Philip, he represents a threat.

Shaffer is a masterful playwright, and perhaps if his play had been correctly adapted to film, this would have been a magnificent drama. As it is, it's an interesting family drama.

First off, the family is supposed to be British and in Britain, and the presence of the tutor brings up a lot of feelings about the war and the Nazis. Secondly, there is an underpinning of incestuous feelings between mother and son so that the presence of Walter makes Philip jealous.

Both these elements are missing in the film. What remains is Louise's dashed romantic hopes and facing her harsh reality, which releases a firestorm.

This isn't a bad drama by any means, it's just not the unusual film that it could have been. The acting is good if a bit overdrawn - that is partially because it is derived from a strong play. And the resolution is satisfying.

Disappointing. One last thing - this was produced by Russell's husband, Frederick Brisson. At one point, Richard Beymer was fooling around on the set and Russell said something to him, asking him to stop. He replied that whatever he was doing was no big deal.

She responded, "Well just remember this - I'M sleeping with the producer." I think he probably stopped misbehaving at that point.

I can't think of a more poorly miscast talent than Ros. Russell in this. She's clearly a comedic actress. Shame, shame! Putting her in this, the producer should have used his brain. Then had the audacity to plug her again in the record store scene! She is so terrible in this that it makes it practically unwatchable. Everyone else is great- Max Schell is perfect in this role. Would have been better presented as a Tele-Play. Try to watch and ignore Auntie Mame and you may plod through it. I managed to eke out the real tale out of this film version and it is worth it, I think. The directors did a great job creating a homo-erotic scenes, this 55 year old straight woman thought so anyway.

Society wife and mother on a summer estate in Northern California grimaces at her "uncivilized" husband's behavior while adoring their houseguest, a handsome German tutor to their young daughter. Unconvincing transcription of Peter Shaffer's play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett gives Rosalind Russell lots of fluttery, theatrical bits of business in the lead. Her pseudo-cultured Louise Harrington is nervously, desperately gay--but she's not a hoot, like Auntie Mame (though the two share some similar qualities). Louise puts on airs only so her vulgar husband (who never made it out of grammar school) can tear her down--and once the audience perceives that our poor, delusional heroine can only find personal happiness by facing hard reality, the rest becomes window dressing. ** from ****