Brat Farrar

Like many fine novelists, Josephine Tey sold the rights to her novel "Brat Farrar" to Universal Pictures, who was hellbent to capitalize on the success of "Psycho" and hopefully duplicate its boxoffice grosses as well. In order to insure the film version would remain truthful to her novel, Ms. Tey was also hired as one of the screenwriters. However, when she realized her dubious feelings were right (the title was changed to the lurid "Paranoiac," and the thrust of her novel was reduced to a Grade-B horror flick.) Miss Tey left the project in vocal disgust, expecting to hear from nobody in Hollywood ever again. And she didn't until some 23 years later when the Arts & Entertainment TV channel(located in the U.S.) and the BBC-TV network approached her to do a made-for-TV mini-mini-series (Running time: 155 minutes, but divided into 5 episodes for the A&E network--plus commercials. The result is one of the finest achievements ever accomplished by movies OR television. Playing two roles, Simon, a cold-hearted (and possibly homicidal) young man, and the impoverished youth Brat Farrar, who suddenly shows up after a 15-year absence and claims he is not only Simon's older brother but the true Lord of the Manor. An absolutely riveting young actor named Mark Greenstreet should have become a major star on the basis of his two performances in "Brat Farrar." Telling anything more of the plot would deprive the viewer of a maze of romance, familial love and hate, exquisite cinematography, and murder. The ending will astound you, as it still sticks in my mind after all these years. Two-and-a-half hours of television at its most extraordinary (off-handed, I can only think of "Brideshead Revisited" achieving the same bold, ambitious and absolutely shattering quality of the criminally neglected and now virtually forgotten "Brat Farrar." It's understandable why Josephine Tey found "Paranoiac" so offensive (it's actually one of the better "Psycho" rip-offs of the early 1960s, featuring a very young Oliver Reed chewing the scenery with all the bravado he can muster up). But "Brat Farrar," although unbearably suspenseful at times, digs deeply into the souls and motives of all its principal characters, and does so with such precision and empathy that are miraculous to behold. Josephine Tey was finally vindicated with the astoundingly gripping and achingly touching treatment of her magnificent novel "Brat Farrar." Now, A&E and the BBC, it is indeed high time you vindicated your loyal audiences by putting the full-length 155-minute version of "Brat Farrar" on VHS, DVD, or simply repeating it on your cable stations so that home viewers can finally become acquainted with 2 1/2 hours of the most elegant, stylish, heartbreaking and heartfelt drama television has ever gifted us with.

First off, Josephine Tey died in the early 1950s, so her participation in this project or 'Paranoiac' (an earlier poster comments on Tey's direct participation in both these projects, and "storming" off the set of 'Paranoiac' despite having been dead a decade! Which certainly sounds more like the plot outline for a Hammer film!) must have been facilitated through a seance or oujia board session. In any case, Miss Tey's ghost was certainly justified in "storming" of the set of 'Paranoiac'. The earlier film is an enjoyable B movie which simply bastardizes the novel and has Oliver Reed going completely looney tunes by the end. This version does owe more to Robert Bloch's 'Psycho' than it does to Tey's 'Brat Farrar'. I would surmise that Hammer optioned the film rights to 'Brat Farrar' only to avoid any potential copyright conflicts.

The 1986 Television version of 'Brat Farrar' is much more faithful to the novel than 'Paranoiac' (This is probably due to the direct involvement of Miss Tey's poltergeist!) One major difference is that Farrar & Simon are now played by the same actor. In 'Paranoiac' Reed's brother was played by another actor who had no physical resemblance to him at all -- being that the characters in the Hammer film were no longer identical twins, in fact they were re-named! The lead does a remarkable job in playing both th ersatz 'Brat Farrar' and the cunning, sociopathic Simon. Despite the fact that, at points, the effect of the actor being on screen as both characters looks fake (as it did in many movies, especially flatly lit television movies in those pre, or very early post CGI days) the lead actor was able and adept enough in both performances, that I very often forgot that this was the same man. Another major advantage that 'Brat Farrar' has over 'Paranoiac', is that it was shown over the course of a few episodes (two at least if memory serves me!) and the tension is allowed to build slowly, almost painfully, to it's concluding climax. Despite being a British television film, the look, and feel of 'Brat Farrar' is much more akin to an American TV Soap Opera, and oddly enough, this adds greatly to the surreal, almost claustrophobic tone of deception and imminent danger.

The movies is served well by the fact that plot is allowed time to develop. This also allows the actors to develop and reveal their character's true natures and motives slowly, with all due fairness to the earlier film, 'Paranoiac' didn't have this luxury given the limitations of a feature film's restricted time frame. 'Brat Farrar' features a great cast especially the lead actor. Also noteworthy is Francis Matthews, a good actor who incidentally was featured in many Hammer horror films of the 1950s and 60s. If you can find this film, it is well worth watching!

Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrar" is,along Daphné Du Maurier's " the scapegoat" ,the most absorbing British detective story dealing with the impostor subject .Tey has the edge ,as far as plausibility is concerned ,for an eight-year gap changes a person, whereas a man who reluctantly replaces a real count overnight without his family noticing any changes is a little hard to swallow .

The novel has undergone some changes: the main difference is the role of Alec loding: it was fleshed out as he continues to coach his protégé as he makes his way through his new life ,and he is greedier than in the novel,asking not a small allowance but a hefty sum.The scenes given over to the "coach" make sense: many frames of mind of Brat and the suppression of the shepherd Abel character ( a good name for this kind of story) mean that the hero needs a person he can secretly talks to.

The rest is faithfull to Tey ,though her book was written in the late forties,and the action is transposed to the 80s, when the series was made. I have always thought that Uncle Charles 's providential intervention was the weakest link of the book (Du Maurier's denouement is stronger).

But ,by and large ,a good miniseries ,very absorbing ;it's too bad French TV never bothered to show it ,as they recently did for Agatha Christie's "and then there were none" .

The memorable and slightly annoying theme music still lingers on in my mind...

That withstanding, for a while this was a captivating weekend daytime drama, featuring stage actor Mark Greenstreet delivering a terrific performance as the titular character AND his brother Simon.

Francis Matthews (who was the brilliant Paul Temple) hams it up as a foppish actor who talks Brat into impersonating someone thought to have committed suicide years before.

The uncanny resemblance and weeks of training secure the confidence of the family and the legal eagles and Brat is soon welcomed into the rich family by all... except the brother Simon Ashby.

Then things start to get weird as he starts to fancy his supposed sister Eleanor (a delicious 20-year-old Dominique Barnes - whatever happened to her?) and his integrity and suspicions start to get the better of him.

Episode 1 is a treat as things happen quickly and the plot is set in motion. The second episode doesn't do much except flesh out the characters and give us insights into the world of equestrian royalty. The finale does much the same thing except for the last 15 minutes where things come to a head and loose ends are tied up.

Most of us watching today will have already guessed what's going on... and even back in 1986, there wasn't much subtlety as to who was guilty of what! There's a strange direction to this drama that reminds me of the live action dramas that were made for children at that time, but this seems to have been marketed at adults, so I could be wrong.

Anyway... it's dated of course but still has a unique character of its own which makes it worth watching again.

Saw this first as a small child, since my mom watched all the British mini series on Mystery! on PBS. We ended up seeing it again re-run on the Disney channel of all places. Mark Greenstreet was fantastic in this playing dual roles flawlessly. I wish so badly that he had become "James Bond" at some point, or risen to super stardom in some other way. Its a mystery to me why Mr. Greenstreet or this series are not more widely well-known. Just thinking about this series still makes me yearn to move to England and run a riding stable.