The Tichborne Claimant

British period pieces typically suffocate under the dull weight of precise costumes and historically accurate settings, offering nothing but boring, predictable and comforting aesthetics. Here is a stronger number, true to the tired genre but beyond it -- a period piece with strong, well-developed themes and balanced, multidimensional characters liberated from crusty, faux bourgeois literariness. Aside from haunting, perfectly pitched performances, it examines questions that matter: What constitutes personality? What constitutes class? Is one contingent on the other? If a "coarse" man can be transformed into a convincing "gentleman," what is he really? And if the class boundaries are truly porous and arbitrary, what is their true function and purpose? Don't let the superficially "Masterpiece Theatre"-ish trappings fool you -- this mysterious, stimulating picture has a pulse.

At the start of THE TICHBORNE CLAIMENT we're informed that this is the greatest fraud ever played upon the British public so what does this type of movie say to you ? That you're going to be watching a truly cinematic and enthralling tale ? A sort of Italian Job with horse drawn carriages instead of minis ? That's how the movie should have been produced but for some reason the audience are never treated to anything resembling a cinematic movie

Who do we blame - The director David Yates or the producer Tom McCabe ? I looked up Yates resume and though much of his work has been in television he has a fairly good track record and will be directing the next Harry Potter film so that must mean something while McCabe has a very uneven CV which nearly always involves his produced works failing to get wide distribution so I'm making a very educated guess that Mr McCabe is the one responsible for this film being virtually unknown

The problem starts round about the opening sequence where Andrew Bogle relates the story of Lord Tichborne through a series of photographs and a not convincing model shot of a shipwreck . This expositional story telling technique has been done many times via the BBC's excellent history show TIMEWATCH and umpteen documentaries on the history channel and all through the running time of THE TICHBORNE CLAIMENT I never got the feeling that I was watching a dramatised cinematic account but something from The History Channel

What makes this rather unforgivable is the potential of the story and the fine cast . People love hearing about other people being made fools of and it's part of human nature but at no point will the audience rub their hands in sadistic glee watching people getting ripped off ( GREY OWL also suffers from this by being overly serious ) and the cast certainly don't help by being very staid . The whole movie would have been much more better if it had a Dickensian caricature feel where the characters are portrayed as Great British eccentrics . As it stands THE TICHBORNE CLAIMENT is instantly forgettable and ever so wasted as a cinematic film

Every inch a home-grown product, The Tichborne Claimant is a Victorian-set comedy-drama, based on a true story and featuring a whole host of British character actors. During the 1870s Sir Roger Tichborne, heir to the ninth largest estate in Britain, went missing, shipwrecked off Australia. Sure of his survival, his brother and manservant went to find him. When his brother died of alchohol abuse, the servant was stranded in Australia, the Tichborne family unwilling to pay for his return. This is where the story really begins. The servant, Andrew Bogle (John Kani), formerly an African slave, begins to look for Tichborne - or a passable imposter - in order to return to England and resume his old life. After years of searching, a fat drunkard (Robert Pugh) appears who is evidently Tichborne - or someone who knows an uncanny amount about him. They sail back to London, Bogle training Tichborne up to act like an aristocrat on the way. Unsurprisingly, his family claim he is an impostor and he is forced to take legal action to claim his estate. Both Pugh, a veteran stage actor, and Kani, a South African who survived three assassination attempts while campaigning against Apartheid, are excellent. Kani is both dignified and enigmatic, while Pugh is outrageous as the cigar-smoking, drunken Tichborne. A supporting cast of dozens of Britain's finest adds an enormous amount, with Stephen Fry and John Gielgud (who recently died, aged 96) particularly enjoyable as wonderfully odious members of the establishment. First-time director David Yates sustains a comfortable pace and establishes a stylised but believable vision of Victorian England. As in real life, we are never truly sure whether Tichborne is who he says he is and this helps to sustain the interest in the story throughout. Overall, an enjoyable film - witty, moving and interesting, a quiet alternative to the likes of Fight Club.

British period dramas aren't normally my thing , but since this is the first film i ever saw in a test screening , i thought i would give it a mention.

The titchbourne claimant is a slow moving, by the numbers period drama that does have 2 good performances - if your willing to stick around for them . John kani does well in his role as the solem faced valet bogel as does robert pugh as the slob turned aristocrat claimant .

These are strong points in an other wise dull film.

The film seemed more suited to television as a drama special rather than an official cinema release but because its so unremarkable It probably would not have mattered .