Five Finger Exercise

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.

A girl named Annette Gorman plays the daughter. Miss Wood has a tiny role of one of the two girls on the beach in a few insignificant scenes. Sadly most of the punch of the original play about an English family is left at as some of the other reviews imply. It is a strange mishmash to have a British father and an American mother as they keep trying to explain to us the audience. Shoulda stuck with the original British family but it was produced by the husband of Miss Russell and so she being very American they changed it to a great disadvantage to suit her. Still Miss Russell is a formidable talent and does everything she can to make it an Oscar winning performance in my opinion, that elusive statute that she never did win though two or three nominations. This was not one of them though.

Whether "Five Finger Exercise" is a good or bad movie, it is a very painful film to watch...the type I generally avoid. But it stars some terrific actors...so I watched it.

Why do I sat it's painful? Well, seeing a film where a couple hates each other and you see and hear such venom isn't exactly a fun picture to watch! I also dislike similar stories such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" or the TV show "Mama's Family"... as it's painful to see people being so ugly towards each other. I just would rather watch something that isn't so ugly and depressing.

The Harrington family is very well off. After all, they spend their summers in a cottage in Carmel*...a very upscale town. But despite money, the family is in crisis. Mr. And Mrs. Harrington (Jack Hawkins and Rosalind Russell) are a very mismatched couple. He likes sports and being a guy...with few pretenses. She likes being pretentious and putting on airs and smothering their son. Naturally, this is not a good fit and there is tension in the house. But they also have grown or mostly grown kids and they, too, become part of this toxic environment. To make things more complicated, a handsome young tutor (Maximillian Schell) is living with them...and he seems to be pulled into the middle of this mess.

Although I disliked the story, it was mostly well made. I thought the Oedipal tension was very interesting with the son. But I also thought that Russell's character was a bit too much and making her awfulness more subtle would have helped the story. As is, she's a caricature. It also seems to make you feel sorry for the husband, though he is a part of the problem as well. Toning down her character would have helped the husband to be more noticably dysfunctional. Overall, a reasonably well made but unpleasant film.

*To give you an idea about the money needed to live there, today a round of golf in Pebble Beach including all fees is about $1000 per person! And, Mr. Harrington loves to play golf!

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.

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 ****