L'honneur des Winslow

Just saw The Winslow Boy, and it was a real gem of a movie. Mamet has always been the king of brilliantly droll dialogue, the sort of dialogue that is funny not in its words but its performance, and Winslow Boy is no exception. With unusually clean language, Mamet has written a screenplay that illicits honesty from its players without ever being forced or awkward. It's gorgeous.

The cast lent itself beautifully to the script's Mametian style. Most poignant was Nigel Hawthorn, who managed to break my heart with the shift of an eye. It was the kind of razor-sharp subtlety that Mamet's writing (plays and screenplays) requires, and Hawthorn delivered it with soft spoken brilliance.

Terence Rattigan's classic English play from the 1940s but set just before WW1 has been filmed at least five times. This 1999 version is by the American director David Mamet, with his wife Rebecca Pidgeon in a lead role as the Boy's sister Catherine, along with Nigel Hawthorne and Gemma Jones as the parents. The acting honours however truly belong to Jeremy Northam as their barrister, Sir Robert Morton, who finds himself strangely attracted to young Ms Winslow. He is the full QC-MP, urbane, smooth as silk (dammit he is a silk) and deeply cynical, scambling up the greasy pole at Westminster, using his legal skills as best he may. Yet he compromises his career by taking the case. It involves the absurdly trivial matter of the alleged theft of a five shilling postal order but by the time it's over Sir Robert and his clients have managed to put the Navy and half the government on trial. Northam make this almost unbelievable transformation seem not just likely but inevitable.

`The Winslow Boy' is of course based on a real case, the Archer-Shee affair, though Rattigan modified the story substantially. In particular the Archer-Shee's counsel, Edward Carson, the prosecutor of Oscar Wilde and raving anti-Irish home ruler, never became personally involved with the family. He was made a law lord (top British judge) shortly after so his quite spectacular career was not affected by his involvement in the Archer-Shee case. Yet the most interesting thing in the film is the entirely ficticious relationship between Sir Robert, the conventional male supremacist and Catherine, the dedicated suffragette. In the end sex triumphs over politics, as it so often does. A pity it did not do so in the case of Lord Carson.

The Boy himself has a wonderful line in English Public School patter (I'm sure an American audience would need sub-titles). Sadly the real Boy was killed in WW1, which also killed the society to whom the Archer-Shee case was so important.

First I'd like to thank David Mamet for recognizing the remarkable similarity between Jeremy Northam and the late great Robert Donat and then putting it to impeccable use in The Winslow Boy. Donat has been missing for far too long from the cable stations and video rental lists. I'm getting a campaign started to force Amc and TMC to bring back all the old Donat films such as the original version of The Winslow Boy, Count of Monte Cristo, etc. First I'd like to state that by comparing Mr. Northams' performance to Mr. Donats' that I'm in no way diminishing it. On the contrary I find that his ability to evoke the memory of Donat lies in an amazing talent and an astounding technique. His first appearance in The Winslow Boy more than satisfied my glee at the casting of him in this role. When he first steps into the view of the camera, glimpses Catherine and then holds his legal files against him as if to shield his nakedness,( he is of course only naked in the sense that he is not entirely appropriately dressed without his tailcoat)my heart leapt at the thought that I was in for a deja vu movie experience. Excellant direction by Mr. Mamet.I was further pleased throughout the film to realize that although he was pulling out all the wonderful Donatisms, I never once for a moment doubted his sincerity in the role. He was Sir Robert and he was at that moment truely smitten. Mr. Northams' ability to let you see his characters thoughts is so finally tuned he hardly needs his own remarkable gift with dialogue. Other fabulous Donat moments from the film: His court room orations, "No sir' I will not stand down", very reminiscent of Young Mr. Pitt and his stuttering admonition not to "endow an unimportant incident with a romantic significance."Richard Hannay and Mr. Chips are alive and well. And don't get me started on the sexuality of the cigarette smoking.Also check out on the video his uncanny ability to match his shots in cuts on action.

Well thats enough about Mr Northams riveting multi-leveled performance. Mr Mamets restrained, precise, intelligent direction, breathed such vital life in to this 53 yr. old stage play that I'm eager to see what else he has planned. And how many other actors are lining up to work with him. This is a director who knows what he wants. Most of you have already pointed so many of this films tremendous merits I won't be redundant by repeating them. That is after all Mr. Mamets gig. But to the others of you who claimed to of missed the point or couldn't see the tension, drama or eroticism than all I have to say to you is,stuffy, wordy, Edwardian drawing room drama, my aunt Fannie. How little you know about movie viewing.

In movies I really like, the quality they all possess is believable characters; they make me care about what happens to them. I think this movie clears that hurdle. Mamet's signature direction and dialogue are brought to life by a wonderful ensemble of actors. The plot is an interesting vehicle showing how an English family reacted when something bad happened to them and gives insight into a period when things were changing in English society. Changes that would lead to be tectonic shifts in British life like women's suffrage and a questioning of the government's infallibility.

I gave it an 8

It seems the English are invading.....our cinemas. Last year it was Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth and this year it is An Ideal Husband and The Winslow Boy. I also liked Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels but that's another story. Why our fascination with the English? I have some theories but I guess I shouldn't get into that here. The Winslow Boy is a terrific film because of its simplicity. A father defending his son's and thereby his own honor. There are no gimmicks, violence, and stunts, and everything and everyone is what and who they appear to be. As a result this film is driven by strong characters and strong, terse dialogue. I also enjoyed the use of newspaper clippings and caricatures from the editorial page to guide us thru the movie. The use of a scripture which appears a couple times dealing with feast and famine was a great metaphor for the father and the family's prospects. The performances were spectacular, especially Jeremy Northam playing Sir Robert Morton....what a "stage" presence. Rebecca Pidgeon as Kate as the strong willed suffragette daughter in the family was good as well. I must also mention Nigel Hawthorne, the father on whom the struggle took its toll, performed strongly as usual. I would recommend this to all members of the family from the very young for whom it could teach value lessons to the very old for whom it may awaken some feelings of nostalgia for at times it feels like a film from the 40's. Oh by the way the final lines in the film are super. Make sure you are listening. Three and half stars!!!