Browning Version (DVD)
APPROX. 90 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1951 - MPA RATING: NR
" Michael Redgrave brings a quiet dignity to the role that comes in handy when the emotional fireworks start going off at the midway point of the movie.
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The back cover of the Criterion DVD describes "The Browning Version" (1951) as "a classic of British realism." This did not fill me with much hope as I envisioned another tedious film from the "kitchen sink" cycle, the British response to Italian neo-realism that produced only a few films of enduring interest ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" being the best of breed). I did not expect much. I was therefore quite pleasantly surprised when "The Browning Version" proved not to be nearly as stodgy or musty as it first appeared; in fact, the film carries quite a dramatic punch.
Professor Andrew Crocker-Harris has devoted his life to teaching classics at a prestigious English public school (in America, we would call it a private school). Due to a heart condition, he has been forced to resign from his teaching position and today is both the last day of term and his last day at the school. Though he has been at the school for years, not too many people seem all that sad about Andrew´s departure. His students mock him for his rigid, authoritarian style and refer to him as "the Crock" behind his back. One student laughs when he hears about his professor´s heart condition as the thought of the Crock having any heart at all is a riot.
The students are much fonder of science teacher Frank Hunter and his more down-to-earth style. Andrew´s wife Millicent is also rather fond of Frank, and the two of them have been conducting a secret affair for some time now. At least they think it´s a secret, but Andrew knows all about it; he just doesn´t have the time or interest to do anything about it. Andrew Crocker-Harris keeps his life in strict order and his emotions firmly in check, but at the sunset of his career, and perhaps his life, he is forced to take survey of his accomplishments and finds them sorely lacking. After a life devoted to his work, he appears to have no friends at all… at least until an over-eager student named Taplow reaches out to "the Crock" and inadvertently changes his life.
"The Browning Version" is directed by Anthony Asquith (Mike Figgis directed a 1994 remake starring Albert Finney) who made quite a career for himself by adapting popular stage plays, including George Bernard Shaw´s "Pygmalion" (1938) and Oscar Wilde´s "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1952). "The Browning Version" is based on a play by Terrence Rattigan who collaborated with Asquith on several film projects. Rattigan, also a prolific screenwriter, wrote the film adaptation of his own play and greatly expanded his original material (the play took place entirely on a single set).
The success of the film hinges on two factors: first, Rattigan´s well-crafted script and, second, the exceptional performance by Michael Redgrave as Andrew Crocker-Harris. Andrew has every intention of keeping a stiff upper lip as he white-knuckles his way through his last miserable day at the school, derided by his students, betrayed by his wife and even undermined by his headmaster (played by the distinctive Wilfred Hyde White) who won´t even support his petition to receive a full pension. Redgrave brings a quiet dignity to the role that comes in handy when the emotional fireworks start going off at the midway point of the movie.
Just as Andrew is ready to pack up and leave, a new professor inadvertently lets slip that his students haven´t just dubbed him "the Crock": they also call him "the Himmler of the Lower Fifth." Andrew is wounded: all his life´s work and he is nothing more than a cruel joke to his students. At home, Andrew, still processing the Himmler insult, is visited by his student Taplow who has brought him a present, a translation of "Agamemnon" by Robert Browning. The two had previously discussed the work, and Andrew is deeply touched by this unsolicited act of kindness; he even cries, shocking his young pupil. Andrew feels renewed and shows his new prize to his wife who instantly snuffs out his new sense of hope, revealing that she had seen Taplow just that morning performing a mocking imitation of "the Crock." She grins wickedly as she tells her husband that Taplow was just trying to buy his teacher´s favor (and an early promotion to the next grade) with a cheap used book.
