Browning Version (DVD)

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In this remarkable sequence, Andrew rides an emotional roller coaster. He is knocked down, lifted up and knocked back down again, experiencing the very emotional lows and highs he had tried to suppress in himself for many years. The scenes could easily have degenerated into mawkishness, but Redgrave holds it all together through sheer will. He manages somehow to simultaneously convey worlds of emotional depth while always maintaining a sense of restraint. When Andrew weeps, it is not an explosion but a brief release, a rare acknowledgement of the terrible stress he has been under. Later, when his wife thoroughly defangs him, we can see the pain in his eyes and his posture – she has scored a direct hit – but Redgrave plays it close to the vest.

Redgrave was primarily known as a stage actor, but here he eschews any of the grand gestures associated with the theater. We see it all in the way Andrew stiffens his posture and fusses with his jacket sleeves: he has been wounded deeply but will not let his wife know just how badly. Redgrave´s carefully modulated performance is sincere, textured and utterly plausible. We sympathize with Crocker-Harris´ plight, but we can also understand why his students mock him and, even more, why his wife (who seems, at first, so gratuitously callous) despises him. He is cold and self-centered, but also profoundly vulnerable and the film benefits greatly from this complex portrayal. Andrew is a man who thought he knew exactly what he wanted out of life, only to realize he´s only just beginning to find his true path.

I am an unreconstructed auteurist with a marked preference for the experimental and formalist directors. As such, I often tend to underestimate the worth of well-written drama and good, solid craft. "The Browning Version" does not break any new ground or feature any signature directorial flourishes. It is a film built on a solid script (which, in turn, was built on a solid play) and an excellent lead performance. If, in some ways, it feels like little more than "a filmed play" it is one hell of a good filmed play and well worth your time.

Video

The transfer is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The black and white photography is very crisp and this high definition digital transfer has been cleaned up remarkably well, as you expect from the Criterion team.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. The sound design is fairly straightforward and all the dialogue is clearly mixed. Asquith only makes very sparse use of music on the soundtrack. Optional English language subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing are included to support the audio.

Extras

This DVD is fairly light on extras for a Criterion release. However, it does offer a commentary track by film historian Bruce Eder along with a brief interview (6 min.) with Redgrave from 1958 and a longer interview with Mike Figgis (20 min.) in which he discusses why he loved the film enough to remake it.

Closing Thoughts

"The Browning Version" won for best screenplay and best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Redgrave generally focused more on his stage work, and supposedly viewed film acting a lesser calling, but he is completely at ease in this role. Asquith teamed up with Rattigan on other projects; including "While the Sun Shines" (1947) and "The Winslow Boys" (1948) but none of the other "Rattigasquith" (a derisive term coined by critic Raymond Durgnant) films quite earned the sterling reputation of "The Browning Version."

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