THE WINSLOW BOY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 514, 29 April 1949, Page 21

THE WINSLOW BOY

( London Films) ZB Citizens’ Forum which recently discussed the standing of the spoken word in New Zealand had little difficulty in reaching the conclusion that there was room for considerable improvement, and suggested, as a means to that end, that closer attention should be paid to the diction heard in BBC transcriptions and in the better British films. I doubt if the undefiled English of the better British films is ever likely to be as strong an influence on the rank-and-file as the more picaresque speech-elements of the American cinema -Gresham’s Law seems to apply as inflexibly to the spoken word as to cur-rency-but for those who are interested in good speech, either from motives of self-improvement, or simply because they find pleasure in listening to it, I recommend a visit to The Winslow Boy. Good speech, however, is not its only claim to attention. The Winslow Boy has also a good cast and a first-class theme. The ,cast, which contains some new faces as well as a number of old familiar ones, is headed by Robert Donat, who has been absent from films (except for a brief appearance in Captain Boycott) for a _ regrettably long time. He is, if possible, an even more polished performer than he was before, and as Sir Robert Morton, K.C., has every chance to capitalise on his fine presence, his grace of movement, and (above all) his faculty for crisp and incisive enunciation. Of equal importance to the story is the part of Arthur Winslow, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, a role which provides an agreeable dramatic contrast with Donat’s and is, in my ‘opinion, played with equal virtuosity. TWo newcomers are Neil North, a juvenile whose portrayal of the Winslow Boy suggests a compound of. his own natural talent and shrewd management by the director (Anthony Asquith), and Margeret Leighton, a pleasant young woman who, as the boy’s sister, manages .to combine a Pre-Raphaelite hairdo and a post-Pankhurst outlook and make. the combination plausible. Besides. these, there are such other experienced supporting players as Francis L. Sullivan, Marie Lohr, Basil Radford and Kathleen Harrison. The chief attraction of the picture, however, should be the story, for The Winsjow Boy is based on the famous Archer-Shee case which, through the part played in it by Sir Edward Carson, caused a furore in the years immediately before the first World War. Young Archer-Shee, a fourteen-year-old cadet of the Royal Naval College at Osborne, was expelled on suspicion of stealing a five-shilling postal-order, and without being given an opportunity to defend himself. _To vindicate his son’s honour, the father determined to force the Admiralty to defend its action in: the Civil Courts. In this he was ultimately _-_ successful. Through the

advocacy of Carson, a Petition of Right was granted, the case heard, and the boy cleared-but at the cost of nearbankruptcy for the father. This is the. kind ofgstory which appeals to most of us. We like to identify ourselves with the small, as opposed to the big, battalions-so long as our Own non-combatant status is not. infringed-and we can all cheer on the_ defenders of civil liberty from the comfort of a grandstand seat. . ‘Where the film failed, in my opinion, was not involving us all with the Winslows. As it is the plot turns inward on the Winslow family and_ concerns itself mainly with the effect on the individual members of the protracted litigation. Here the fault, of course, is not in the | stars, but in Mr. Rattigan, author of | the stage-play and the screen-script, who was not (I suspect) quite equal to_ his opportunity.