THE NEW SCHOOL

FILM SERIES 41: Program #10

December 18, 1981

We have played many Launder-Gilliat productions in the past, as well as examples of their earlier work as a writing team. It seems fairly well established by now that Gilliat was the better director and the wittier writer of the two; nevertheless, they were a team and each contributed a great deal to each production, though after their first feature Millions Like Us, they never shared the direction. For anyone interested in a really thorough appraisal of their career, along with personal interviews with them, I recommend an excellent booklet, Launder and Gilliat by Geoff Brown, published by the British Film Institute and available here through specialised film book shops, or from New York Zoetrope here on 12th Street (see phone book).

Captain Boycott started out as a fairly small and probably semi-documentary account of the mildly tyrannical British landowner who aroused such antagonism in Ireland that his name (and its use) became a part of the English language. However, the sudden availability of (and interest by) Stewart Granger made it a much more important property; the budget was upped, location shooting in Ireland extended, and use of the newly re-opened and not then in full use Pinewood Studios encouraged. As a result the film grew in size and scope. Commercially it was justified and the film was a big hit in England, but there were certain casualties along the way. Characters, like the Priest (played by Alastair Sim), seem to get lost for long periods at a time and their roles fragmented, whereas in a smaller, shorter film, they might have stood out more. Seldom has any major film's leading lady had so little to do - though this may have been partially because Kathleen Ryan, fresh from Odd Man Out, was still an inexperienced actress, being used mainly for her beauty and because she was a good "type." The main problem (if it is a problem) with Captain Boycott is that Launder-Gilliat films were known for their comedy or at least their lightness of touch, and this film seems almost deliberately to retain that lightness - without any real comedy to back it up. This works against the dramatic and action values of the film and prevents it from being taken as seriously as it should be. It seems forever poised to use the rich assortment of comic talent in the film, and never really does so. My own limited experience in Ireland seemed to confirm that all of the rich comic stereotypes portrayed by John Ford in The Quiet Man were not really stereotypes at all, but warm, affectionate and thoroughly accurate. It would seem to be impossible to make a film about any aspect of Ireland without getting embroiled at least in the comedy of frustration - and indeed, the production of the film was thwarted and hindered by a non-stop succession of such frustrations! But, apparently out of a desire to be fair both to the Irish and the British (and Boycott, as Launder has said, was really a pretty decent sort of chap at heart), everything is kept to an even keel, with a serious note dominating despite that underlying lightness. In any event, it's certainly an entertaining film, and a plot with which most of us are probably quite unfamiliar. The location work is often quite beautiful, although matched-up studio shots at Pinewood sometimes a little too obvious.

I See a Dark Stranger was made immediately before Green for Danger (probably L & G's best film) and signals a return to their favorite turf, the Hitchcockian comedy-thriller. It's one of the best films directed by Launder, though at least some of its delightful flavor must be attributed to the added writing input from Gilliat. This time comedy and thrills are pretty evenly matched, and Kerr and Howard make a fine team. Kerr won the NY critics award for her performance, and the film was a big success at its long run at the Victoria Theatre in New York. Its roots with Hitchcock (and especially The Lady Vanishes) are stressed by the fact that originally the Charters and Caldicott characters were written into it, but both Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne wanted too much money to repeat the roles (and also wanted the roles to be larger) so the names were changed and Garry Marsh and Tom Macaulay used instead. They're good -- but it's not like looking at two old and well-known friends, as it would have been in the case of Radford and Wayne. There's a nicely controlled zaniness to the whole film, and occasionally some black undertones that manage to be uniquely touching and funny at the same time, as in the death of Raymond Huntley and the disposal of his body. All told it's a film that holds up well. The full 112 minute version is unfortunately unavailable in this country, but the trimming is well done and mainly in the earlier portions of the film. It's tragic that conditions in Ireland have deteriorated to such an extent that neither of these films could - or would - be made today with the same deft lightness of touch.