The Browning Version (1951)

The Browning Version is directed by Anthony Asquith, has a screenplay by Terence Rattigan. The film stars Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Nigel Patrick, Brian Smith and Wilfrid Hyde-White.I think Michael Redgrave gives his very best performance in this film. He perfectly captures the cold exterior of his character, who internally is actually anything but that. He conveys so much with his eyes and does such a good job of portraying Harris as a man who is very introverted and seemingly emotionally dead.Andrew Crocker Harris (Michael Redgrave)is the classics teacher at a private boys school. His students dislike him and are afraid of him. He used to be very passionate about his subject, now he has long since lost his passion for teaching and wouldn't know how to go back to the way he used to be even if he tried. Due to ill health he is leaving the school to take up a less demanding teaching role.Harris is married to Millie (Jean Kent), she is a cold hearted woman who is having an affair with the handsome and charismatic chemistry teacher Frank Hunter (Nigel Patrick). Unknown to either of them Harris has been aware of their affair for some time.The relationship between Harris and is wife is very interesting, they are both to blame for the state of their marriage. Harris was so caught up in his love of teaching that he neglected his wife, she has nothing in common with him and makes fun of his interests.Millie is selfish and won't allow her husband a brief moment of happiness because she isn't happy herself. What she does when she learns about Taplow's gift is as Hunter says unforgivable, that scene makes him see the truth of her and sympathise with Harris.On his last day at the school one of his students called Taplow (Brian Smith)gives him a book with a personal inscription to say thank you for all the help he has given him during private tutorials. This kind gesture causes Harris to break down crying, this scene is so well done because Redgrave turns his back to the camera, you feel like you have walked in on a very private moment and that you are intruding just as you would feel if you came upon such a thing in real life.Redgrave is superb in the lead role. Nigel Patrick and Jean Kent are excellent too. Brian Smith isn't as good as the adult cast but he tries hard. Wilfrid Hyde-White steals every scene he's in as the headmaster.A beautiful film about the impact teachers can have on students and how you don't know the truth of a person by the external alone, you have to look deeper to discover the true person.There is a remake of this starring Albert Finney, it's good but not nearly as good as this one. The miniseries starring Ian Holm is worth a look too.

In a British school, the conservative and emotionless Latin teacher Andrew Crocker-Harris (Michael Redgrave) has a heart problem and is forced to retire. His unfaithful wife Millie (Jean Kent) is having a love affair with his colleague, the science teacher Frank Hunter (Nigel Patrick), and he is hated and despised by the students, fellows and the direction of the school. His pupil Taplow (Brian Smith) is studying with him the tragic Greek poem The Agamemnon, expecting to be promoted at school. On his last days at school, Crocker-Harris is informed by the headmaster that the board refused to pay his pension plan for earlier retirement and he realizes that he is a failure as a teacher and a man."The Browning Version" is a heartbreaking British film based on a play that tells the story of a teacher without emotions that is hated and betrayed and in the end is helped by his pupil, his replacement and even by the lover of his wife to react to the situation and "live" again. The performances are top-notch and the depressive story is another great British film about the relationship between teacher and student (the other is "To Sir with Love"). My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Nunca te Amei" ("I Never Loved You")

Terence Rattigan adapted his acclaimed one-act play about a humorless professor at a British school for boys realizing some awful truths about his life on the eve of his retirement from the institution: his embittered wife holds him in contempt (and has been carrying on an affair with one of his fellow teachers), while the headmaster of the school cannot wait to sweep him under the carpet. Michael Redgrave gives great shading to this lanky man with the puny spirit; though, at times, the actor sounds as if he's just swallowed John Gielgud, he is nothing short of fascinating to watch, even in the climactic moments when this adaptation becomes a curiously showy piece of grandstanding for the character. The relationship between Redgrave's Crocker-Harris and his students is left a bit unclear; they tolerate him and complain behind his back, but we don't sense the sort of give-and-take which would make the finale plausible. Jean Kent (as Mrs. Crocker-Harris, with her condescending eyes), handsome Nigel Patrick, and young Brian Smith are excellent in support. Remade in 1994 with Albert Finney in the lead. **1/2 from ****

The Browning Version" is an intelligent film about a British schoolmaster, who after being "forced out" of his position, recognizes his failures as teacher, friend, and husband. He is in a sense, the anti-Mr. Chips. Played brilliantly by Michael Redgrave, Andrew Crocker-Harris, or as his students call him, "the Crock" is feeling the walls close in on him. He is in a loveless marriage. Even though he knows his wife is seeing another man, he feels that this is the type of love that they both deserve.Jean Kent plays his frustrated, cruel wife, and she is absolutely marvelous. Nigel Patrick, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Brian Smith (who plays the only student who actually likes "the Crock") all turn in fine performance.Terrence Rattigan has done very good work in adapting his 1949 play to the screen, although you never quite lose the feeling that you are watching a filmed presentation of a play.But it is Redgrave who gives a superb,understated, honest portrayal of a man who never reached his potential, on so many levels. Is there any more heartbreaking scene than the one where he is meeting with Taplow, and he starts to sob, because he is having a real breakthrough?This is classic film making. Believe in your material, and let the actors trust each other with their performances. This is a great film.10 out of 10