Saturday 6 October 2018

The Admirable Crichton (1957 Lewis Gilbert)

JM Barrie's class comedy was filmed before in 1918, in 1919 as Male and Female by Cecil B. de Mille with Gloria Swanson, and later in 1968 with Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Pamela Brown and Laurence Naismith. But this is the definitive Kenneth More version, one of many of his hits in the fifties, released in the US - perhaps fearing problems with the pronunciation - as Paradise Lagoon. Actually, not having seen the others, I cannot claim that it is the definitive version - but it is. It's a pleasure even after many, many viewings.

It was apparently filmed in Bermuda. Shot by Wilkie Cooper, probably not in the 4x3 ratio our 'Classic British' DVD release is in.

More's perfect as the resourceful butler - he was in his fifties heyday. With Cecil Parker, Diane Cilento, Sally Anne Howes, Martita Hunt, Jack Watling, Peter Graves (not that one), Gerald Harper, Mercy Haystead, Miranda Connell and Miles Malleson.


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