The Admirable Crichton (film)
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| The Admirable Crichton | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lewis Gilbert |
| Produced by | Ian Dalrymple |
| Written by | J.M. Barrie (play) Lewis Gilbert (adaptation) Vernon Harris (screenplay) |
| Starring | Kenneth More Diane Cilento Cecil Parker Sally Ann Howes Martita Hunt |
| Music by | Douglas Gamley Richard Addinsell (waltzes) (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
| Release date(s) | 1957 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Admirable Crichton is a 1957 motion picture directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes and Cecil Parker. The film was based on the 1902 comedy by J. M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton.
Kenneth More stars as Crichton, the highly efficient butler for a family of upper class British aristocrats. Though More is true master of the household, he knows his place, honouring the tightly regulated social structure of turn-of-the-century England. After the family, and its servants, are shipwrecked and marooned on a desert island, only Crichton has the skill and resourcefulness to keep everyone alive. Once a few months has passed, the social order has been reversed: Crichton takes control affectionately known as ‘’Guv’’, while his former employers, including a masterful performance by Cecil Parker as Lord Loam are his willing and eager servants. Lady Mary Sally Ann Howes, assuming that she will never be able to return to her proper fiancé, falls in love with Crichton. However once the castaways are rescued and returned to their London estate, the original master-servant status quo is restored. His marriage to Lady Mary now an impossibility-a fact stressed in no uncertain terms by the young lady herself-Crichton calmly packs his bags and leaves, in the company of maidservant Tweeny Diane Cilento, who has loved him all along. Barries' satirical jab at class consciousness (notably in the closing "interrogation scene", conducted by the imperious Lady Brocklehurst, played by Martita Hunt) were not actually relevant in 1957; thus, The Admirable Crichton concentrates on the property's farcical and romantic elements.
[edit] Other film adaptations
Other film versions of Barrie's play include a 1918 film adaptation directed by G. B. Samuelson, Cecil B. De Mille's Male and Female (1919) and We're Not Dressing (1934), a Bing Crosby vehicle. The play was also filmed twice for television, in 1950 and 1968.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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