The Winslow Boy (1948 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Winslow Boy

|image_size=250px
caption = Video cover
director = Anthony Asquith
producer = Anatole de Grunwald
writer = Terence Rattigan
Anatole de Grunwald
Anthony Asquith
starring = Robert Donat
Margaret Leighton
Cedric Hardwicke
Basil Radford
Neil North
Jack Watling
Kathleen Harrison
Hugh Dempster
music = William Alwyn (comp.)
Dr. Hubert Clifford (dir.)
cinematography = Osmond H. Borradaile
Freddie Young
editing = Gerald Turney-Smith
distributor = London Films
British Lion Films
released = 1948
runtime = 112 min.
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
imdb_id = 0040970

"The Winslow Boy" is a 1948 film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play "The Winslow Boy". It was made by De Grunwald Productions and distributed by the British Lion Film Corporation. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald with Teddy Baird as associate producer. The screenplay was written by de Grunwald and Rattigan based on Rattigan's play. The music score was by William Alwyn and the cinematography by Freddie Young.

The film starred Robert Donat, Cedric Hardwicke and Margaret Leighton with Basil Radford, Kathleen Harrison, Francis L. Sullivan, Marie Lohr and Jack Watling. Also in the cast are Stanley Holloway, Mona Washbourne, Ernest Thesiger, Wilfrid Hyde White, Lewis Casson, Cyril Ritchard, Dandy Nichols and Neil North, who also appeared in the 1999 David Mamet-directed film version.

Background

Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, "The Winslow Boy" is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name. The boy (Ronnie) is expelled from Osborne Naval College for supposedly stealing a five shilling postal order, without receiving a fair trial. His father (Arthur) and sister (Catherine) lead a long running legal battle, that takes them as far as the House of Commons. The play focuses on a refusal to back down in the face of injustice - the entire Winslow family, and the barrister who represents them (Sir Robert Morton), make great sacrifices in order that right be done.

The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent; the case of George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. His elder brother Major Martin Archer-Shee, was convinced of his innocence, and persuaded his father (also called Martin) to engage lawyers. The most respected barrister of the day, Sir Edward Carson was also persuaded of his innocence, and insisted on the case coming to court. On the fourth day of the trial, the Solicitor General accepted that Archer-Shee was innocent, and ultimately the family was paid compensation. George Archer-Shee died in the First World War and his name is inscribed on the war memorial in the village of Woodchester in Gloucestershire where his parents lived. There is no real world counterpart to the character of Catherine, although she is central to the plot of the play and films.

Plot

Ronnie Winslow (Neil North), a cadet at the Royal Naval College, is accused of the theft of a postal order. An internal enquiry which grants him no chance of defence, finds him guilty and his father, Arthur Winslow (Cedric Hardwicke), is requested to remove his son from the college. Unwilling to accept the verdict, Winslow and his daughter Catherine institute their own enquiries and engage a friend and family solicitor, Desmond Curry (Basil Radford) to assist them, including the briefing of the best barrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton (Robert Donat), should the case come to court.

The government is unwilling to allow the case to proceed, but after heated debates in the House of Commons, the government yields, and the case does come to court. Morton is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence and the government finally withdraws the charges against Ronnie. Although the family win the case, each of them has lost something along the way: Dickie Winslow (Jack Watling) has been forced to leave Oxford due to the lack of money, Catherine (Margaret Leighton) loses her marriage settlement and subsequently her fiancé, John Watherstone (Frank Lawton), and Arthur Winslow loses his health.

External links

*imdb title|0040970|title=The Winslow Boy
*amg title|1:54892|title=The Winslow Boy
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/453742/index.html "The Winslow Boy" at the British Film Institute]