Returns Policy
If you are unhappy with your purchase, you can return it to us within 14 days. More details
Film Description
Patrick McGoohan and John Thaw star in this television adaptation of John Arden’s intense, powerful play, initially screened in 1961 as a Granada Play of the Week and adapted by Arden himself.
Set against a background of nineteenth-century imperialist conflict, Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance is acknowledged as one of the most important works to explore the futility of ever-escalating revenge cycles and the dehumanisation of war. In a performance considered one of his finest, McGoohan brings typical intensity to the character of Musgrave, whose maniacal attempt to confront a horrified town with the realities of war lies at the heart of the play. Recently revived to huge acclaim in a new stage production, Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance now has a timely release in DVD format – deservedly bringing this vital and compelling work to a wider audience.
Serjeant Musgrave and his small band of men arrive in an impoverished northern coal town, ostensibly on a recruiting drive; it is also suspected that they have been dispatched to break up a strike. But Musgrave and his men are deserters, traumatised by atrocities witnessed in a nameless colonial conflict. They have brought with them the body of Billy Hicks, a soldier from the town who has been killed overseas. Musgrave is tormented by remorse over Hick’s death, and the killing of five men in a reprisal by British forces. Now, insisting that his actions are sanctioned by the same divinely unimpeachable logic, he holds the snow-bound town hostage. Mirroring the calculated brutality of cyclical conflict, he orders the execution of 25 townsmen - five further deaths for each of the five…
With John Thaw and Patrick McGoohan in the leading roles, this is the powerful television production of John Arden's celebrated play; the adaptation here was by Arden ... more >
With John Thaw and Patrick McGoohan in the leading roles, this is the powerful television production of John Arden's celebrated play; the adaptation here was by Arden himself, and was originally broadcast in 1961 as one of Granada's Plays of the Week. Serjeant Musgrave (Patrick McGoohan) and his small band of men arrive in an impoverished northern coal town, ostensibly on a recruiting drive; the residents also suspect them to have been sent to break up a strike. The truth is something else. Well worth seeking out, with indelible performance from the principals. < less
