The Winslow Boy (Asquith, 1948) DVD, 1948

Rick Burin finds this captivating adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play as relevant as ever.

This terrific adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play may be 60 years old, but its theme of justice and the right to a fair trial is as relevant as ever. When a 12-year-old boy is thrown out of Naval College for supposedly stealing a postal order, his family decides to appeal, with their case becoming a national cause célèbre. While the father wants to prove the boy innocent, and his daughter (a youthful Margaret Leighton) is fighting for the principle, their brilliant barrister (Robert Donat) seems interested only in his fee.

Donat creates fireworks in the obviously showy role of the boy’s lawyer, matched by Cedric Hardwicke as the bull-headed patriarch laying everything on the line. Leighton, too, makes a memorable impact, playing a spiky suffragette who doubles as her family’s moral backbone. Despite the film’s theatrical origins, director Anthony Asquith’s mobile camera and intelligent montages make this a thoroughly cinematic experience. It’s the acting you’ll remember, though, along with the message: ‘Let right be done’.

Rick Burin on 2nd March 2009
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