- Title: USA: PREMIERE OF DAVID MAMET'S REMAKE OF CLASSIC FILM "THE WINSLOW BOY
- Date: 25th September 1999
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 16 1999) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) JEREMY NORTHAM SAYING I think what doing it on the screen with David Mamet at the helm brings out is the wonderful ambivalence of the characters and the characters' intentions throughout the piece. For me, now, and this might be different for other members of the audience, it becomes a
- Embargoed: 10th October 1999 13:00
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- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA8M0KCH088KD6XGN861IK2FWG6
- Story Text: In a big departure away from his trademark gritty, profane, contemporary style of writing, screenwriter David Mamet has gone back to World War I era England to write and direct the new film "The Winslow Boy," based on a real life legal battle that captivated the nation in 1909.
The film, which Mamet adapted from the original 1946 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan, was based on an actual case that took England by storm from 1908 to 1910.It was also made into a film in 1950 directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donat, Margaret Leighton, and Cedric Hardwicke.
In the real case, George Archer-Shee, a 13-year-old cadet at the Osbourne Royal Naval College on the Isle of Wight, was accused of stealing a five shilling postal note from the locker of a fellow cadet.The college said Archer-Shee signed his name to the postal order and cashed it.Despite the boy's claims of innocence, he was expelled without any trial or hearing.
The boy's father, Martin Archer-Shee, believed his son to be innocent and after failing to get anywhere with the college, he tried to sue, but the naval college was immune to litigation.
He eventually hired Edward Carson, a barrister famous for his cross-examination of Oscar Wilde in his libel lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry.Carson filed a Petition of Right, which was granted by the King, to file a case against the naval college.
The story is about one family's quest for justice, and Mamet's script stays close to Rattigan's play, including his addition of a daughter who is a Suffragette fighting for the right to vote.The daughter, Catherine Winslow, is played by Mamet's wife, the British actress Rebecca Pidgeon, who starred in Mamet's 1998 thriller, "The Spanish Prisoner."
The family patriarch Arthur Winslow is played by Oscar nominated actor Nigel Hawthorne.
In Rattigan's play, the action takes place entirely in the Winslow family drawing room.In the film, where much of the action is still in the Winslow family home, Mamet added a few other locations, such as the House of Commons and the offices of Sir Robert Morton, the barrister hired by Arthur Winslow who, in the film, is played by "Emma" co-star Jeremy Northam.
The case is viewed strictly from the eyes of the family, and the havoc it wreaks upon their lives, and the sacrifices they make, especially the father and the daughter.
Unlike some period films, "The Winslow Boy," does not have sweeping scenic views, crowds in the streets of London, or big court room scenes, favoring smaller, intimate scenes.
Mamet shows daily newspaper clippings as they are scrutinized by the family, a pressman correcting the day's newspaper headlines, and the Ladies Gallery, where women must sit to watch the legal proceedings because they are not allowed to sit in the main gallery of the House of Commons.
"The Winslow Boy" is now playing in theaters throughout the United States. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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