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Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Nigel Patrick, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Brian Smith ... see more see more... , Ronald Howard , Bill Travers , Ivan Samson , Josephine Middleton , Peter Jones , Sarah Lawson , Harold E. Scott , Judith Furse

Michael Redgrave gives his greatest performance as Andrew Crocker-Harris, a boarding-school teacher who realizes that his life may be a failure, in this powerful adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play ... read more read more...with a screenplay by Rattigan himself. Poor health forces Crocker-Harris to give up his teaching position after years of thankless service and scorn from his students and colleagues. His marriage to Millie (Jean Kent) is also in free fall, as his wife is openly having an affair with the school's chemistry teacher, Hunter (Nigel Patrick). The sensitivity of one student (Brian Smith) breaks through Crocker-Harris's reserved British exterior, but it takes the final departure of his wife, right before the school's graduation exercises, to wake him up once and for all. He discards his prepared speech and speaks openly to the assembled students, delivering a moving apology for having failed them as their teacher. The film's rich montage of incident and character detail builds to intense emotional heights that make this version of The Browning Version a classic. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

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95% liked it

651 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

17 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: Anthony Asquith

Release Date: March 13, 1951

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DVD Release Date: June 28, 2005

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Stats: 80 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (80)

  • rubystevens
    January 5, 2010
    rubystevens
    a devastating character study with superb performance by michael redgrave. the antithesis of goodbye mr. chips

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

The role of the retiring master is not an easy one, but a prize in the right hands. Michael Redgrave fills it with distinction. Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 10, 2004
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

What begins as an anti-Goodbye, Mr. Chips ends, thanks to some psychological point stretching, as an imitation of it. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

The schoolmaster to whom our pity is drawn is a pretty weak and lukewarm individual, hardly fit to be a teacher of growing boys -- even a teacher of classical languages, which he is. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
April 14, 2010
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

It's a blues pic for teachers that lays down some hope in the end. Full Review

Andrew L. Urban
November 8, 2008
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

It's a remarkable piece of writing by Terence Rattigan, the great English playwright, and great direction by Anthony Asquith to drag us through such an arid landscape and keep us interested, involved ... Full Review

Tom Milne
June 24, 2006
Tom Milne, Time Out

Worth watching for Redgrave's powerfully detailed performance as the schoolmaster. Full Review

John A. Nesbit
November 6, 2005
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

Crocker-Harris represents the 'Willy Loman' of the educational system Full Review

Bill Gibron
July 31, 2005
Bill Gibron, DVDTalk.com

Dramatically powerful, exceptionally well acted and not without its tearful moments of reexamination and redemption...The Browning Version is a...masterwork of a film Full Review

Christopher Null
June 22, 2005
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

a study of a man who's long since come to terms with his mediocrity and who is almost too willingly slipping into the shadows Full Review

Ken Hanke
September 18, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Perfect film version of the play.

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