The Admirable Crichton (film)
| The Admirable Crichton | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lewis Gilbert |
| Produced by | Ian Dalrymple |
| Written by | J. M. Barrie (play) Lewis Gilbert (adaptation) Vernon Harris (screenplay) |
| Starring | Kenneth More Diane Cilento Cecil Parker Sally Ann Howes Martita Hunt |
| Music by | Douglas Gamley Richard Addinsell (waltzes) (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
| Release date(s) | 1957 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Admirable Crichton (vt Paradise Lagoon) is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, Diane Cilento, Sally Ann Howes and Cecil Parker. The film was based on J. M. Barrie's 1902 stage comedy of the same name.
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[edit] Plot
Kenneth More stars as William Crichton, the highly knowledgeable and efficient butler in the London household of the Earl of Loam and his family. Though Crichton is the true master of the household, he knows his place, honouring the tightly regulated social structure of late-nineteenth century England.
On a trip on the Earl's steam yacht to the South Seas, the family and its servants are shipwrecked. The family become marooned on a desert island, and only Crichton proves to have the skills and resourcefulness to keep everyone alive.
Due to differences with Earl Loam, Crichton leaves the group to setup camp at another area of the island. Loam fails to establish a proper camp, and suffering hunger, his group later set off to find out how Crichton had fared. They find him at his well-established camp, roasting a pig while listening to records on a salvaged turntable working off a water wheel in the nearby stream.
Within a few months, the social order has been reversed: Crichton, who becomes affectionately known as 'Guv', takes control of affairs, while his former employers become his willing and eager servants. Lady Mary (Sally Ann Howes), assuming that she will never be able to return to her proper fiancé, falls in love with Crichton, but he is also loved by Eliza, the former 'Tweeny' (in-between maid). Lord Loam is known to all as 'Daddy' and happily serves as Crichton's valet.
As Crichton and Mary are about to be married (to Eliza's great distress), a rescue ship is sighted. The group is undecided whether to light the signal fire until Crichton does so.
The castaways are rescued and return to their London home, where the original master-servant status quo is restored. His marriage to Lady Mary now an impossibility, Crichton calmly packs his bags and leaves, in the company of maidservant Tweeny (Diane Cilento), who has loved him all along. He has however acquired a bag of valuable pearls from the island and plans to set up in business using them as capital.
Barrie's satirical jab at class consciousness (notably in the closing "interrogation scene", conducted by the imperious Lady Brocklehurst, played by Martita Hunt) were less relevant in 1957; thus, The Admirable Crichton concentrates on the story's farcical and romantic elements.
[edit] Other film adaptations
Other film versions of Barrie's play include a 1918 film adaptation directed by G. B. Samuelson, Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female (1919), and We're Not Dressing (1934) with Bing Crosby. The play was also filmed twice for television, in 1950 and 1968.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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