Terence Rattigan's masterpiece The Deep Blue Sea, now adapted for the screen, was based on an affair between men. He was not the only writer to change a character's sex
Terence Rattigan was the great playwright of restraint, which means, of course, that he was obsessed with the prospect of passion breaking out. There is no more fervent champion of sexual obsession than the puritan, and no more convincing exponent of the destructive power of passionate emotion than the poet of repression. Rattigan's great subjects are what may not be spoken about; what may be concealed; and the moments when people – particularly English people – find it impossible to say what they feel. These are subjects often ascribed to Noel Coward, but Brief Encounter is broad and explicit compared to the best of Rattigan. Consider, for instance, the great scene in the Raf movie The Way to the Stars, the...
Terence Rattigan was the great playwright of restraint, which means, of course, that he was obsessed with the prospect of passion breaking out. There is no more fervent champion of sexual obsession than the puritan, and no more convincing exponent of the destructive power of passionate emotion than the poet of repression. Rattigan's great subjects are what may not be spoken about; what may be concealed; and the moments when people – particularly English people – find it impossible to say what they feel. These are subjects often ascribed to Noel Coward, but Brief Encounter is broad and explicit compared to the best of Rattigan. Consider, for instance, the great scene in the Raf movie The Way to the Stars, the...
- 12/3/2011
- by Philip Hensher
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor whose 1940s heyday featured two films as co-star to James Mason
The 1940s was a ripe period for women in British films, when stars such as Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert, Valerie Hobson and Jean Simmons had a chance to shine. Although Joyce Howard, who has died aged 88, was never in their league, she had her moments of glory in a relatively short career which lasted from 1941 to 1950. Howard's high spots were the two films in which she co-starred with the up-and-coming matinee idol James Mason: The Night Has Eyes (1942) and They Met in the Dark (1943).
Howard was the ideal foil for the saturnine Mason. In the former film, she is the vulnerable, repressed heroine whose passions are aroused by Mason's brooding, secretive composer, the kind of relationship so beloved of wartime British melodramas. The film, directed by Leslie Arliss, creates a pervasive sense of danger, with the characters...
The 1940s was a ripe period for women in British films, when stars such as Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert, Valerie Hobson and Jean Simmons had a chance to shine. Although Joyce Howard, who has died aged 88, was never in their league, she had her moments of glory in a relatively short career which lasted from 1941 to 1950. Howard's high spots were the two films in which she co-starred with the up-and-coming matinee idol James Mason: The Night Has Eyes (1942) and They Met in the Dark (1943).
Howard was the ideal foil for the saturnine Mason. In the former film, she is the vulnerable, repressed heroine whose passions are aroused by Mason's brooding, secretive composer, the kind of relationship so beloved of wartime British melodramas. The film, directed by Leslie Arliss, creates a pervasive sense of danger, with the characters...
- 12/30/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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