JB Priestley's play An Inspector Calls from 1946 is a celebrated theatrical play that depicts the Birling family cruel treatment of Eva Smith a former factory employee, shop girl and then a fallen woman. In each case contact with the Birlings piles on further misfortune.
The film is set in 1912, a time where social change is threatened and there are rumblings of war in Europe. The Birlings are a well to do provincial family in Yorkshire. Their daughter is due to marry a suitable suitor and Arthur Birling (Ken Stott) is looking forward to receive an offer of a knighthood.
However an Inspector Goole (David Thewlis) arrives to spoil the celebration that a young woman has tragically killed herself and each person in the room shares some responsibility.
This television film is a more sombre affair than the Alistair Sim version and maybe appears a tad heavy handed with its moralising which still has relevance today (Priestley was a socialist). I think the ending worked better in the Sim film but I felt this was the better film as some of the hard edged Birlings (Stott and Miranda Richardson) revert to type as soon as the Inspector leaves unaware that a counter punch is yet to be delivered.
The film is set in 1912, a time where social change is threatened and there are rumblings of war in Europe. The Birlings are a well to do provincial family in Yorkshire. Their daughter is due to marry a suitable suitor and Arthur Birling (Ken Stott) is looking forward to receive an offer of a knighthood.
However an Inspector Goole (David Thewlis) arrives to spoil the celebration that a young woman has tragically killed herself and each person in the room shares some responsibility.
This television film is a more sombre affair than the Alistair Sim version and maybe appears a tad heavy handed with its moralising which still has relevance today (Priestley was a socialist). I think the ending worked better in the Sim film but I felt this was the better film as some of the hard edged Birlings (Stott and Miranda Richardson) revert to type as soon as the Inspector leaves unaware that a counter punch is yet to be delivered.