barrymost@barrymost
G.B. Shaw does not disappoint! Some may find this adaptation of Shaw's stage play rather slow, talky, and even boring. True, its stage roots are very evident, but the discriminating viewer (or film connoisseur, if you're like me) will find much to appreciate.
Brilliant young artist Louis Dubedat (Dirk Bogarde) suffers from bad luck, bad income, and bad health. When he starts coughing up a lung, his devoted wife (Leslie Caron) approaches a recently knighted doctor who claims to have a cure for TB. But the doctor has a limit as to how many patients he can cure, and so he gathers three of his friends to get their opinions on his prospective new patient. After interviewing Dubedat, they don't particularly like what they see. Now the quartet of doctors (Alistair Sim, Robert Morley, John Robinson, and Felix Aylmer) face a moral dilemma: what constitutes the worth of a life - moral character, or sheer brilliance?
Bottom line is, this film deserves a higher average rating than it gets on most film sites. Is it great? Maybe not, but it's certainly very good. Caron may be a bit stiff here, but the two standouts in the cast are Bogarde and Sim: two of the greatest actors to come out of the UK. The former is a lovable, carefree renegade who "doesn't believe in morality", while the latter is an eccentric quack who has an obsession with blood poisoning.
(Spoilers ahead)
I can't in good conscience write this review without mentioning the death scene. As it turns out, the doctors opt to let Dubedat die, so that the Mrs. may never know about his faults - which include, but are not limited to, petty theft and bigamy. He lies on his deathbed, conveying his last wishes to his wife, in a scene that goes on . . . and on . . . and on. It really is ridiculously long and cringe-worthy, but you get the sense that it was done on purpose. It's bad, but it's _supposed _ to be bad. I even found myself bursting out laughing in the middle of it. It's quite possibly the worst case of scenery chewing I've ever witnessed in a movie. Dirk Bogarde doesn't just chew the scenery, he spits it out too! You can tell he's having fun and milking it for all it's worth, making it all the more memorable.
This film comes recommended to you by yours truly, P.M. Turner