Wonderful character development!

The acting in this movie is really good.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Producer: Teddy Baird. Made at Pinewood Studios by Javelin Films, London. Executive producer: Earl St John. Presented by J. Arthur Rank. Released in the U.K. through General Film Distributors on 16 April 1951; in Australia through B.E.F. on 22 May 1952; in the U.S.A. by Universal in October 1951. Copyright in the U.S.A. on 27 April 1951 by Javelin Films, Ltd. New York opening at the Sutton: 29 October 1951. 8,070 feet. 90 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A schoolmaster is forced to retire in penury, due to ill- health.NOTES: 5th best "foreign film" of 1951 — National Board of Review.Whilst Bosley Crowther of The New York Times did not include The Browning Version is his "Top Ten", he did give the movie a rave review and named it in his supplementary list.COMMENT: The powerful and engrossing central role comes most vividly and most effectively to life here, thanks to superlative acting by Sir Michael Redgrave. He is given solid support by Jean Kent, while Wilfrid Hyde-White has one of his most memorable roles as the hypocritical old headmaster. Ronald Howard's part, however, proves surprisingly small, whilst Nigel Patrick approaches his role on far too superficial a level.Asquith's direction has class. Production credits and production values are first-rate. However, the movie is obviously a filmed stage play. Aside from the cricket match sequence, Rattigan has done little to open up the action. The weight of dialogue tends to be a little too suffocating at times, but the pace and grip of the film could be heightened by some slight, judicious cutting.

Michael Redgrave's performance is excellent in this film. I thought he played the unemotional, cuckolded husband perfectly throughout. I also enjoyed Wilfrid Hyd-White's comical performance (which is identical to his enjoyable performance in The Third Man).I like low-key films with plain, simple, un-flashy directing styles and Anthony Asquith's simple 'point & shoot' directing technique fitted the story perfectly.Other performances were not so good, often being a bit too OTT (I'm thinking mainly of the man having the affair with Redgrave's wife and some of the school boys).Overall, the film was enjoyable, though I don't feel it has any repeat-viewing value. I would have given it a higher score but the last 20 minutes or so became a bit too saccharine for me. I don't know if Terrence Rattigan wrote this from personal experience but the ending certainly felt like it was a bit of wish fulfilment and I found the excessive applause at the end of Redgrave's speech inauthentic. Also, the film was a bit too biased to be really exceptional. It was very much from the POV of Redgrave's character and very much against his wife but I do not feel we understood her character enough, since her background and reasons for her behaviour (though briefly touched upon by Redgrave late in the film) was not really explored. So it was a bit too biased in trying to make us sympathetic to Redgrave, which made it slightly less enjoyable for me.

Firstly, I'm a Rattigan fan. Separate Tables (1958), although it hasn't aged well, is still one of my top ten films. I came to The Browning Vesion late, first hearing it as a radio adaptation. The radio adaptation was faithful to the theatre script in every detail and I was genuinely disappointed by the abrupt (and seemingly anti-climactic) ending when the script appeared to be heading towards a more dramatic resolution of themes. In the play the resolution is left to the imagination. The film goes beyond the play and adds the much anticipated ending. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't work. It seemed contrived and unrealistic, tacked on in an attempt to satisfy a cinema going audience. I'm sure Rattigan himself was well aware of the dilemma. Crocker-Harris' last line in the play is "An anti-climax can be surprisingly effective". While I can understand the studio's concerns I think I have to agree with Crocker-Harris and wish the film makers had had the courage to end this film on the same line.

I was 15 and studying the play for GCE exams in the late '60s whilst at boarding school; in a place not totally disassociated in my mind's eye from the setting of the play. It evoked sympathy and attachment within me because of the parallels within it and my own situation. We were told not to watch the film if it came on television as it would or might change our perception of the play in its written form. I happened to be in Maidstone one Saturday afternoon and noticed that it was the second film on at a local flea-pit. as I was always looking for shortcuts in ways to learn (lazy) I ignored the remonstration not to see the film and went in. Having read the play six or seven times and even had an opportunity to act the play within a class setting; I established myself as a critical observer. I was not ready for the absolute impact that it had on me, here were the characters of my imagination and reality acting out this story to which I was so attached, in a manner and style to which I knew to be square and true with my own perception. I will not re-hash the plot as others have done a superb job of that, but will add that this film has a pace and acting precision seen only but a few times, and then to no greater effect than is seen here. Redgrave's performance is flawless, the supporting cast are absolutely perfect and I can think of none who could have improved it by their presence. I left the cinema in shock; returning to the school numb from the experience and the knowledge that I just had to share the fact I had seen it; I came clean and told the head English master (born in 1898), he gated me for a month, and then asked if I enjoyed it, I gushed about all of it and how it had increased my understanding of the tragedy and ultimate renaissance of Crocker Harris. Strangely the love of this play and the admission of my transgression created a strong bond between myself and this crotchety old teacher; even ironically to his lending me a copy of the "Browning Version". This is a great movie, a true work of cinematic genius. The movie is available on DVD so you have no excuse.