SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Pat Rowlings Maggie Smith was already a major star in her native England and 4 years before she had earned an Oscar nomination in the supporting category for her Desdemona in "Othello" with Laurence Olivier but her Jean Brodie arrived to revolutionize everything, specially her own career. She won an Oscar and her win was considered one of the great upsets in the Academy's history. Watching The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 48 years after its original release, told me that the Academy got it right then. Her performance is, quite simply, extraordinary. She's not playing a regular human being, no, she's playing a sort of benign monster, full of good intentions but, goodness, she's mad, mad as a hatter and from that point of view, she's truly dangerous. Maggie Smith goes for it, body and soul, Her confrontation of her superior, played magnificently by Celia Johnson, is of such power that I had to rewind immediately and see it again once, twice, three times. Superlative.

MARIO GAUCI Dame Maggie Smith is one of the most formidable of British actresses; however, she has a penchant to star in films which hold little appeal to me on paper – from Merchant/Ivory costume pieces to the HARRY POTTER franchise. This is one of the reasons why it has taken me this long to watch her Oscar-winning turn in the film under review (despite having been shown on local TV several years ago), or her other Best Actress nod in George Cukor's TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT (1972; which is a staple of the TCM UK channel); conversely, I am familiar with the film for which she won her second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, i.e. the star-studded Neil Simon comedy California SUITE (1978) or, for that matter, movies in which her work was similarly shortlisted for recognition like OTHELLO (1965) and Robert Altman's GOSFORD PARK (2001). Incidentally, I was lucky to attend the London Film Festival premiere of Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut QUARTET (2012) which starred Smith, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon and Billy Connolly where all four stars were in attendance. Anyway, Smith here plays the titular character of a liberated schoolteacher in an Edinburgh girls' school in 1932 who, while ostensibly teaching her pupils the boring subject of History, instills in them an unconditional appreciation for Art, Life, Love and Politics. The excessive zeal with which Brodie goes about her business has all-round tragic consequences: from her butting heads with (and eventually getting the sack from) headmistress Celia Johnson; her star pupils (including "dependable" Pamela Franklin) being looked down upon by both peers and fellow teachers – especially when it is learnt that Smith is taking them to her boyfriend/music teacher Gordon Jackson's farm on Sundays; a new addition to the fold, a stuttering girl in pigtails, is sufficiently impressed by Brodie's singing of Generalissimo Franco's praises (and Benito Mussolini beforehand) to fatally follow her brother (currently involved in the Spanish Civil War) on the battlefield; Franklin poses in the nude for Art teacher Robert Stephens (although he is a Catholic, married and a father of six children, he carries on a torrid affair with Smith herself) and becomes his lover, etc. Although the smooth running of Brodie's iconoclastic curriculum had already hit a snag when Franklin and Diana Grayson (playing Brodie's favourite pupil Jenny) decide to play a prank on ill-matched lovers Smith and Jackson by penning a sordid love letter that ends on Johnson's desk, it completely deteriorates with the death of innocent Mary McGregor… THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, adapted by Jay Presson Allen from Muriel Spark's novel, was somewhat surprisingly released on DVD as part of the "Fox Studio Classics" where it included an Audio Commentary with the film's late director (then a 93-year old) and long-retired actress Franklin; however, as with similar entries in the series that I watched recently – namely TITANIC (1953) and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) – I have not had time to listen to it due to time constraints. Although the acting is generally of a high calibre, I know where film critic Leslie Halliwell is coming from when he says it is "maddeningly acted" since the level of histrionics on display – particularly Smith herself – is sometimes hard to take; still, the film's highlights are the two confrontations between Smith and Johnson (with a dumbfounded Jackson looking on) and the climactic one between Smith and Franklin (whose shocking nude scene might well have cost her an Oscar nomination!) where their tense relationship throughout reaches its final meltdown. For the record, that same year Peter O'Toole was among the year's Oscar nominees for Best Actor for the similarly-set GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS! and actor Stephens was currently wed to Smith in real life. When it comes to awards the film received, it was up for another Oscar – albeit an unaccountable one for Best Song (since the very short tune is only heard once over the closing credits which, incredibly enough, did manage to emerge victorious at the Golden Globes…but not Smith or the film itself!); both Franklin and Johnson, then, were also recognized at the BAFTAs. The film also competed, albeit unsuccessfully, at that year's Cannes Film Festival where, yet another film set in a British school – Lindsay Anderson's IF…. (1968), was crowned the overall winner.

Prismark10 Maggie Smith bagged an Oscar as unorthodox teacher in 1930s Edinburgh. She believes she in her prime although she might be getting over the hill and has an unhealthy obsession with strong fascist leaders such as Mussolini and Franco.The film has some location shooting in Edinburgh and captures the strong conservative and church ethos of the school, its inhabitants and for the period. However the film suffers from not being opened up from its stage origins which the the later television series did.Smith plays Brodie as a pompous, delusional spinster playing with the men who are infatuated with her (including her then real life husband Robert Stephens) and equally playing and later manipulating her favourite students.The essence of the film is that as a teacher who wants to encourage free thinking within her girls and seize the opportunities that life has to offer them shows a different face when confronted by one of her students, Sandy played very well by Pamela Franklin who informed on Miss Brodie and hastens her demise due to one of the students fleeing to Spain to fight for Franco and ends up getting killed.The film although well acted by some well know British actors does suffer from being too stage bound.

wes-connors In 1932 Edinburgh, exacting "Marcia Blaine School for Girls" teacher Maggie Smith (as Jean Brodie) arrives for work. Stylishly outfitted and attractively approaching spinster-hood, Miss Brodie enjoys sharing personal love stories with her students. Brodie does not adhere to the school's curriculum. She teaches an admiration of Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator. Brodie is available for sexual affairs with fellow teachers. She loves art teachers, like Robert Stephens (as Teddy Lloyd). She loves music teachers, like Gordon Jackson (as Gordon Lowther). Understandably, this irks headmistress Celia Johnson (as Emmaline Mackay)...Brodie selects a group of girls for special attention, taking them to lunch and the opera. She also encourages a sexual relationship between an ex-lover and one of - as she calls them - "My girls." In this film, the four singled out as Brodie favorites are: spectacled Pamela Franklin (as Sandy), stuttering Jane Carr (as Mary McGregor), pretty Diane Grayson (as Jenny) and histrionic Shirley Steedman (as Monica). While Brodie is polite, cultured and engaging, she is a truly wretched teacher...This film received some unfair criticism for its depiction of the lead character. Although the "Jean Brodie" character is toned-down from the original novel by Muriel Spark, her behavior is not celebrated. The admiration for Fascism was not uncommon in the 1930s. That this political system led to monstrous evil was unknown to Brodie; furthermore, it seduced entire nations of people. Within the four walls of a classroom, teachers are dictators. This fits Brodie's character perfectly. Her nature is part of the drama...And we are captivated...The story of "Jean Brodie" is a warning. Most important to the its success is a bewitching lead performance - and Maggie Smith delivers marvelously. She won a much-deserved "Academy Award" as "Best Actress" for her impersonation. Also extraordinary is the supporting role played by Ms. Franklin. That Franklin was not even recognized with an "Oscar" nomination is one of the organization's many glaring errors. While not looking quite 12-years old, Franklin received her well-earned "Supporting Actress" honor from the "National Board of Review". Although Smith is the driving force behind the film's success, all other personnel are excellent.********* The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (2/24/69) Robert Neame ~ Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Celia Johnson