The Winslow Boy (Drama Classics S)

Great play and both movies. Entertaining on the issue of justice. Is it truly in the public interest to sacrifice individual rights on occasion in the name of public good? "Let right be done."

I'm glad I got the original version of this drama on paper to read. I don't know how much it helped me understand the play or rather the two movie versions. But "The Winslow Boy" in either version on film is really a great play. A courtroom drama without ever going into the courtroom ... also a wonderful insight into an historical event at a different level. My favorite is the Mamet film, BTW.

Good book!

I liked the play itself, but I especially liked three editorial contributions: 1) a description of the real-life events from which the play derives, 2) a history of the various productions and adaptations of the play, and 3) a discussion of Rattigan's place in English drama.

Based on true events. Historical facts. It s one of the most beautiful plays of the English repertory.

Great play.

This play is a great play in many ways. First of all it is a real case. A 13 year old boy was sacked from an English naval academy accused of having stolen a 5 shilling postal order, what's more without his family being heard or informed, without the boy being provided with counsel and the opportunity to clear himself. No real investigation was carried out. They founded their conviction and their decision on the post-office lady who obviously should not have been trusted that much, and a graphologist expert who was proved later in court as untrustable. Why was that one an expert at all for court cases, even if these cases did not go to court? The second interest is of course the battle in Parliament to get the right for the boy to be properly tried in a court of justice, hence to reassert the fact that no public or state agency was over the law. Then, and that is so English, the Attorney General conceded defeat before the end and dropped the case and decided to grant the boy with a full victory before the court's decision, probably because somewhere in this country that invented Habeas Corpus right is more important than the vanity or authority of any one bureaucrat, be he even an admiral or general. By right is meant here the rule of law that has to be guaranteed equal and fair to everyone without exception. Finally it is essential to see how a whole family decides to fight, and in order to fight to sacrifice all they have or may have gotten in the future. Right, the rule of law, is never gratuitous nor free. We have to fight for it but we have to pay for that fight without knowing in advance if there will be any real compensation, not to speak of a profit, in the end. Rattigan adds to these enormously interesting elements the suffragette case on the side, and even in a way on the sly, and a personal dramatic art that makes nearly every scene and character heart-moving and mind-stirring. It is even poignant to see a father and his daughter fighting like gladiators against the state and its abuse of power. Rattigan builds the whole play around this poignancy, and in a way the light insouciance of the boy himself who is so virginally naïve that he could never be thought to be a thief.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

There are two movie adaptations of "The Winslow Boy" available, recently starring Jeremy Northam (1999), and anciently starring Robert Donat (1948). But neither is an adequate substitute for the real thing, the full text by Terence Rattigan. In 1988, PBS broadcast a superb production of the full text, starring Ian Richardson and Emma Thompson, but it has not, unfortunately, been transferred to video.The play concerns a public battle against the government, waged by a father to vindicate his son, expelled from a naval academy for cashing a stolen money order. Although the crusade is exciting, the play is most interesting in what it reveals about the people intimately involved: the members of the Winslow family, their close friends and their lawyer. The resulting insights and realism are among the story's chief virtues.At first reading, the play may seem a straightforward tale of innocence versus injustice. But on closer inspection, one finds that the boy's innocence is never proved, and that some in the family deny or doubt it. Moreover, even if he is innocent, the harm to members of the family and to the country from pursuing the case might be greater than the harm from letting it drop. Such uncertainty is frustrating, but life is like that. Crusades are often launched for ends whose worth is unclear. The play is wise to develop this point.Moreover, the actions and motives of crusaders may be a mixture of good and bad. This may make them harder to join, but certainly interesting and instructive to watch. One admires the boldness, determination and persistence of the father, Arthur Winslow, without whose initiative the crusade would not exist. Yet he is rather a sourpuss, often dominating or humiliating others. His daughter and indispensable lieutenant, Kate, is the most attractive member of the family, bright and realistic but emotionally withheld and often blinded by partisanship. Sir Robert Morton, the celebrated advocate who represents the Winslow boy is a supercilious, cold fish, and a brilliant (unscrupulous?) forensic champion. All three make substantial sacrifices for the sake of their crusade.The author is a master of surprise and reversal. Much of the dramatic excitement comes when esteemed characters behave badly, or disregarded characters greatly please. Perhaps the most beautiful moment in the play is a marriage proposal to Kate by Desmond Curry, an old family friend whom she rather disdains (and the reader discounts). And the mother, Grace Winslow, whose views have been generally ignored, finally makes a powerful case that the crusade, out of pride and stubbornness, is destroying her husband and family for a son who is uninterested in the result.Another excellence of the play is its treatment of controversy. On the questions as to whether the crusade is justified and worthwhile, for the family and for the country, the author impartially assigns plausible arguments to the various sides, from the characters, the newspapers they quote, or the proceedings they attend.An outstanding play, with plenty of food for the intellect, the heart and the soul.

The best of all Rattigan's plays, the subject of two great films. A play that never fails to move, with vibrant but oh so very civilised emotion. Profoundly British, from another era, but just as pertinent today. The interplay of several wonderfully depicted characters, above all, Sir Robert Morton who anonymously declines the chance to become Lord Chief Justice in order to bring the Winslow case to court to 'Let Right be Done'.

after watching the old film with Robert Donat in, thought I must read again, although a play and book in play format easy to read and a real page turner. Bit of a classic loved every page

As new, excellent purchase. Would use this seller again

There are several themes but central is the importance of justice. The characters see it differently. One's attention is held throughout.

Good!!!