Post by Aerie on Jul 11, 2010 0:22:25 GMT -5
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a 1969 drama film, based on the novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.
The novel was turned into a play by Jay Presson Allen, which opened on Broadway in 1968, with Zoe Caldwell in the title role, a performance for which she won a Tony Award. This production was a moderate success, running for just less than a year, but it has often been staged by both professional and amateur companies since then.
However, although successful in its own terms, some have questioned whether it is a particularly faithful adaptation. It turned an experimental work into a realistic one, and removed some theological issues, turning it into a story of failed love.[1]
The number of girls in the Brodie Set is reduced from six to four (Mary, Sandy, Jenny, and Monica) and some of them are composites of girls in the novel. Mary is a composite of the original Mary and Joyce Emily; although mainly based on the original Mary, the episode of dying in the Spanish Civil War is given to her, and rather more is made of this incident than in the novel. Jenny is a composite of the original Jenny and Rose; in spite of her name she has more in common with Rose, since it is she whom Miss Brodie tries to manoeuvre into having an affair with Mr Lloyd.
Allen adapted her play into a film in 1969, which was directed by Ronald Neame. It is remembered for Maggie Smith's performance in the title role, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. There was also a notable performance from Pamela Franklin as Sandy, for which she won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress. It was also entered into the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.[2]
Gordon Jackson played Gordon Lowther, and Rona Anderson, who was married to Jackson in real life, played chemistry teacher Miss Lockhart, whom Lowther married in the film. Robert Stephens, then Maggie Smith's real life husband, played Miss Brodie's married artist lover, who was having an affair with student Sandy (Pamela Franklin) (posing nude and looking like Miss Brodie in the painting), Teddy Lloyd; singer Isla Cameron played the stern librarian, Miss MacKenzie; Celia Johnson played the austere and antagonistic school headmistress, Miss Emmeline MacKay; and Jane Carr played Mary McGregor. Rod McKuen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for "Jean", which became a huge hit for the singers Oliver with Rod McKuen's melodious ballad "Jean", in autumn 1969. The play also underwent modification for the film; it cut out a few scenes showing Sandy in later life as a nun.
The novel was turned into a play by Jay Presson Allen, which opened on Broadway in 1968, with Zoe Caldwell in the title role, a performance for which she won a Tony Award. This production was a moderate success, running for just less than a year, but it has often been staged by both professional and amateur companies since then.
However, although successful in its own terms, some have questioned whether it is a particularly faithful adaptation. It turned an experimental work into a realistic one, and removed some theological issues, turning it into a story of failed love.[1]
The number of girls in the Brodie Set is reduced from six to four (Mary, Sandy, Jenny, and Monica) and some of them are composites of girls in the novel. Mary is a composite of the original Mary and Joyce Emily; although mainly based on the original Mary, the episode of dying in the Spanish Civil War is given to her, and rather more is made of this incident than in the novel. Jenny is a composite of the original Jenny and Rose; in spite of her name she has more in common with Rose, since it is she whom Miss Brodie tries to manoeuvre into having an affair with Mr Lloyd.
Allen adapted her play into a film in 1969, which was directed by Ronald Neame. It is remembered for Maggie Smith's performance in the title role, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. There was also a notable performance from Pamela Franklin as Sandy, for which she won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress. It was also entered into the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.[2]
Gordon Jackson played Gordon Lowther, and Rona Anderson, who was married to Jackson in real life, played chemistry teacher Miss Lockhart, whom Lowther married in the film. Robert Stephens, then Maggie Smith's real life husband, played Miss Brodie's married artist lover, who was having an affair with student Sandy (Pamela Franklin) (posing nude and looking like Miss Brodie in the painting), Teddy Lloyd; singer Isla Cameron played the stern librarian, Miss MacKenzie; Celia Johnson played the austere and antagonistic school headmistress, Miss Emmeline MacKay; and Jane Carr played Mary McGregor. Rod McKuen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for "Jean", which became a huge hit for the singers Oliver with Rod McKuen's melodious ballad "Jean", in autumn 1969. The play also underwent modification for the film; it cut out a few scenes showing Sandy in later life as a nun.
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