- This essay will inevitably contain spoilers!
'SCREEN ICONS- DIRK BOGARDE'
- A review by Richard Harrison (2008)
With the groomed star personas carefully manipulated by the film
studios of yesteryear it comes as a surprise that an actor could
completely transcend his initial star image and yet keep his artistic
integrity. Such an actor was Dirk Bogarde, whose roles in frothy
comedies like the 'Doctor' films in the 1950s and early 1960s
established him as a friendly face who would appeal to adults and
children alike. Bogarde's abrupt change in star image was not, however,
an overnight volte-face, for he had played more 'psychological'
or 'serious' roles in his career before. This time, as the innocent
Fifties became the establishment-challenging Sixties, Bogarde
consolidated his position as one of Britain's foremost actors with
several high-profile (and highly controversial) films. This new 7 disc
release from Optimum Home Entertainment collects an intriguing
cross-section of his British-made work from The Blue Lamp
(1950) to Accident (1967) by way of Hunted(1952), The
Sleeping Tiger(1954), The Spanish Gardener(1956), Victim(1961)
and The Servant(1963), which reflect the more complex side of
Bogarde's acting mastery.
As well as being genuinely great films in their own right, the range of
titles collected in this seventeen year span also chart the radical
changes happening within Britain at the time. Thus, what is alluded to
in The Spanish Gardener is the focus of Victim . For
an actor as popular with the general film-going public as Bogarde, the
roles he took on as the 1950s became the 1960s were both groundbreaking
and astonishingly risky. These were not the contrasts between comedy
and merely more serious roles (as in the case of Jim Carrey, a modern
star name who has successfully made this difficult transition), but
between what was socially debatable and what was socially
reprehensible.
Whilst any of the films in this collection would be worthy of being
singled out for special praise, one title which is very much underrated
is The Spanish Gardener. I first saw this wonderful film on
television, the narrative disrupted by commercial breaks and the
trappings of contemporary life. On DVD, without such distractions, it
is a revelation. Reuniting Bogarde with Jon Whiteley, the child prodigy
from Hunted four years previously, The Spanish Gardener
tells the story of an overly protected diplomat's son who forms a
friendship with the gardener. Shot in strikingly beautiful mid. 1950s
technicolour, the film makes highly effective use of space and a moving
camera to effortlessly capture the pleasures and pains of friendship.
The introduction of Bogarde (playing the gardener, Jose) is simple but
brilliantly visualised-a long shot of Jose's back leads to three cut
ins, the last a mere second before he turns round. The notable space
between the gardener and Harrington Brande (a superb performance by
Michael Hordern) hints at their strained future relationship but also
enables director Philip Leacock to revel in the glorious scenery which
provides a fitting backdrop to the domestic drama.
The other films on the box set present a rounded picture of Bogarde’s
acting ability- in The Blue Lamp he plays a hoodlum who gets in
beyond his depth (in a way the same sort of role he plays in Victim),
the 1950 film also featuring P.C. George Dixon (who would subsequently
appear on the small screen as Dixon of Dock Green. In Hunted,
Bogarde extends the persona of the haunted individual yet further but
displays an honesty too- his are not the purely dark villains of
unsubtle morality tales but inhabit a grey area of self-doubt and
introspection. One main linked feature of the films is Bogarde’s
mastery of emotions and the fact that, whatever characters he plays,
his are highly credible ones. Equally at home playing an inner-city
delinquent or a Cambridge Don (as in the elegiac Accident), the
sheer scope and scale of Bogarde’s roles makes one yearn for his
ability in today’s cinema. If The Spanish Gardener is taken as
Exhibit A, the richness of what is a relatively minor film in the
Bogarde canon draws two conclusions- that Bogarde was an actor of the
highest merit and that there are films like
The Spanish Gardener (previously unavailable on DVD in the UK!)
waiting in the retailers wings for their curtain call. Dirk Bogarde was
an undisputed cinematic icon in the 1950s-1960s but this set is not
only for those who remember his days as a more complex matinee idol but
for anyone who enjoys fine films with acting of the highest calibre.
The seven discs boast excellent sharp picture quality which enhances
them yet further. They enjoy clear, unmuddy sound and are conveniently
packaged in a box with some extras (the excellent Dirk Bogarde In
Conversation on the Victim DVD being a major example) as
well as a detailed booklet. The set is available from Optimum Home
Entertainment.
Optimum Releasing
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