This was screened late last night on the BBC and provided another chance to see this excellent film written by and starring Michael Palin who based the story on his own great-grandfather who left Oxford to marry a woman he met whilst on holiday. Public School/Universities are, of course, something the British film industry does very well, indeed the Original (1951) The Browning Version with Michael Redgrave is one of the finest British films of all time and American Friends makes a fine addition to the ranks. The mores of 1860s Oxford are beautifully captured and full of details and the late Robert Eddison, primarily a stage actor, brings his mellifluous second-only-to-Gielgud voice fully to bear in all his scenes. Palin also captures to perfection the product of years of conditioning on the verge of becoming set in his ways and then undergoing a life-changing meeting. There is strong support all round with Connie Booth turning in a just-right reading of a maturing woman daring to hope for a bite at the cherry and hiding her disappointment and Alfred Molina more or less phoning in his standard cad about campus. Excellent.
Review of American Friends
