Jeremy Brett, Diana Rigg and George Cole. They sound like an unbeatable combination. But this tale, "Grace," staged like a one-act play and on a single set, lacks one thing: interest.
It may be that it's based on a story by Henry James. James was a fine stylist and could be a beautiful writer but he was never Mr. Excitement.
The story concerns a house belonging to a noble family.
Brett, playing a scion of the family, has never actually seen it. Cole plays the man who holds the mortgage, which he will surrender to the Brett character if Brett marries his daughter and goes into Parliament representing the district: but he must change his politics. Gasp.
Rigg brings the sole spark of life to the proceedings as a rich American infatuated with all things English (apparently James took to heart the canard, "Write what you know.")
The only negative thing that can be said about the three principles (of five) is that Cole's beard looks phony. Rigg's American accent sounds acceptable for a high-class woman of her time, especially an Anglophile. Brett is Brett.
But it would have been nicer to see these three in something with more substance.
On a personal note: I've been a fan of Jeremy Brett since first catching his Sherlock Holmes in 1984. I met Cole a bit later, watching his old comedies like "The Green Man." And I've been a Rigg fan since I was a tadpole. She had the perfect blending of beauty and talent in equal measure. I love to hear her doing Shakespeare.
It's James who let the side down.
This tedious, flimsy story is remarkable only for being a breathtaking waste of talent.