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By
FRANK BEHRENS
With a running time of 663
minutes and presented in 13 episodes of abut 50
minutes each, "To Serve Them All My Days" is
certainly one of the better of the older
Masterpiece Theatre gems. And Acorn Media is to be
thanked for making it available once again, a mere
24 years after it first appeared on British
television and a little less since it appeared on
the American screen.
Although it does resemble "Goodbye, Mr. Chips,"
this story by R. F. Delderfield goes a lot deeper
into what it means to dedicate one's life to the
education of the young. David Powlett-Jones
(admirably played by John Duttine) returns as a
shell-shocked victim of frontline combat during
World War I and wants to try teaching at Bamfylde,
a "public" school (which means a private school)
for boys. The sweep of the story is how his
private life always takes second place to his
teaching and how so many of his students fall
victim to yet another world war. (You can teach
individuals, it seems, but our leaders never seem
to learn.)
Although the story takes several predictable
twists, the joy of this miniseries lies in the
rich characters that play their parts in
Powlett-Jones' life. The three loves of his
life—played by Belinda Lang, Kim Braden and Susan
Jameson—are strongly contrasted, as are several of
the students. But the real fun lies in the
teachers. We have the elderly Cordwainer (John
Welsh), to whom all boys are toads and none of
their written work is satisfactory; the military
Carter (Neil Stacy), who never served in actual
combat because of his leg and is all for updating
the science labs; and especially the cynical
Howarth (Alan MacNaughtan), the chain-smoking
teacher's lounge philosopher, who befriends and
acts as older brother to P-J.
Veteran actor Frank Middlemass plays the head of
the school, Algy Herries, as a character out of
Trollope but very believable. He first sees the
potential in P-J and spends the entire series as
his father-figure and guardian angel. Not quite a
perfect saint but certainly the antithesis of his
successor, the emotionally sterile Alcock (Charles
Kay), who becomes headmaster and proceeds to turn
Bamfylde into a police state. In an American
production, he would have been treated as a comic
character. Here he is humanly pathetic in Kay's
outstanding performance.
There are several bonus features that include the
author's biography, cast filmographies, a photo
gallery, and some background information. You may
use English subtitles if you choose. The picture
is, of course, full screen (4:3 ratio). Highly
recommended. |
