Word: gielguds
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...sole specific example of prejudice comes from Sir John Gielgud as a biased Cambridge don who rather tiresomely and foolishly repeats that young Abrahams represents "a different God and a different mountain." As Cross plays the stereotypical Jew, so Gielgud plays the stereotypical Cambridge/Oxford master: stiff collar, talk of good sportsmanship, supercilious expression, after-dinner liqueur. His upper-crust old-schoolishness lacks a human spark; consequently the character appears a flat cardboard mockup of the real thing...
...merely two examples of the unconvincing stereotyping that pervades the film. Intent on criticizing the stuffiness and conservatism of the British aristocracy, director Hudson seemingly has forgotten that any portrayal--particularly a negative one--requires detail to convince. But detail does not appear. Instead, scenes flash by disjointedly: Gielgud and his colleague sip port and discuss school spirit; the Prince of Wales languorously puffs a cigarette and tries to convince Liddell to run the preliminary heat on Sunday "for the love of country...
...something more even than a thinking man's Rocky. One takes from it subtler pleasures-the controlled ferocity of Ben Cross as Abrahams, for instance, and the gentle strength of Ian Charleson as Liddell. A word of praise, too, goes to a supporting cast that includes Sir John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson as a pair of congealed Cambridge dons, Nigel Davenport and Patrick Magee as Olympic committeemen respectively too smooth and too Blimpish. Like every element in this picture, the actors look right; they seem to emerge from the past, instead of being pasted...
...Gielgud: Oh, I want to be young again...
Gordon luckily seems to have realized that the serious stuff just doesn't click, and as soon as Gielgud is dispatched, Moore is back in the bottle again, right up until the decidely happy ending. The saved-by-the-bell wedding ending recalls The Graduate, except this is unequivocably happy. The Graduate rejected the Establishment, Arthur embraces it. Ban and Elaine rode off in a public bus, Arthur and Linda scoot off in a chauffeur-driven Rolls, gleefully content with their $700 million nest...