It has been said that the various public sensations in the period before World War I were the last times that public attention and anger could be brought forth in defense of the individual who seemed to be wronged. This was true in France from 1894 to 1906 om the Dreyfus Affair, and in Russia in 1911 - 1913 in the "Blood Libel" trial of Mendel Beiliss. One might consider later events (Sacco - Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs, Caryl Chessman) showed similar outbursts of indignation could occur long after World War I was over, but the turn of the 20th Century seemed very fruitful in these cause celebres.
Terence Rattigan, like all good dramatists, knew that you could squeeze much dramatic juice out of a good, real judicial drama. He would do a play based on the tragedy of the Rattenbury - Stoner murder trial of 1935. He would also do a wonderful extra-judicial drama called "The Winslow Boy" based on a 1910 - 1914 cause celebres that rocked Edwardian England. It was the Archer - Shee Case, with the family name changed to Winslow for the purposes of Rattigan's stagecraft.
Martin Archer - Shee was a young naval cadet who was at the Naval War College when he was wrongly accused of stealing postal money orders from his fellow classmates. He was expelled from the school as a result, protesting to all he had not done this. His father believed him, and got England's premier barrister, Sir Edward Carson, to help force a government reversal of this disgraceful action.
Carson is best recalled for his masterful (but tragically effective) destruction of his old college mate Oscar Wilde at Wilde's first trial against the "slander" of the Marquess of Queensbury in 1895. But he was far better than that incident (which he always secretly regretted - he saw Wilde years later as a poverty row derelict in Paris). If you doubt this, check into his excellent prosecution (as Attorney General) of the wife-murdering poisoner Severin Klosowski ("George Chapman", the "Borough Poisoner") in 1903. He did oppose the Home Rule Movement of Parnell and his successors, but Carson loved his native Ireland and hated the 1922 division of the island into Eire Free State and Northern Ireland. He would try (with Kevin O'Higgins of the Southern Irish Government) to restore the two sections together, but O'Higgins' assassination in 1927 ended that attempt.
Carson's best features came out in his defense of Martin Archer - Shee. He refused, despite repeated dismissive behavior of the Asquith government, to give up protesting their high-handed behavior to the boy. The fact was the government's proof of Archer - Shee's criminal activities was weak: a young cadet was known to have cashed the stolen postal orders, but the identification with Archer - Shee was feeble at best. In the end he managed to manipulate the government (weakened by a serious scandal of it's own involving the Marconi Wireless Company) into reviewing the actions. In the end the decision of the Naval authorities had to be reversed by the House of Commons in a special vote, and then a trial was held in which Archer - Shee was acquitted. World War I was soon upon Europe. Martin Archer - Shee joined the army and died in Flanders Fields.
Rattigan was not the only one to see the dramatic possibilities of the story. Alexander Woolcott wrote about it several times, and even attempted to edit a volume of the "Notable British Trials" series on the case. But Rattigan had to humanize the story even more.
First the name of the family is changed to "Winslow", and the spotlight is on Martin's father. Arthur Winslow is played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who is actually a kind hearted man behind his stern Edwardian facade. He is more concerned with his older boy Dick's (Jack Watling's) interest in the "Bunny Hop" dance craze over his studies at Oxford than with the younger, more sensible "Ronnie" (Neil North). The social ostracism of the disgraced family, effecting the engagement of his daughter Katherine (Margaret Leighton) and the standing of Dick at Oxford, forces Winslow to go to "Sir Robert Morton" (Robert Donat as Carson) for the justice he demands. Donat does not appear in the film until nearly half the film is done - but he dominates the second half while Hardwicke dominates the beginning. It is like the passing of a torch.
Donat's performance is a trifle stiff - but that is what Carson occasionally came across as. He is humanized in one way that is historically inaccurate - a romance blossoms between him and Leighton that did not between Carson and anyone in Archer - Shee's family. Still that is underplayed. Instead we watch how he will not be silenced by the indifference of the government in power. In particular the First Lord of the Admiralty (Walter Fitzgerald) and the Attorney General (Francis Sullivan). The former pretends to be more concerned in his golf game than the honor of a little boy. By the way, the play and film does not mention the name of this individual: it was Winston Churchill.
The film is a wonder - and oddly enough does not have the conclusion occur in the courtroom, but has a character describes what happened. But it all works well, and gives the audience a good feeling. Occasionally justice is done!
Terence Rattigan, like all good dramatists, knew that you could squeeze much dramatic juice out of a good, real judicial drama. He would do a play based on the tragedy of the Rattenbury - Stoner murder trial of 1935. He would also do a wonderful extra-judicial drama called "The Winslow Boy" based on a 1910 - 1914 cause celebres that rocked Edwardian England. It was the Archer - Shee Case, with the family name changed to Winslow for the purposes of Rattigan's stagecraft.
Martin Archer - Shee was a young naval cadet who was at the Naval War College when he was wrongly accused of stealing postal money orders from his fellow classmates. He was expelled from the school as a result, protesting to all he had not done this. His father believed him, and got England's premier barrister, Sir Edward Carson, to help force a government reversal of this disgraceful action.
Carson is best recalled for his masterful (but tragically effective) destruction of his old college mate Oscar Wilde at Wilde's first trial against the "slander" of the Marquess of Queensbury in 1895. But he was far better than that incident (which he always secretly regretted - he saw Wilde years later as a poverty row derelict in Paris). If you doubt this, check into his excellent prosecution (as Attorney General) of the wife-murdering poisoner Severin Klosowski ("George Chapman", the "Borough Poisoner") in 1903. He did oppose the Home Rule Movement of Parnell and his successors, but Carson loved his native Ireland and hated the 1922 division of the island into Eire Free State and Northern Ireland. He would try (with Kevin O'Higgins of the Southern Irish Government) to restore the two sections together, but O'Higgins' assassination in 1927 ended that attempt.
Carson's best features came out in his defense of Martin Archer - Shee. He refused, despite repeated dismissive behavior of the Asquith government, to give up protesting their high-handed behavior to the boy. The fact was the government's proof of Archer - Shee's criminal activities was weak: a young cadet was known to have cashed the stolen postal orders, but the identification with Archer - Shee was feeble at best. In the end he managed to manipulate the government (weakened by a serious scandal of it's own involving the Marconi Wireless Company) into reviewing the actions. In the end the decision of the Naval authorities had to be reversed by the House of Commons in a special vote, and then a trial was held in which Archer - Shee was acquitted. World War I was soon upon Europe. Martin Archer - Shee joined the army and died in Flanders Fields.
Rattigan was not the only one to see the dramatic possibilities of the story. Alexander Woolcott wrote about it several times, and even attempted to edit a volume of the "Notable British Trials" series on the case. But Rattigan had to humanize the story even more.
First the name of the family is changed to "Winslow", and the spotlight is on Martin's father. Arthur Winslow is played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who is actually a kind hearted man behind his stern Edwardian facade. He is more concerned with his older boy Dick's (Jack Watling's) interest in the "Bunny Hop" dance craze over his studies at Oxford than with the younger, more sensible "Ronnie" (Neil North). The social ostracism of the disgraced family, effecting the engagement of his daughter Katherine (Margaret Leighton) and the standing of Dick at Oxford, forces Winslow to go to "Sir Robert Morton" (Robert Donat as Carson) for the justice he demands. Donat does not appear in the film until nearly half the film is done - but he dominates the second half while Hardwicke dominates the beginning. It is like the passing of a torch.
Donat's performance is a trifle stiff - but that is what Carson occasionally came across as. He is humanized in one way that is historically inaccurate - a romance blossoms between him and Leighton that did not between Carson and anyone in Archer - Shee's family. Still that is underplayed. Instead we watch how he will not be silenced by the indifference of the government in power. In particular the First Lord of the Admiralty (Walter Fitzgerald) and the Attorney General (Francis Sullivan). The former pretends to be more concerned in his golf game than the honor of a little boy. By the way, the play and film does not mention the name of this individual: it was Winston Churchill.
The film is a wonder - and oddly enough does not have the conclusion occur in the courtroom, but has a character describes what happened. But it all works well, and gives the audience a good feeling. Occasionally justice is done!