MR PERRIN AND MR TRAILL
UK, 1948, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Marius Goring, David Farrar, Greta Gynt, Raymond Huntley, Edward Chapman, Ralph Truman.
Directed by Lawrence Huntington.
This is very good character portrait of an elderly teacher, 21 years in a public school, submitting himself to a manipulative and dominating headmaster, repressing his feelings, especially for the nurse at the school, visiting his mother, doing the same thing year after year. This is one of the best performances by Marius Goring as Mr Perrin.
While the tradition is that of Tom Brown’s Schooldays and an image of the disciplines of the public school, the touches of bullying and superiority, lessons and sport, it is also a critique. From a novel by Hugh Walpole, this is a post-war story, David Farrar as Mr Traill being a war hero, a sports hero, wanting to do good in school, discovering the manipulation and dominance of the headmaster, experience of the disdain of some of the staff who thought him too forward, meeting the nurse, going out with her, falling in love and proposing, reacting with carelessness to the sensitive Mr Perrin and his expectations concerning discipline, seniority and the staff…
With school detail, the film creates a picture of education but also is a psychological study of the interaction between the two men, leading to a dramatic ending which was not quite anticipated.
Director Lawrence Huntington made a number of films from the 30s into the 1950s, many routine but some stand out like Nightboat to Dublin, The Upturned Glass and this film.
1. The British tradition of films about public schools? The background of Tom Brown’s School days? Films like Goodbye Mr Chips? The Browning Version? The image of the British public school? Staff, all-boys schools, disciplined, sense of superiority? (And the later influence on the public life of the schoolboys, public service, politics?)
2. The black-and-white photography, the school, interiors, the playing fields, the cliffs, the sea? The musical score?
3. The title, the focus on the two men? The role of the headmaster? The other members of the staff? Their holding onto tradition? Wariness of the
new teacher, his military service in World War II, changing post-war world?
4. The focus on the boys, coming back to school, the older boys and the touch of the bully, not being able to use one’s Christian name, the boys in class, eating behind the teachers back, the disrespect, the role of sports? Maths, lessons, homework? The final assembly, the different kinds of applause, the speech by the visitor at the assembly, his cliches, promising a half=holiday? And the final image of the boy wanting to say goodbye to Mr Perrin?
5. The portrait of Perrin, Marius Goring’s performance? Age, experience, 21 years in the school? His appearance, old, hair, glasses, pipe? Going to visit his mother? The attraction towards Isobel, reticent? His mother and matchmaking? His relationship with the headmaster, the headmaster manipulating him, cowering, his giving information? Maths, the boys, teaching?
6. The arrival of Mr Traill, from the war, younger, sports champion, the headmaster’s pleasure in bringing him to the school, the demotion of Mr Perrin and maths, the demotion of the sports coach? The reactions, accepting?
7. David Traill, his war experience, his sports experience, wanting to be in education? Meeting Isobel, the attraction, going out with her, the meals, the algebra proposal? The night out, her acceptance, drunken coming in the window, the conflict with Perrin and the breaking of the crockery? His offhand behaviour, Perrin and the papers and the right place, his priority for The Times, sense of seniority and Traill defying it? The buildup to the fight? His not realising Perrin’s attraction to Isobel? Perrin and his sleepwalking?
8. The role of the headmaster, his personality, control, the traditions, his manipulation, humiliation of the staff? Criticising in the presence of other staff? The buildup to the final confrontation with Traill, Traill accusing him of Perrin’s death, highlighting the reaction of the board and public opinion about his management of the school?
9. Perrin, his disappointment, behaviour in the common room, his reaction and the fight, the news spreading, the boys and the mockery on the blackboard? The effect on him, the chaplain coming to see him and his imagining Traill? His following Traill, on the cliffs, the interchange, Traill going over the cliff? His dismay, his climbing down, the incoming tide, carrying the unconscious Traill, saving his life, drowning?
10. An image of education in the past, the style of British education, its influence on the British upper classes? The film as a critique?
