our betters
although the british upper class may be thought our betters in society, but they are certainly not our betters, and perhaps our equals, in morality .
our betters (1933) - - (movie clip) that ridiculous ...
claire jullien as lady pearl grayston and julia course as elizabeth (bessie) saunders in our betters .
lifestyles of the rich and shameless are on display in asolo rep' s
our betters .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing our betters near you .
from a canadian perspective? well, our betters certainly needs a more rigorous treatment to seem relevant here and now .
our betters by w. somerset maugham, on now in a good production at the shaw festival, mocks the quaint belief that our own age is less moral than previous ones
starry night dinner 3: celebrating the production of' our betters' - starry night dinner 3: celebrating the production of our betters was themed to the 1920' s, with a suggested dress code described as elegant and distinguished. | your observer
the british atmosphere in our betters was nicely handled, though the movie was too stagey–there was no effort to open it up .
in retrospect, our betters stands as a crucial, personal work in cukor’s large oeuvre, bearing resemblance to other gay - inflected movies he would make .
starry night dinner 3: celebrating the production of our betters was themed to the 1920' s, with a suggested dress code described as elegant and distinguished .
our betters may be minor maugham but it still has major rewards to those lucky enough to look for them in the right way in this smartly - crafted production .
bandit: hey! we saw them first, they' re our problem .
“our betters” runs through april 19, at the fsu center for the performing arts, 5555 n. tamiami trail, sarasota. call 351 - 8000 or visit urltoken for more information .
don’t miss a single moment of our 2014 - 15 season. join us today !
we use cookies to deliver a better user experience and to show you ads based on your interests. by using our website, you agree to the use of cookies as described in our
our betters is on at the shaw festival in niagara - on - the - lake, ont. , until oct. 27 and features ben sanders as lord bleane and julia course as elizabeth (bessie) saunders .
the title is meant to be ironic, by the way, if you couldn' t already guess. newsflash: these upper - class twits are not our betters! cue keanu reeves - style
whoaaaaaa .
bird: caw… (our feathers are a little crumpled, but we' re all right. )
we found your email in our system. please provide your site password to link to your existing account .
our betters, a satirical film about a free - spirited american social climber, was the only somerset maugham work (play or book) that george cukor directed for the big screen, despite their wish to work together, based on lifelong friendship .
lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you crew reveal their most soul - crushing jobs in our freewheeling interview .
we do the impossible because we enjoy the challenges. we are people who have challenged the outdoors, served our country, and are still sharpening our minds and bodes on a daily basis to best support our clients. call us at + 1 (480) 477 - 7750 today to find out how castle medflight can assist you .
pavidus: we were saying that my masters' spirits may be restored if we return to our homeland mountains awhile .
the shaw festival is marketing w. somerset maugham' s our betters as
perfect for lovers of downton abbey .
the 1917 play does, after all, focus on down - at - the - heels english lords who marry rich american women for their fortunes .
wade bogert - o' brien as fleming harvey and catherine mcgregor as princess flora della cercola appear in our betters at shaw festival' in niagara - on - the - lake, ont. the snazzy play by w. somerset maugham is on until oct. 27 .
w. somerset maugham was clearly great fun at parties. and he was clearly paying attention. the evidence being “our betters, ” the latest offering at the asolo rep. maugham’s 1923 play masterfully distills his observations of upper class england at the dawn of the roaring twenties .
opening and no honeymoon for american pearl (constance bennett), presumably innocent before marrying peer george (alan mowbray), quickly revealed to be a heel, anita louise the younger sister, george cukor directing the 1933 rko production of w. somerset maugham' s our betters .
collect bonus rewards from our many partners, including amc, stubs, cinemark connections, regal crown club when you link accounts .
as our betters begins, the beautiful, innocent heiress bessie (julia course, filling out a character that could easily be flat) has arrived in london to spend time with her sister pearl (claire jullien), who sailed across the ocean years ago to marry a lord and become a lady .
american bessie (anita louise) with push - back for fleming (charles starrett), visiting london where her sister is socialite lady pearl (constance bennett), instructing minion thornton (grant mitchell) on maneuvers, in george cukor' s our betters, 1933, from the somerset maugham play .
niagara - on - the - lake, ont. —if you’re tending to be scandalized lately by the supposedly loose morals of the world in which we live, take a deep breath and plunge into the decidedly louche society of our betters, which had a snazzy opening saturday afternoon at the shaw festival .
but the story’s not the whole story. the world on stage is: britain’s lost eden of upper - crusty creature comforts and class distinction. to contemporary anglophiles, “our betters” is a golden ticket to willy wonka’s chocolate factory. they pack the opening night audience, so my spider sense tells me .
american bessie (anita louise) with push - back for fleming (charles starrett), visiting london where her sister is socialite lady pearl (constance bennett), instructing minion thornton (grant mitchell) on maneuvers, in george cukor' s our betters, 1933, from the somerset maugham play. >
our betters is an adaptation of a drawing room play by w. somerset maugham, and boy does it retain its staginess. there are some fun moments, and constance bennett as the cunning, come - hither high society minx is the mvp, but it' s 99% talk - sleepy viewers beware .
browse a digital collection of our other publications, magazines and special sections such as season magazine, health matters, holiday gift guide and more .
—our betters is in repertory at the royal george theatre, niagara - on - the - lake, through oct. 27, major barbara at the royal george through oct. 19, guys and dolls at the festival theatre through oct. 12. call 1 - 800 - 511 - 7429 or visit urltoken for details and tickets .
yes, thanks to maugham’s comedy of bad manners, you can crash their exclusive parties and laugh with them and at them. laugh you will, make no mistake. “our betters” is a very funny play. so funny, it’s easy to miss the point — especially if you’re an anglophile with a golden ticket in your chocolaty hands .
while watching our betters, a george cukor - directed adaptation of a w. somerset maugham play, i felt like i was observing an alien race from above, with many of its members acting in ways—whether heartlessly bitchy, unbelievably self - delusional or otherwise—that seemed utterly foreign to my own experience of what i' d consider normal human behavior .
you don’t have to be an american in britain — though it would probably help — to enjoy “our betters, ” somerset maugham’s rarely seen 1917 comedy with which kathleen turner makes her second chichester festival appearance of the summer (following the solo show “tallulah! ”). a quietly cutting satire of yanks who yearn to be english, [ … ]
there’s a quaint belief, expounded in newspaper columns and letters to editors, that our own age is significantly less moral than previous ones. almost any worthwhile piece of past literature, fact or fiction, will give the lie to that, even if morality is defined, as it generally and quaintly is, as sexual morality. our betters, a sardonically titled comedy by w. somerset maugham now on view in a good production at the shaw festival, is a case in point, suggesting that in this respect the only thing we’ve lost is hypocrisy .
due to technical reasons, we have temporarily removed commenting from our articles. we hope to have this fixed soon. thank you for your patience. if you are looking to give feedback on our new site, please send it along to feedback @ urltoken. if you want to write a letter to the editor, please forward to letters @ urltoken .
boar: oink oink oink… (certainly we are not in a good way at the moment. it' s like you just said, the shift in our environment is to blame) .
aiming at getting peer recognition, cukor invited king vidor to a preview of our betters. vidor was one of the most respected directors at the time, having made the crowd and hallelujah. vidor complemented cukor, but also honestly conceded that he would never tackle a subject with so “little locomotion. ” vidor felt that the picture was static, but that cukor somehow had the faculty of keeping it interesting in spite of this obstacle .
we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings .
however, our betters was written by maugham for a british audience of his time and is about his time – a very particular moment in anglo - american relations, as it happens. though the play was ready for the stage in 1915, the foreign office caused its premiere to be delayed for years out of concern that its depiction of americans abroad would make it difficult to persuade the united states to join the allied forces as an associated power .
we’re idealists. we openly discuss our positions and defend them with clinical objectivity in the spirit of pursuing knowledge. few conversations beside the obvious “hr! ” complaint generating ones are really ever off the table and as such we all usually end up with a viewpoint that has been challenged. having this be accomplished in an environment that supports the discussion and debate for it’s ability to help define and challenge our own internal preconceived notions means we are able to learn from each other’s experiences. it betters us as critical thinkers, and let’s face it, when you leave a conversation on theoretical physics and pop back in at developmental psychology it’s never a dull day .
with our iphone - or android app. the apps are synchronized with your account at blu - ray. com, so you only need to install the app and login with your regular username and password .
somerset maugham' s our betters was written during the first world war, but not staged until the 1920s. in the chichester programme part of the lord chamberlain' s file on the play is reproduced: the censors of the time evidently considered it so worrying that many readers were recruited to give their opinion. now, it' s difficult to imagine what the fuss was about. stories such as this about title - hunting american heiresses had been the stock of drawing - room dramas for 30 years before .
wade bogert - o’brien has often struck the excessive and surface note in his comic turns, but here, as the innocent abroad, fleming, who acts as our moral compass, he displays a sincerity and vulnerability that are incredibly appealing .
written at a time of stagnant trench war (a fact panych' s production ignores), when americans actually wanted to avoid
foreign entanglements ,
our betters now seems like an awfully short - sighted allegory fuelled by sneering resentment at needing a helping hand. no surprise that it has always been better received in britain than in the united states. indeed, it' s one of many plays about americans to be praised by british critics and greeted by skepticism by american ones, recent examples being lucy prebble' s enron and katori hall' s the mountaintop .
you don’t have to be an american in britain — though it would probably help — to enjoy “our betters, ” somerset maugham’s rarely seen 1917 comedy with which kathleen turner makes her second chichester festival appearance of the summer (following the solo show “tallulah! ”). a quietly cutting satire of yanks who yearn to be english, the play is no less critical of these americans’ arrogant, self - absorbed hosts. it’s a sign of maugham’s magnanimity that american earnestness carries the day (even if it took oscar wilde to demonstrate the lasting importance of being earnest) .
the tv series downton abbey is set in the past but written for an audience of the present, appealing to our 21st - century sensibilities. like most period pieces, it is partly about now – or, at least, how we got to now .
pearl is a pretty good role for turner, whose ever - peculiar voice suits a crowd prone to borrowed, not easily placed accents. if there’s a faintly equine quality to her strutting (shame, too, about a wig that resembles a giant brioche), the actress looks more comfortable here than she did with the not dissimilar depredations of jean cocteau’s “indiscretions. ” of the rest, little sister graubart is so irritating that one wants to bundle her back home at the first opportunity, while davenport’s doting arthur possesses the consummate veteran performer’s ease to make his infrequent appearances some of “our betters’ ” best .
silly upper - class romance mess. not particularly funny. pretense, cold love for titles, kept men, betrayals. the normal stuff from the ones that are' our betters'. so damn false! the lady that steals the show is not the leading lady constance bennett, but instead violet kemble cooper as' duchess minnie' in her first movie role making the most of her time as the stupid rich woman who is very fond of her younger playboy lover. she was so cute with him. like he was her little baby spoiling him silly. and like a kid he sure liked playing... .. around .
you don' t have to be an american in britain - - - though it would probably help - - - to enjoy
our betters ,
somerset maugham' s rarely seen 1917 comedy with which kathleen turner makes her second chichester festival appearance of the summer (following the solo show
tallulah !
). a quietly cutting satire of yanks who yearn to be english, the play is no less critical of these americans' arrogant, self - absorbed hosts. it' s a sign of maugham' s magnanimity that american earnestness carries the day (even if it took oscar wilde to demonstrate the lasting importance of being earnest) .
in “‘imagine dust with a capital letter’: interpreting the social and cultural contexts for philip pullman’s transformation of dust, ” katharine cox shows that dust deserves more than a singular reading, that it is a “complex metaphor [... ] achieved through a manipulation of our historic and contemporary ideas of attitudes toward dust” (127), used to express a pantheistic universe. cox’s essay fills a gap in the study of “social implications and cultural history of dust” (127), and offers both history and historiography of human attitudes toward dust. pullman’s dust represents as an industrial byproduct, a cause of disease, and our mortality .
there’s little especially lasting about “our betters” beyond its status as the kind of gently piquant curiosity on which chichester thrives. (the play runs through sept. 27 in repertory with “divorce me, darling! , ” the sandy wilson musical sequel to “the boyfriend. ”) bessie saunders (sheri graubart) is newly arrived in london from chicago in order to follow older sister pearl, now lady grayston (played by turner), in swapping u. s. cash for a u. k. title. while bessie’s cousin (and childhood sweetheart) fleming harvey (charles edwards) looks on in dismay, she is duly taken up by a circuit of posh schemers, presided over by pearl with the sang - froid of a society hostess whose life, we’re told, “is a work of art. ”
elisabeth eldridge’s essay, “constructions of the child, authority and authorship: the reception of c. s. lewis and philip pullman, ” explores public constructions of pullman and lewis as authors and how these constructions affect the authority of narration. too much is going on here to be contained in a concise essay; eldridge’s initial deconstruction of “pullman’s” construction of “lewis” is muddier than this sentence. as it is, we are given no direct indication of how this section betters our understanding of the “public construction of these notions of author and text” (41) more than would reading pullman’s un - deconstructed quotes. despite these and other small issues, eldridge’s discussion of the relationships between these two authors, their constructed personae, and the power they exert over groups of potential readers is attention - worthy. steven barfield makes a good case in his essay, “‘dark materials to create more worlds’: considering
medicine is about compassion for others, caring, and understanding but oftentimes that compassion can feel somewhat forced. whether it’s the receptionist that is forcing the kindness out because she’s having a bad day or it’s the clinician that is obviously more interested in their 3pm meeting over the patient in front of them. at castle we pride ourselves on being industry disruptors so instead of the canned photo snapshots and obviously copy and pasted inspirational quotes i tried to think of a more unique way to share what our lives outside of the office look like. it' s easier to talk to the team on the other end of the line when an individual can identify the other person, which helps us provide a more compassionate and caring environment to all clients. besides conversations based solely upon the delicious properties of bacon i notice the top conversations within our senior staff communication chain tend to center around the outdoors. the staff are all avid outdoorsmen and women with daily conversations ranging from climbing and fishing to hiking and horsemanship. the team collectively loves to spend time out of reception when we can. our families rarely get uninterrupted time with the senior staff with the coordination effort required among the team so when we have the chance to cut away from problems we embrace it wholeheartedly .
castle holdings inc (dba. castle medflight) is in the business of providing and / or arranging air medical transportation services at the highest level of care for its patients. the mission of castle medflight is to perform these critical care missions in a camts and namta compliant manner that far exceeds our patients' expectations. castle medflight utilizes the services of sole and exclusive faa f. a. r. part 135 vendors, such as starjet llc (license number: upon request) .
we’ve veterans. fellow veterans may understand that most of us were oddballs in the normal workforce, but here we’ve been able to create an environment that understands the unique problems of being a vet returning to the workforce. we also understand the need to feel as if we are making a change in the world again, to find our meanings and sense of purpose again. there’s also a number of emails from the office park to stop doing things like “drinking all of the communal coffee” and “rappelling from the rafters, ” but those are most likely one off incidents .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1. 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
your social account may not have provided your email to us. please confirm or enter it below to complete your profile .
forgot your password? enter your email address and we' ll send you instructions on how to access your account .
we have not verified that the email belongs to you. please check your inbox for the verification email .
to resend the verification email, please enter your email address and click submit .
as a satire of rich americans who buy their way into european society, the film version (1933) saved its hardest punches for the continental set. where the movie is concerned, the title appears to ironically indicate that, although the british upper crust may have superior manners, they are hardly
better
than americans in matters of morality. constance bennett stars as an american heiress who discovers that her titled british husband has married her only for her money. to maintain her family? s newfound status and social connections, she attempts to maneuver her sister (anita louise) into another titled marriage, only to find that the sexual liaisons of the rich and royal present considerable stumbling blocks .
, had met
willie
maugham at that time. ten years later, after the two had established a close friendship, cukor was assigned by rko to direct the screen version of maugham' s play. cukor had followed his friend, producer david o. selznick, to rko, as he would later to mgm when selznick went to that studio at the invitation of his father - in - law, louis b. mayer .
despite their friendship, selznick demanded that cukor stick to his ideas of economy and efficiency. after 14 days of work on
, the director received one of selznick' s infamous memos, advising him that he was four days behind schedule because he had shot 44. 6 minutes rather than the optimal 46. 4 minutes. selznick insisted upon an average of 3. 2 minutes of usable film per day .
, selznick engaged elsa maxwell, the former cabaret entertainer who had become a gossip columnist and professional party - giver, to advise on the film? s costumes and general tone. maugham biographer bryan connon wrote that maxwell
claimed to be a dear friend of willie, but he regarded her as unutterably vulgar, though he thought of her as a useful bridge player .
maxwell could hardly have endeared herself to maugham and cukor, both homosexual, with her stated view that she
loathed
most gay men even though she often admired their literary and artistic accomplishments. in her autobiography ,
, she took three pages to explain her views, declaring that there should be one rule for homosexuals who were
rich in mind
and social ostracism for all others .
includes charles starrett, later to gain fame as
the durango kid
in b - westerns and serials .
screenplay: harry wagstaff gribble, jane murfin, from w. somerset maugham? s play
cast: constance bennett (lady pearl saunders grayston), violet kemble - cooper (duchess minnie), phoebe foster (princess flora), charles starrett (fleming harvey), grant mitchell (thornton clay), anita louise (elizabeth
bessie
saunders), gilbert roland (pepi d' costa) .
tcm celebrates the 100th anniversary of a musical legend with three nights of programming devoted to some of leonard bernstein' s... more
leonard maltin classic movie guide, copyright 2005, 2010. used by arrangement with penguin group (usa) inc .
tm & © 2018 turner classic movies, inc. a time warner company. all rights reserved. code of conduct for this site | press room | privacy policy | | terms of use
some parts of this page won' t work property. please reload or try later .
want to share imdb' s rating on your own site? use the html below .
actress judy carroll, from the gas - house district has been trained, educated and developed so well by her manager, that not even the publicity - seeking world of the theater has guessed her... see full summary »
the career of a waitress takes off when she meets an amiable drunken hollywood producer .
tarnished lady is a 1931 pre - code american drama film directed by george cukor. the screenplay by donald ogden stewart is based on his short story, a story of a new york lady .
a man, hilary fairfield returns home after fifteen years in a mental asylum. however, he finds things are not the way they were when he left .
a south american plane loaded with an assortment of characters crash lands in a remote jungle area in the middle of a storm. the passengers then discover they are in an area inhabited by... see full summary »
julie cavendish comes from a family of great broadway actors. her mother fanny staunchly continues acting. her boisterous brother tony is fleeing a breach of promise suit in hollywood. her... see full summary »
two gold diggers prey on old rich men, but one of them falls in love with a young, rich man .
in alexandria, in 1938, darley, a young british schoolmaster and poet, makes friends through pursewarden, the british consular officer, with justine, the beautiful and mysterious wife of a... see full summary »
an immigrant nevada rancher brings a woman from italy to be his second wife but when he neglects her, she becomes involved with his trusted assistant. nominated for 3 academy awards including best actor .
the owner of a rubber plantation becomes involved with the new wife of one of his employees .
based on the best - selling novel by irving wallace that was inspired by the kinsey report on the sexual mores of suburban women, the film follows the personal (read sexual) lives of four... see full summary »
american heiress pearl saunders marries lord george grayston but later sees him embracing his lover on their wedding day. she has his title and he has her money; thereafter they are rarely seen together. pearl is accepted by the british aristocracy and is presented at court, but creates a scandal by wearing black. she encourages her younger sister, bessie, who idolizes her, to respond to the attentions of lord harry bleane despite bessie preferring american fleming harvey. pearl gives a weekend party at the grayston estate inviting close friends, including her lover, arthur fenwick; her friend, duchess minnie and minnie' s gigolo companion, pepi d' costa; as well as bessie, lord bleane and harvey. pepi, who had been meeting pearl on the sly, discretely suggests a rendezvous with her in the new teahouse on the property. both make some pretext to leave but are seen by minnie entering the teahouse. vindictive minnie pretends to have left her purse in the teahouse and sends bessie to fetch ...
the £1, 000 per year
settlement
given to pepi would equate to $ 4, 237 at the time or over $ 80, 000 per year in 2017 .
when pepi and minnie meet the day after his
indescretion
, in one shot he' s lighting a cigarette and standing to the left of a table between himself and minnie. in the next closer shot, still lighting the cigarette, he' s now standing to the right of the table and next to minnie. furthermore, the lighter suddenly changes from pepi' s left hand to his right .
: you' re my guiding star. my ideal! i don' t know what i' d do if you failed me. i don' t think i could live if i ever found you weren' t what i think you are .
8 of 11 people found this review helpful. was this review helpful to you? yes no | report this
with jurassic world: fallen kingdom now in cinemas, we take a look at how imdb users rated the films of the franchise. plus, browse exclusive lego® jurassic world playsets, presented by lego .
enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with prime video .
the subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures .
indeed, maugham' s play is, at best, ambivalent toward americans – and implies that they should stay the heck away from europe for everyone' s sake .
the plan is for bessie to follow suit and marry the kind, but bland lord bleane (a sympathetically shy ben sanders), so she has broken off her engagement with a conventional american named fleming harvey (a yearning wade bogert - o' brien). maugham' s script makes it clear that turning her back on a marriage devised at the age of 16 is an immoral mistake – and director morris panych' s production of the play does not question this dubious dramatic position .
sister pearl, you see, has become a monster by ambitiously clawing her way to the top of london society. she has surrounded herself with a number of expats who, like her, also have conspicuously absent aristocratic husbands .
the duchesse de surennes (laurie paton) spends most of her time making a fool of herself with a young gigolo named tony (charlie gallant). then there' s the sympathetic princess della cercola (catherine mcgregor), separated from an italian noble, and the galumphing, gay thornton clay (neil barclay), who claims he is often mistaken for a native englishman even as he evinces a strong, virginian accent .
the play' s plot follows this cartoonish crew from a party at pearl' s white london flat to one at her black country house. (ken macdonald' s set, like panych' s direction, is pretty but shadeless; there are even two giant, indoor gargoyles unsubtly surveying the proceedings. )
pearl goes too far with her devil - may - care attitude this time, however, angering her friends and her lascivious sugar daddy, arthur fenwick, who is played for laughs that never come by a one - dimensional lorne kennedy. will she be able to right these relationships before they all return to london and her shame spreads ?
it' s hard to really care in this tension - free production. panych' s approach doesn' t convince that there is either enduring comedic or dramatic value in maugham' s moralistic tale. paton' s duchesse is ridiculous even in the moments when there is promising pathos to mine, while jullien plays pearl as a woman with no redemptive qualities whatsoever. the entertainment factor is minimal – though the dresses, designed by charlotte dean, are gorgeous .
in a mildly misogynist way, maugham depicts these women who marry for titles as deplorable while painting the british male fortune - hunters as pleasant chaps. he also engages in plenty of what is called today slut - shaming .
maugham' s message seems to be that everyone really ought to marry members of their own class and nationality, while his attitude toward the yanks vacillates unsophisticatedly between a distinct disgust for their lack of class and a romanticization of their apparently simple, industrious ways .
welcome to the globe and mail’s comment community. this is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and globe staff. non - subscribers can read and sort comments but will not be able to engage with them in any way. click here to subscribe .
if you would like to write a letter to the editor, please forward it to letters @ urltoken. readers can also interact with the globe on facebook and twitter .
welcome to the globe and mail’s comment community. this is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and globe staff .
we aim to create a safe and valuable space for discussion and debate. that means :
the three musketeers (1935) - d' artagnan vs. athos vs. cardinal guards
with: cast: kathleen turner (lady grayston), rula lenska (duchesse de surennes), barbara jefford (principessa della cercola), stephen billington (anthony paxton), nicholas caunter (lord bleane), sheri graubart (bessie saunders), nigel davenport (arthur fenwick), charles edwards (fleming harvey), william hootkins (thornton clay), paul stewart, christian malcolm, stanley page .
pearl isn’t the only american reinventing herself. her romantic rival is the even more grandly titled duchesse de surennes (rula lenska), whose frightfully callow 25 - year - old english paramour anthony paxton (stephen billington) pearl has the effrontery to seduce in the teahouse. watching from the sidelines are two other yanks, the principessa della cercola (barbara jefford) and thornton clay (william hootkins), the latter a virginian embodiment of america’s burgeoning leisured class. among britons paying courtship are bessie’s intended, lord bleane (nicholas caunter), and pearl’s aging benefactor, arthur fenwick (nigel davenport), a so - called “sensualist” who may strike contemporary observers as too patronizing — he calls pearl “girlie” — for comfort .
as is the way of three - act plays of the period, the first two generally mark time: there’s not a lot of drama in whether fleming will learn to forsake “gee” in favor of the preferred “by jove. ” director michael rudman — himself an american long residing in england — could have done more to anticipate the snap that the play goes on to achieve. the bold (if offstage) second - act denouement notwithstanding, the play comes into its own in the final stretch, as maugham lays bare a house full of societal malcontents .
the double irony of the title turns out to have little to do with the triumph of american sincerity over the snobbery worshipped by the same idolaters; instead, maugham was implying in the early decades of this century that the abiding virtues of “honor, decency and self - restraint” will win out over any social upstart’s attempts to better them .
production: chichester, england a chichester festival theater presentation of a play in three acts by w. somerset maugham. directed by michael rudman. sets and costumes, simon higlett .
crew: lighting, joe atkins; sound, john a. leonard; choreography, alexandra worrall. opened aug. 12, 1997, at the chichester festival theater. reviewed sept. 4; 1, 374 seats; 25 ($ 40) top. running time: 3 hours .
with: cast: kathleen turner (lady grayston), rula lenska (duchesse de surennes), barbara jefford (principessa della cercola), stephen billington (anthony paxton), nicholas caunter (lord bleane), sheri graubart (bessie saunders), nigel davenport (arthur fenwick), charles edwards (fleming harvey), william hootkins (thornton clay), paul stewart, christian malcolm, stanley page .
© copyright 2018 variety media, llc, a subsidiary of penske business media, llc. variety and the flying v logos are trademarks of variety media, llc. powered by urltoken vip
at west point, 1857, in the conceit of wally kline and ...
father barry (karl malden) with a fiery sermon in the hold ...
just the top of the
yankee doodle boy
number from george ...
blob, the (1958) - - (movie clip) do ...
jobless vin (steve mcqueen) blows his stake at the saloon, ...
this is how they did it, the transition in which the ...
2010 (1984)  (movie clip) my god, ...
12 angry men (1957) - - (movie clip) ...
wounded zack (gene evans) and sidekick
short round
...
in the town for which the movie is named, sheriff shaw ...
cop dave (joe partridge) puzzles over a series of women ...
blinding plot speed as hildy (pat o' brien), who really is ...
still from the opening scene, lord henry (george sanders) ...
the movie debut of albert finney, at work in the raleigh ...
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1. 0 strict / / en
urltoken
it looks like you are browsing with an extremely outdated browser. please improve your bowsing experience by updating your browser and browse happy. urltoken
• receive better seats by far, reserved for you before tickets go on sale to the general public .
• lock in the best price. when shows get hot, the ticket prices go up. as a subscriber, you’re
• by subscribing early, never get turned away from a sold - out show .
• a guarantee that you’ll see more shows. when you subscribe, you go .
if this play were a personal ad, it might read: rich american women seeking financially strapped british men with titles. a hot topic (i. e. downton abbey) on both sides of the pond when this delightfully cheeky play was written in 1917, the exchange of a “milady” for a large financial sum was all the rage. bessie saunders, 22, pretty and the heiress to several million dollars, has come from america to stay with her sister pearl, aka lady grayston. pearl’s friends include a cougar duchess, a widowed princess and two fellows both besotted with bessie. but once bessie witnesses the scandalous habits of this less - than - virtuous society, the emotional cost of social climbing is revealed in this sexy, stylish and wildly witty look at europe’s posh set and the americans who crashed the party .
this copy is for your personal non - commercial use only. to order presentation - ready copies of toronto star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions / licensing, please go to: urltoken
by w. somerset maugham. directed by morris panych. until oct. 27 at the royal george theatre. 1 - 800 - 511 - shaw .
yes, we live in a universe of ice - cold adultery, courtesy of ashley madison, as well as random hookups that last no longer than the text messages one sends to arrange them, but we’ve got nothing on the characters in w. somerset maugham’s saga of love - for - a - price which was first produced in 1917 .
if you were an american girl from a rich family who didn’t quite make the varsity romantic team back home, fear not. you could go to europe, where men of various ages, appearances and social positions would be willing to brush a little continental stardust on your drab colonial hide .
sure, after a while, the marriages show the strain, lovers and booze help ease the boredom and before long, you’re caught up in a battle between appearance vs. reality, only reality doesn’t have a chance in this particular tables, ladders & chairs match played in the wwe of the heart .
maugham’s play was scandalous in its day and, to be honest, the behaviour of some of its character can still raise moral hackles today, as they bid for marriages like they were paintings at sotheby’s and then rush out back to the tea house to consummate a quickie that negates it all .
morris panych is quite the perfect director for a show like this, with his own personally patented sweet - and - sour sauce that no cantonese restaurant could ever match. add some stunning sets by ken macdonald, costumes to die over from charlotte dean, and alan brodie doing his typically suave lighting and you’ve got a most persuasive package .
what’s even better is that panych has a way of getting some fresh new performances out of shaw festival stalwarts .
claire jullien, is always cast as sweet heroines for whom “vanilla” might be too strong a word. here, as the amoral pearl, she’s been liberated as a woman with flashing eyes, a ravenous smile and a way of walking towards a man that stakes her claim on him. super work .
and laurie paton, who can easily recycle the same familiar performance when left unchallenged, here turns the aging, deluded minnie into someone very sad, very funny and very noble .
catherine mcgregor is fresh and spontaneous as the wounded flora, and julia course makes us follow empathetically the twisty moral journey of the not - yet - corrupted bessie .
neil barclay gives his customary avuncularity a new twist with a southern accent, charlie gallant has a wonderfully welcome wounded machismo as the glib tony, and lorne kennedy, as always, brings layers upon layers of craft and feeling to the aging sensualist fenwick .
is it a perfect piece of theatre? no. in the desire to get things moving, panych has his company play the first act at such a breathless clip that you soon get snow blind and risk losing interest. and the third act takes a bit too long to reach all of its resolutions, but it’s worth the wait. not to mention the wondrous second act, where everything goes to hell in a perfectly crafted hand basket and we sit back in awe .
copyright owned or licensed by toronto star newspapers limited. all rights reserved. republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of toronto star newspapers limited and / or its licensors. to order copies of toronto star articles, please go to: urltoken
the toronto star and thestar. com, each property of toronto star newspapers limited, one yonge street, 4th floor, toronto, on, m5e 1e6
american heiress pearl saunders marries lord george grayston but later sees him embracing his lover on their wedding day. she has his title and he has her money; thereafter they are rarely seen together. pearl is accepted by the british aristocracy and is presented at court, but creates a scandal by wearing black. she encourages her younger sister, bessie, who idolizes her, to respond to the attentions of lord harry bleane despite bessie preferring american fleming harvey. pearl gives a weekend party at the grayston estate inviting close friends, including her lover, arthur fenwick; her friend, duchess minnie and minnie' s gigolo companion, pepi d' costa; as well as bessie, lord bleane and harvey. pepi, who had been meeting pearl on the sly, discretely suggests a rendezvous with her in the new teahouse on the property. both make some pretext to leave but are seen by minnie entering the teahouse. vindictive minnie pretends to have left her purse in the teahouse and sends bessie to fetch it. bessie finds the door locked but peeks through the window and is shocked by what she sees. minnie, fenwick, and bessie are outraged at the lovers' ill - advised meeting, but pearl sets out to assuage their anger .
it looks like we don' t have a synopsis for this title yet. be the first to contribute! just click the
edit page
button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the synopsis submission guide .
imagine cinderella as an expatriate american with enough cash to buy diamond slippers and prince charming as a broke brit with land and titles. now picture the two in a loveless marriage of convenience. it’s a fact - based fantasy. back in the 1920s, such marriages filled the social pages. they fill maugham’s play in various stages of formation, stability and decay .
the family plot? bessie (allie henkel) an innocent american heiress / ingénue, is hanging out in london with her not - so - innocent expatriate sister, pearl (katie cunningham), who more closely resembles iago’s meaner sister. pearl is no lady, but she’s a lady, having married the never - seen lord george grayston. pearl’s life is an endless party—a party paid for, not by the bankrupt lord, but by fenwick, her well - heeled american sugar daddy (jonathan epstein). pearl schemes for bessie to follow her example and marry lord bleane (matt andersen), a toff with the personality of a tennis racket. heeding pearl’s advice, bessie’s ended her engagement to her childhood sweetheart, a straight - arrow american named fleming (buddy haardt). she’s made her choice, or has she? second thoughts emerge. buyer’s remorse. will bessie marry fleming or the tennis racket — sorry — lord beane ?
there’s more to it — a complicated flow chart of gigolos, parasites and poseurs, money, marriages, divorces, and secondary and tertiary affairs. but bessie’s the heart of the story. will she marry a lord she doesn’t love or return to america with her childhood flame? real love or fake nobility? that is the question. if evelyn waugh were writing, the story it might end badly …
said anglophiles oooh and ahhh at first sight of lee savage’s sumptuous set design: a gilded hall of mirrors painted with a woman’s giant, pretty face set in cold, modernist disdain. (a fine image for this empty, painted world .) more joy ensues at the revelation of tracy dorman’s spot - on period costumes. when the play actually starts (under michael donald edwards’ deft, “masterpiece theatre” style of direction), their joy is uncontained .
the source of all that joy feels more like a character study than a tightly plotted dramatic arc. maugham wanders — the second act feels like a series of one - liners in the mouths of his various characters. most are rotten to the core. but they’re all entertaining — and brilliantly acted by the fine repertory cast .
a lovely bunch of cocoanuts, eh? the only thing missing is groucho .
hey, if you’d attended britain’s best parties, studied the worst people and took notes, you might come up with a cast of characters like that. maugham did. upper class yanks and brits behaving badly! he came, he saw. and he put it on stage .
the play’s outrageous laughter tends to obscure maugham’s outrage. to spell it out? america’s shameless nouveau riche are social climbers; britain’s shameless aristocrats are selling england by the pound. it’s the world’s oldest profession on the one hand, the world’s oldest customer on the other. shame, shame .
that’s the moral, you see. do endeavor to restrain your laughter, if only momentarily. it might possibly set in .
it was cukor’s only attempt at bringing english high comedy to the screen, a form that was seldom successful with american actors, because they were not trained in vocal nuance .
the text should have been–but was not–performed in the noel coward tradition, a style in which the frivolous and minor detail is taken seriously by the players, but not by the viewers .
maugham’s play is darker than coward’s high comedies–a bitter expose of expatriate american women who marry british nobility for the title. in this, and other, works, maugham depicts women are ambitious, catty, and adulterous .
cukor thought that the material was too brittle for american viewers of the early 1930s, and in his direction softened maugham’s harsh attitude toward women. he achieved a varied tone that he will continue to perfect in future pictures, such as the 1939 the women .
some of the dialogue was witty and sparkling, and it moved fast, considering the over - abundance of conversation.
our betters is a 1933 american pre-code satirical comedy film directed by george cukor . the screenplay by jane murfin and harry wagstaff gribble is based on the 1923 play of the same title by w. somerset maugham . 
our betters is a 1933 american pre-code satirical comedy film directed by george cukor. the screenplay by jane murfin and harry wagstaff gribble is based on the 1923 play of the same title by w. somerset maugham.
our betters is a 1933 american pre-code satirical comedy film directed by george cukor. the screenplay by jane murfin and harry wagstaff gribble is based on the 1923 play of the same title by w. somerset maugham.