Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Browning Version Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 31, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the box set The Browning Version.

Films about teachers and school life have been around since the dawn of the celluloid age, but films dealing with British school life often seem to have their own rather distinctive character. As some of the supplements included in this set from Imprint get into, in that regard it's easy to define at least a few way markers, including the beloved 1939 version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (rather oddly still unavailable on Blu-ray as of the writing of this review) and Lindsay Anderson's devastating 1968 opus If..... More or less in the middle of that 29 year span the first big screen adaptation of Terrence Rattigan's 1948 one act play The Browning Version was released in 1951, giving Michael Redgrave one of his more memorable roles, and in a way it both harkens back to the crusty but (maybe?) lovable teacher aspect of the James Hilton work while also presaging some of the dysfunctions that Anderson explored in his film. The 1994 remake of The Browning Version may therefore seem like a bit of an afterthought, or as one hoity toity type at the school Browning teaches at describes the focal teacher's prospective farewell speech, an "anti climax", though it's still enjoyable and benefits from a winning performance by Albert Finney.

Commentator Peter Tonguette challenges his listeners to come up with a valid reason why this 1994 remake of The Browning Version is placed in the era of its production, at least assumedly so, given some ancillary elements like styles of costumes and the like. Tonguette argues it's a needless change to a story which frankly doesn't need any updating, but I'd go even further to state that part of the power of Terence Rattigan's original formulation was the era of its creation. By the time this 1994 update came along, not only had interstitial cinematic disruptions of British school life like If.... come and gone, the world was a vastly different place than Rattigan had written about, unless, of course, part of this remake's underlying premise was supposed to be "the more things change, the more they remain the same". In any case, this version of The Browning Version may suffer just a bit from when it was released as much as when it decided to temporally place the events of its story.

This is a rather interesting film to watch as a double feature with the 1951 version, for a number of reasons. It can be quite instructive to see how adapter Ronald Harwood both tweaked and let stand various aspects of Rattigan's original. Some of the tweaking includes making the dashing science teacher Frank Hunter (Matthew Modine) an American this time 'round, which maybe gives a bit of a cross-cultural conflict to things in terms of what Laura Crocker-Harris (Greta Scacchi) sees in him (other than that he looks like Matthew Modine, that is) that would make her want to cheat on her husband, Andrew (Albert Finney). There's arguably a little bit less of the crustiness between Crocker-Harris and sweet student Taplow (Ben Silverstone) in this version, which is not suggest that Crocker-Harris is a kindly, nurturing professor.

The Browning Version Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Browning Version is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint and Via Vision Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The back cover of this release has some slightly odd verbiage, mentioning "a new 2K scan in the original as-exhibited aspect ratio", which one assumes is the same as the original aspect ratio (I'm joking a bit). With no real information on the provenance of the element or any restoration gauntlet undertaken, I'll just state that generally speaking this perhaps understandably is in much better condition than the 1951 version, though more eagle eyed viewers may be able to catch occasional very minor blemishes and nicks. The element tends to look healthier in terms of palette as it progresses, with some of the early scenes striking me as just a tad faded, with flesh tones veering toward brown territory. Things warm up considerably a bit further on, and the good news is despite some minor fluctuations in color temperature, detail levels tend to be excellent throughout the presentation. The production design tends to emphasize a lot of neutral colors, perhaps echoing the empty emotions of Crocker-Harris, and so things don't really "pop" in any significant way. This may have had some high frequency filtering, but there is a noticeable grain field which resolves naturally.

The Browning Version Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Browning Version features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. The surround track nicely opens up Mark Isham's gorgeous score, as well as providing good immersive moments in some of the crowd scenes at the school as well as a big cricket sequence later in the story. A glut of outdoor material also offers opportunities for well placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Browning Version Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Film Critic Peter Tonguette


• The Art of Learning - Scoring The Browning Version (HD; 12:35) is a really interesting piece with Mark Isham, who discusses a number of interesting things, including the fact that Mike Figgis actually scored the film first.


• Interview with Albert Finney Biographer Gabriel Hershman (HD; 8:31) comes with a probably needless "recorded remotely", which indicates this is audio of Hershman which plays to scenes from the film.


• No More and Certainly No Less: Matthew Modine on The Browning Version (HD; 11:57) is an interesting sit down with Modine, who discusses where this film fell within his filmography, as well as his relationship with Albert Finney.


• The Guardian Mike Figgis Interview (HD; 1:12:58) is from 1997.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:58)

The Browning Version Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Finney delivers yet another really memorable performance in this film, but this The Browning Version doesn't have quite the same power as the 1951 version. This 1994 film does benefit from beautiful location photography and a really sumptuous score from Mark Isham, and performances supporting Finney are uniformly excellent. Technical merits are generally solid, and this disc has some outstanding supplements. Recommended.