The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

Set in 1932 Edinburgh, Scotland. An eccentric school teacher (Maggie Smith in an Oscar winning performance) in a conservative girls school attempts to inspire and encourage her students (known as the Brodie girls) to independent thinking. But as she espouses her wisdom on art, music and life ..... is she, in fact, a dangerous influence on the impressionable girls? Based on the play by Jay Presson Allen (in turn, based on the novel by Muriel Spark) and directed by Ronald Neame (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE). Understandably, Presson's play differs from Spark's novel which would have been difficult to adapt faithfully. What we get is a strong melodrama with a tour de force performance by Maggie Smith. While I admire Smith's exemplary work here, there's a layer of campy (a bit of the drag queen) artificiality that prevents me from fully embracing her performance. After awhile, I began to wonder how Dame Edna Everage would have done in the part. I don't mean that as a putdown, Smith has some heartbreaking moments that stand with the best work she's done. The casting is impeccable down to the smallest roles. With Pamela Franklin, Celia Johnson, Robert Stephens, Jane Carr, Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson and Diane Grayson.