AN INSPECTOR CALLS

I was lucky enough, some 30-odd years ago, to see the acclaimed National Theatre revival of this classic play by JB Priestley.  And I saw it again, some 20 years later, when it went on a national tour.  It was an unforgettable theatrical experience, the perfect marriage of play and production design. 

In comparison this 1954 film adaptation might at first glance seem staid and wooden, not helped by the fact that my recording off the TV was rather fuzzy to look at.

But once Inspector Poole appears (a few minutes in) it's impossible not to be captivated and not to watch the drama play out right to the end.

Looking at the different actors who have played Inspector Goole (as he is called in the play) on stage over the decades there's been quite a range, from Ralph Richardson, to Tom Baker, to of all people Graeme Garden.

However having seen this film it's impossible not to think that Alistair Sim is the definitive inspector.  He simply has a unique commanding manner, and look, and way of talking, with its undertone of insolence and sarcasm.  The character of the inspector has been likened to that of an avenging angel, and Sim certainly has the appropriate other-worldly presence.  

The inspector gate-crashes a dinner party late one evening and starts interrogating the five people present in relation to the death (probably suicide) earlier that day of a young woman, Eva Smith, from consuming disinfectant.  The household is an affluent upper middle-class one, headed by captain of industry Mr Birling.  Also present is his wife, son and daughter, and the fiancé of his daughter.  

The inspector relentlessly reconstructs the events of Eva's life over the previous two years, and from this we learn (and the household learns) that each of the five had a separate encounter with Eva in which they mistreated her in some way that eventually led to her destitution.

And then at the end Priestley brings the drama to a very satisfying conclusion with a couple of twists.

The play, first performed (bizarrely) in the Soviet Union in 1945, can be interpreted as a savage indictment of capitalism, and of Victorian/Edwardian hypocrisy (it's set in 1912).

The cast, other than Sim, are largely unknowns but they do a good enough job, and the direction by Guy Hamilton is workmanlike, but I could have done without the most dramatic moments being absurdly underlined by the score.

The film does something that the play does not, which is to include flashback scenes in which we see all of Eva's interactions with each member of the dinner party.  Jane Wenham's performance as Eva in these mini-dramas really brings home how badly she is treated.  

I was left with something of a puzzle though. The play itself is not especially short - it has three acts, and provides a full evening's entertainment.  And yet this film, despite adding all the flashback scenes, has a running time of only 80 minutes.  It doesn't feel rushed, so I can only conclude that the screenwriter removed large amounts of dialogue. 

I went to the effort of acquiring the text of the play, and yes the adaptor Desmond Davis made a lot of changes to streamline the text, as well as having to provide dialogue for the flashback scenes.

There are two differences between the play and the film that caught my eye.

Firstly, whilst in the play the inspector leaves the house towards the end, in the film he sits patiently in the study whilst the family discuss Gerald's revelation that there is no inspector and possibly no dead girl.  Then at the very end, when Mr Birling learns that there is in fact a dead girl, the inspector has vanished into thin air, which makes a nice dramatic flourish to end the film.

The other change, and a good example of the streamlining, is that the following speech by the inspector, made just as he is leaving, has been removed in its entirety:

"But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, with what we think and say and do.  We don't live alone.  We are members of one body.  We are responsible for each other.  And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Goodnight." 

In its place, Sheila says: "It isn't only Eva Smith, it's all the other Eva Smiths. The things we do to people without realising it.  Only for once, we've seen the consequences."

RATING: ✓✓ Good Times