Customer Reviews

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

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This was a Christmas Gift and couldn't find it in any stores...then a friend suggested I look on Amazon. Glad I did! Great quality and fast shipping!

Maggie Smith won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Jean Brodie, an unconventional and outspoken teacher in a stuffy Edinburgh girls' school who encourages her students to be just like herself. Miss Brodie proclaims she is "in her prime," but is, in reality, a spinster, still sadly attracted to her unscrupulous ex-lover and often living in the past.

Smith was so young and beautiful when she made this movie. She dominates the screen with her charisma and power.Pamela Franklin is excellent as one of Jean's disciples, and Rod McKuen's music is lovely. This film is a must for fans of Maggie Smith.

What do you get when you cross great writing, a great story, an excellent cast, and one of the world's greatest actresses? This film. It's certainly one of the most unusual films ever made, and especially when you consider WHEN it was made. I didn't see the initial release many years ago, but can only imagine what the American public made of a teenage girl in a married, much older, man's bed. Maggie Smith carries the film and her reputation on this one alone should seal her claim to best actress in the world. It doesn't get any better than this.

This has always been a favorite film of mine and now that is it
on DVD we have a letterboxed version. From the opening shots we
know we are in for a real treat. Maggie was just starting out in
the movies when she snared this role. Fox wanted Audrey Hepburn
or Deborah Kerr but Maggie made the role her own. She is not
alone. Celia Johnson as headmistress Miss Mackay is fabulous and
Gordon Jackson who later achieved world fame as Hudson in
UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS is a superb Gordie Lowther. Smith and Johnson
both won British Academy Awards and a few weeks later Maggie was
an upset winner at the Oscars and there was hooting and hollering
and mass celebrations at our house. I am delighted that Fox has
put this on DVD.

Maggie Smith is the elegantly pert Miss Brodie, a 1930s Edinburgh school marm of immense panache, charm and wit in a film that's sort of a cross between a female version of "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and "To Sir With Love." Smith's performance easily commands "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" beyond cliche and its theatrical trappings as she becomes the ultimate self-deluding spinster to whom Mussolini is a treasure on par with the Mona Lisa, and passionate love is but a taboo. Dame Brodie marks her existance on over-inflated romantic notions about art and beauty. Adapting from the novel by Muriel Spark, director Robert Neame keeps the pacing sweet and nimble, touching on all the right points without dwelling on any of them. Also in the cast are real-life husband, Robert Stephens as Jean's married lover and Celia Johnson who is marvelously insideous as the hostile headmistress. The film score by Rod McKuen may have been Oscar nominated but it betrays its 60s origins and really pigeon-holes the film as a production of that decade instead of seeming a vital tableau of the 30s.
THE TRANSFER: Fox has done a marvelous job remastering "Miss Brodie" on DVD. Colors are lush and nicely balanced. Black levels are deep and solid. Contrast and shadow levels are bang on. Some of the long shots suffer from pixelization which breaks up fine detail and there is also a very small trace of age related artifacts. These do not necessarily distract. The audio is stereo. Though dialogue does not sound natural it is nevertheless very clearly presented. The score - in all it's twinkle-twinkle get down of 60s flashback is amply displayed.
EXTRAS: An audio commentary and very sparce stills gallery. It really is a mystery to me why Fox's continues to benchmark certain catalogue titles as part of their Studio Series when their attention to suppliments continues to grow more scant by every release. Just call this a general release and be done with it. There's nothing special apart from the film to recommend such titles as part of a special series.
BOTTOM LINE: Recommended.

From the time I first saw this movie at a theatre to the many times I've seen it on TV, I marvel at the performances by all the actors in this incredible movie. I guarantee you've never been introduced to a more original, off-beat thinker than Miss Brodie - she and her set, the Brodie girls, are beyond mere explanation. This is a rare movie that catches the viewer from the opening bike ride to the final shouts of "assassin." Top Notch - First Rate!

This is certainly a woman's picture, with all that implies. The men in it are without exception weaklings and dunderheads who allow themselves to be pushed around like hogs on ice by Scottish schoolmarm Jean Brodie and her female pupils. As for the plot it's none too clear; about what you'd expect from former mental patient Muriel Spark, authoress of the original novel. After half a dozen years or so of aimless romancin' and pontificatin' Brodie eventually is canned from the school for her Fascist leanings, although anyone who thinks pro-Fascism was unusual in Great Britain and especially Scotland during the 1930's needs a history refresher. Male viewers might want to catch Pamela Franklin with her clothes off about 90 minutes in.

This film is an excellent psychological study of a spinister schoolteacher and the four girls who comprise the "Brodie set." Maggie Smith beautifully portrays the egocentrical and deluded Jean Brodie, who insists throughout the film that she is "in her prime," thereby excusing her from taking accountability for her actions. But you don't dislike Miss Brodie; in fact, the viewer simultaneously pities her and admires her. Maggie Smith brings a great deal of humanity to the role; we see both her grasp for control and her struggle with her weaknesses. Smith certainly deserved the 1969 Oscar for Best Actress.

Pamela Franklin is captivating in the role of self-righteous Sandy, the only girl in the Brodie set who appears to have any genuine intellect. Her gradual maturity throughout the film is quite credible, and I especially liked the scene near the beginning of the film where Sandy and Jenny discuss their views on sex. Both funny and sad. (However, I was a bit shocked by Sandy's nude scene. This film should have a PG-13 rating.)

The movie was filmed on location in the beautiful city of Edinburgh, and the outdoor scenes compliment Miss Brodie's lectures and opinions beautifully. A good, literary film that examines both the complexities about being a woman and what it means to be a teacher. I also highly recommend the novel by Muriel Spark.

Maggie Smith is always at the top of her form, witty, ironic, twitchy, brilliant - and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is one of her very best roles. Hollywood thought so, too: she won an Oscar for her performance, playing a spinster school teacher in the 30s in Edinburgh. So enamored is she of art, literature, and beauty that she neglects to acknowledge the rising fascism in the real world. Miss Brodie, in her self-proclaimed prime, has her little pet pupils, girls she intends to inspire; she also involves them in the machinations of her meetings with an art teacher, her married lover (and real-life husband). For sheer snobbery, Miss Brodie's outlook cannot be topped. There's a denouement, a comeuppance, that is heartbreaking for more than one of the characters. If ever there were an example of the moral Pride goeth before the fall, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is it.

We went to a sneak preview one night and that was when they did
not tell you what it was. We had seen the play so when they
told us it was THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE we hooted and hollered.And from the opening scene we knew it was a a real treat.
I was sad that the movie came out early in the year because those
movies are usually ignored at Oscar time but this time they remembered Maggie Smith who won her first award. Equally good
is Celia Johnson as the headmistress who personifies conservative
education. She nearly steals the whole thing from Maggie. The
Brits gave her and Maggie their Oscar equivalent. Gordon Jackson
who later achieved wide fame as Hudson on UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS
is delightful. Jane Carr who played Mary McGregor later appeared
on NBC sitcoms. Over the years this has been a favorite movie
of mine and I hope the dvd will be letterboxed. It certainly should be. This will be a most welcome additon to my dvd library
and hopefully many other fans.