The Kingfisher
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Telefilm: B-
In a clever bit of casting, Rex Harrison from My Fair
Lady (1964 film and its stage predecessor) co-stars with Wendy Hiller (who
played the role opposite his character in Anthony Asquith’s film Pygmalion
a few decades before Harrison found himself opposite Julie Andrews and Audrey
Hepburn in the role by then) in The Kingfisher, an entertaining telefilm
about a couple form the past who meet again later in life and decide to see
where each other stands.
Sir Cecil Warburton (Harrison) is a celebrated writer and
lover of birds, who is getting older and somewhat in retirement. He is actually intrigued when a man who
married a woman he liked has passed on in the obituaries, it is Lady Evelyn
(Hiller) who is left behind. He would
like there to be a relationship and may have made the biggest mistake of his
life when he did not marry her to begin with, but she is a feisty as he is and
no matter what results, half the fun will be seeing how they interact.
Harrison and Hiller are obviously having fun going back
and forth with each other, as the joy in their performances are obvious. Cyril Cusack (Fahrenheit 451) is also
very good as his houseman. William
Douglas Home’s teleplay is very intelligent and does not just expect the stars
to save the film, or allow the work to coast on their personalities. Instead, it offers them plenty of fine
dialogue and director James Cellan Jones handles all of this very well. The title refers to a bird Cecil loves
observing when pursuing his bird-watching hobby and becomes a metaphor for life
lived and lived beautifully. The
Kingfisher is a pleasant surprise worth your time.
The 1.33 X 1 image is a little softer than one would like
it, despite the idea that it is supposed to be warm, soft and pleasant. This is from 1982, around the time Anglia
Television had a big hit with Roald Dahl’s Tales Of the Unexpected (four
volumes and counting reviewed elsewhere on this site) and that show mixed
videotape and film, but often looked a tad better than this. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is monophonic for the
most part, but clear enough to enjoy.
Only text extras are included, which are profiles of the two leads.
- Nicholas Sheffo
