The Dock Brief: Difference between revisions
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The play was made in Sydney under the direction of Ray Menmuir. A radio version of the play had been performed in Australia the previous year.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=11 February 1960|page=23|title=TV Presentation of Prize Drama About a Brief|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122524078/?terms=%22dock%2Bbrief%22}}</ref> |
The play was made in Sydney under the direction of Ray Menmuir. A radio version of the play had been performed in Australia the previous year.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=11 February 1960|page=23|title=TV Presentation of Prize Drama About a Brief|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122524078/?terms=%22dock%2Bbrief%22}}</ref> |
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Menmuir said "as first seen the characters are quite comical but as the play progresses we begin to laugh with them rather than at them."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Comedy and Pathos at the Bar|magazine=TV Times|date=10 March 1960|page=7}}</ref> |
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===Reception=== |
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Douglas Smith designed the set which consisted of two areas: the prison cell and the imaginary courtroom. Special effects were used to create a "courtroom of the imagination" for a later scene.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=25 January 1960|page=22|title=Courtroom for Two}}</ref> ===Reception=== |
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The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called it "beautifully acted" praising Menmuir's "admirably deft and very imaginative production."<ref>{{cite news|title="Dock Brief" Telecast from ABN|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=28 January 1960|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123404076/?terms=%22dock%2Bbrief%22}}</ref> |
The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called it "beautifully acted" praising Menmuir's "admirably deft and very imaginative production."<ref>{{cite news|title="Dock Brief" Telecast from ABN|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=28 January 1960|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123404076/?terms=%22dock%2Bbrief%22}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 12:40, 20 September 2020
| The Dock Brief | |
|---|---|
 Cover of 1999 DVD version | |
| Directed by | James Hill |
| Written by | Screenplay: Pierre Rouve Play: John Mortimer |
| Produced by | Dimitri de Grunwald |
| Starring | Peter Sellers Richard Attenborough Beryl Reid David Lodge Frank Pettingell |
| Cinematography | Edward Scaife |
| Music by | Ron Grainer |
Production company | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studio |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA/UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes 77 minutes (DVD) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Dock Brief (US title Trial and Error) is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer (creator of Horace Rumpole).
The film had its world premiere on 20 September 1962 at the Plaza Theatre in London's West End.[1]
Richard Attenborough was nominated for the 1963 BAFTA Award for best British actor for his role.
Plot
In a cell under the Old Bailey, two men meet. One is Wilfred Morgenhall, an unmarried barrister who never gets any cases and is overjoyed to have won this dock brief, the defence of an accused individual with no lawyer (at public expense). The other is his client Herbert Fowle, an insignificant man who just wants to plead guilty to murdering his wife and get it all over.
Flashbacks show that the wife was impossible to live with and Fowle, who avoided her as much as possible, hatched a plot to get rid of her by taking in a male lodger. The lodger found her amusing and attractive, until one day he went too far and Mrs Fowle threw him out of the house. In despair at his plot having failed, Fowle killed her.
Morgenhall role plays various defences, in the process raising Fowle's will to fight. But when the case is called, he botches it and Fowle is found guilty. Morgenhall goes to visit him in prison, where he learns that Fowle has been reprieved because his defence was so poor. The two leave together, two lonely and inadequate men who have become friends.
Cast
- Peter Sellers as Wilfred Morgenhall, barrister
- Richard Attenborough as Herbert Fowle, the accused murderer
- Beryl Reid as Doris Fowle, his late wife
- David Lodge as Frank Bateson, the lodger
- Frank Pettingell as Tuppy Morgan, solicitor
- Audrey Nicholson as Morgenhall's girl (in flashback)
- Tristram Jellinek as Mr. Perkins, the prosecutor
- Eric Woodburn as Judge Banter
- John Waite as clerk of the court
- Patrick Newell as 1st warder
- Henry Kay as 2nd warder
- Frank Thornton as photographer at the Fowle wedding
- Eric Dodson as examiner
Reception
According to MGM records, the film made a profit of $141,000.[2]
Other adaptations
1957 radio play
The BBC produced a radio version of the play on 16 May 1957 for the Third Programme. Michael Hordern played Morganhall and David Kossoff played Fowle.[3]
1957 BBC television version
Following on from the success of the radio adaptation, the BBC produced a version for television. It aired in September 1957 and again featured Hordern as Morganhall.[4]
1960 Australian television version
| The Dock Brief | |
|---|---|
 Ad from 'The Age' 17 Feb 1960 | |
| Based on | play by John Mortimer |
| Written by | George F. Kerr |
| Directed by | Raymond Menmuir |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes[6] or 50 minutes.[7] |
| Production company | ABC |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | 27 January 1960 (Sydney) 17 February 1960 (Melbourne)[5] |
The play was filmed for Australian TV in 1960 directed by Ray Menmuir and starring Reg Lye and Moray Powell.[8][9]
Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[10]
Premise
The barrister Morgenall is given a brief to defend a bird seed seller, Fowle, accused of murdering his wife.
Cast
- Reg Lye as Fowle
- Moray Powell as Morgenhall
Production
The play was made in Sydney under the direction of Ray Menmuir. A radio version of the play had been performed in Australia the previous year.[11]
Menmuir said "as first seen the characters are quite comical but as the play progresses we begin to laugh with them rather than at them."[12]
Douglas Smith designed the set which consisted of two areas: the prison cell and the imaginary courtroom. Special effects were used to create a "courtroom of the imagination" for a later scene.[13] ===Reception=== The Sydney Morning Herald called it "beautifully acted" praising Menmuir's "admirably deft and very imaginative production."[14]
Quotes
Morgenhall: "Now you're the only case I've got, and the most difficult."
The New York Times: "Charming, comic...robustly amusing." (quoted from the DVD cover)
References
- ^ The Times online archive 20/9/1962 page 2
- ^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/287e78b0f681463dbdb12c11524809b9
- ^ "Dock Brief - If Men Played Cards as Women Do Notes". tactnyc.org. The Actors Company Theater. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ "Advertisement". 17 February 1960. p. 5.
- ^ "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 1960. p. 21.
- ^ "TV Guide". The Age. 11 February 1960. p. 33.
- ^ "The P.M.G.'s private eye". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 27, no. 37. Australia, Australia. 17 February 1960. p. 68. Retrieved 22 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ http://filmalert101.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/vale-raymond-menmuir-storry-walton-and.html
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
- ^ "TV Presentation of Prize Drama About a Brief". The Age. 11 February 1960. p. 23.
- ^ "Comedy and Pathos at the Bar". TV Times. 10 March 1960. p. 7.
- ^ "Courtroom for Two". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 1960. p. 22.
- ^ ""Dock Brief" Telecast from ABN". Sydney Morning Herald. 28 January 1960. p. 5.
