Perfectly adorable

one of my absolute favorites!

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Just saw the 1948 movie, The Winslow Boy. In scene after scene, the staging, script, and even the gestures of the actors were copied in the 1999 remake. So much of what I thought were dialogues written by Mamet and Mamet's direction is NOT original. The original play and screenplay are more than 95% of what you saw in 1999. Even more disappointing to me was that Mamet cut some very good scenes and dialogue that provided the perspective of the barrister's reasoning, for why he took the case. The cross-examination of the boy is much more cogent in the 1948 version. A detail concerning the boy's smoking is played out among the other characters, a beautiful subtle detail that Mamet eliminated. So, see the 1948 movie and enjoy Robert Donat and the other actors. Then, wonder as I did, how this remake came to be a "Mamet" play.

A proud father goes to great lengths to defend his son's honor in this latest movie version of Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy (itself based on the true story of George Archer-See), written and directed by David Mamet one of the most respected screenwriters working today. I am unfamiliar with the play or its several other adaptations so I can't compare, and I'll judge this film based solely on itself. What's unusual with The Winslow Boy is that it's a court movie which hardly spends any time actually in court, concentrating instead on how the case affects the lives of the Winslow family, and in particular the father Arthur (Nigel Hawthorne) and the daughter Catherine (Rebecca Pidgeon). As such the ultimate resolution of the Winslow case is actually of little importance to the movie, like a bit of a side story, something which may be quite off-putting to some viewers who'd perhaps find it boring and/or pointless. All in all, while The Winslow Boy isn't a masterpiece of epic proportions it's a very well-made solid little film who's greatest strength is probably the excellent performances all across the board.

I watched this movie hoping something would happen or some plot or point would be revealed. Alas, i was let down. Nothing of any significance happened. this was simply bureaucratic garbage that backed up more important issues. And the acting is just astonishingly minimal. when one actress tells her fiancé she loves him, she might as well have told him what she had for breakfast. I understand that English acting is much more withdrawn, but sweet jebus this make Emotionally Impared kids look lively. Even the Winslow Boy himself doesn't care about the outcome of the movie. the only Credit i can give it is that it sucked all emotion out of a plot that could have been jam packed with it. I recommend it for naps.

If you're fond of good dialogs, good acting and good movies...go and rent this one. I didn't expect much when I rented it, and it was a big surprise. I don't know if this movie would work that well with a different cast, but they seem to be made to be part of it. I've read some bad comments about Rebecca Pigeon but in my opinion she's perfect for the part, she acts natural. I didn't find anything that I didn't like, which is something difficult to say about most of the movies.Summarizing, this movie confirms that with a few exceptions, David Mamet keeps giving us something interesting in every movie. Before this one I had only seen The Spanish prisoner,