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Amazon.com
Maggie Smith is so witty and commanding in this film, you might forget that the script paints Jean Brodie as an ultimately self-deluding spinster. Dame Maggie won the first of her two Oscars for playing a teacher in 1930s Edinburgh more in thrall to her romantic notions of art and beauty than the real world, a cultivator of worshipping "Brodie Girls." (She exalts the Mona Lisa and Mussolini with equal fervor.) Smith's expert playing makes many of the brogue-heavy Brodie-isms worth memorizing ("She seeks to intimidate me by the use of quarter-hours.") and raises the picture above its generally theatrical style. Real-life husband Robert Stephens plays Jean's married lover, Celia Johnson excels as the hostile headmistress, and Pamela Franklin is the deadpan whistle-blower within Miss Brodie's coven. The dippy music of Rod McKuen helps mark the movie as more of a reflection of the '60s than the '30s. --Robert Horton
Product Description
Based on Muriel Spark?s best-selling novel, the film The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie earned a Best Actress Oscar for its star, Maggie Smith, in 1969. The theme song, ?Jean? written by Rod McKuen, was also nominated for a Best Song Academy Award. An inspiration to the young girls she teaches and a challenge to the 1932 Edinburgh school who retains her services, Jean Brodie (Smith) espouses her wisdom on art and music, defends fascism, and otherwise encourages fiercely independent thinking in her students. As she engages in ongoing battles with the school?s rigid heads and bewilders two men in love with her, Miss Brodie also faces the biggest trial of her life when her career and livelihood become threatened.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
84 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Here's a film whose reputation seems to have declined over the years. Highly regarded and hugely successful when it first came out, it now seems a bit static with a plot that is a tad too predictable. The main attraction of the film was always the mesmerising and award-winning performance of Maggie Smith. But today some people might find her acting overly mannered or too theatrical. However, I am not one of them. I have always thought that Maggie Smith was one of the finest actresses ever. And a genuine eccentric.
The film consists of lots and lots of dialogue delivered in quaint Scottish accents. (The accents are not as much a problem for American audiences as they are in other films such as Gregory's Girl.) There is an occasional glimpse of old Edinburgh but, for the most part, the settings are confined to interiors. The film is directed and photographed professionally and unobtrusively. The 1930's period is nicely byt subtly evoked. The one discordant element is the rather twee musical score by Rod McKuen. The emphasis, as in a play, is on the characters.
The supporting cast are just that but most of them manage to have their moments. Robert Stephens (married to Maggie Smith at the time) is quite good as a slightly bohemian art teacher. Gordon Jackson steps somewhat out of his usual typecasting to portray a wimp of a music teacher. Celia Johnson is positively evil as the jealous and strait-laced headmistress. Best of all is Pamela Franklin as Miss Brodie's pet pupil - a nicely shaded and slightly underplayed performance that both contrasts and complements Maggie Smith's flamboyant turn.
And it is Maggie Smith that you will be mostly watching. Demonstrating all the emotions from dreamy idealist to dedicated teacher to fliratious lover to frustrated spinster to defiant victim. Every line of dialogue is delivered perfectly - every move of her body is exactly appropriate to her character. She dominates the film without overpowering it. In many ways, it is basically a stage performance but she manages to make it work in the context of a film. In the end, you may not entirely love her character, but you will certainly understand her. And that is what great acting is all about.
I have seen The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie many times and have often found myself wishing that Maggie Smith's brilliant performance had been in a better film. But it's hardly a bad one. Old-fashioned and somewhat stagebound perhaps. But you forget all that whenever Maggie Smith is on the screen.
The film consists of lots and lots of dialogue delivered in quaint Scottish accents. (The accents are not as much a problem for American audiences as they are in other films such as Gregory's Girl.) There is an occasional glimpse of old Edinburgh but, for the most part, the settings are confined to interiors. The film is directed and photographed professionally and unobtrusively. The 1930's period is nicely byt subtly evoked. The one discordant element is the rather twee musical score by Rod McKuen. The emphasis, as in a play, is on the characters.
The supporting cast are just that but most of them manage to have their moments. Robert Stephens (married to Maggie Smith at the time) is quite good as a slightly bohemian art teacher. Gordon Jackson steps somewhat out of his usual typecasting to portray a wimp of a music teacher. Celia Johnson is positively evil as the jealous and strait-laced headmistress. Best of all is Pamela Franklin as Miss Brodie's pet pupil - a nicely shaded and slightly underplayed performance that both contrasts and complements Maggie Smith's flamboyant turn.
And it is Maggie Smith that you will be mostly watching. Demonstrating all the emotions from dreamy idealist to dedicated teacher to fliratious lover to frustrated spinster to defiant victim. Every line of dialogue is delivered perfectly - every move of her body is exactly appropriate to her character. She dominates the film without overpowering it. In many ways, it is basically a stage performance but she manages to make it work in the context of a film. In the end, you may not entirely love her character, but you will certainly understand her. And that is what great acting is all about.
I have seen The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie many times and have often found myself wishing that Maggie Smith's brilliant performance had been in a better film. But it's hardly a bad one. Old-fashioned and somewhat stagebound perhaps. But you forget all that whenever Maggie Smith is on the screen.
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape
First you must understand that I am not an easy critic, I notice all the little things in a movie that others might overlook or just choose to ignore.
That said, this is a brilliant (but not perfect)movie.
The acting of Maggie Smith is superb beyond words. She starts out as a heroine, just the type of teacher we would all like to have. As the movie progresses, the character of Miss Brodie moves closer and closer to a breakdown. What's brilliant is that this peril is obvious to the viewer, but not to Miss Brodie herself, a most difficult task for a screen-writer, a director, and an actress to accomplish.
The depiction of Edinburgh in the 30's is so realistic that you really feel as though you've been put into some sort of time machine- this is one of my favorite aspects of the film, and also the beautifully haunting soundtrack. I truly admire when a film is able to transport you to another place and time and make you truly feel it.
The movie is quite different from the book to be sure (aren't they all?) but the location filming, and the truly brilliant acting overcome any drawbacks.
The film is also notable for the performance of Pamela Franklin.
If you've only seen her in Disney movies, be prepared for a very different Pamela Franklin this time around.
I have watched this film over 10 times now and still do not fully understand it. Is Miss Brodie the Miss-understood heroine? Or is she truly a dangerous person intent on using others so that she can live vicariously through them? Is the film a warning to all of us that evil lurks where least expected? Or is it a trip inside our souls, in those deep somber moments where we have all been betrayed by our dearest and most trusted friends?
Watch the film and decide for yourself. Either way, you will have a beautiful journey thru the very mind and soul of a most complex character, in a nostalgic era, brilliantly portrayed by Maggie Smith.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FILM !
That said, this is a brilliant (but not perfect)movie.
The acting of Maggie Smith is superb beyond words. She starts out as a heroine, just the type of teacher we would all like to have. As the movie progresses, the character of Miss Brodie moves closer and closer to a breakdown. What's brilliant is that this peril is obvious to the viewer, but not to Miss Brodie herself, a most difficult task for a screen-writer, a director, and an actress to accomplish.
The depiction of Edinburgh in the 30's is so realistic that you really feel as though you've been put into some sort of time machine- this is one of my favorite aspects of the film, and also the beautifully haunting soundtrack. I truly admire when a film is able to transport you to another place and time and make you truly feel it.
The movie is quite different from the book to be sure (aren't they all?) but the location filming, and the truly brilliant acting overcome any drawbacks.
The film is also notable for the performance of Pamela Franklin.
If you've only seen her in Disney movies, be prepared for a very different Pamela Franklin this time around.
I have watched this film over 10 times now and still do not fully understand it. Is Miss Brodie the Miss-understood heroine? Or is she truly a dangerous person intent on using others so that she can live vicariously through them? Is the film a warning to all of us that evil lurks where least expected? Or is it a trip inside our souls, in those deep somber moments where we have all been betrayed by our dearest and most trusted friends?
Watch the film and decide for yourself. Either way, you will have a beautiful journey thru the very mind and soul of a most complex character, in a nostalgic era, brilliantly portrayed by Maggie Smith.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FILM !
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
You only begin to understand what the writer and screenwriter of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is trying to say when you realize that the student who ultimately becomes the most like Miss Brodie (Maggie Smith) is Sandy (Pamela Franklin), and that the story is really being told from Sandy's point-of-view. She learns to be as judgmental and irresponsible as her teacher, full of misguided ideals and grievances, and totally confident that the world is as simplistic as she wants it to be. Which is why the film begins with a shot of Miss Brodie on her way to the school and goes out on a shot of Sandy leaving the school, with a Brodie voice-over about her teaching philosophy.
Once you understand that the Sandy transformation is the principle dynamic, the rest of the story fits together rather smoothly. The on-going struggle between Miss Brodie and the headmistress is almost a Hitchcock McGuffin, providing a lot of character motivation but ultimately of little importance.
Another key is the use of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott". "When the Moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed; "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott."
In the poem she is a magical being who lives alone on an island upstream from King Arthur's Camelot. Her purpose is to look at the world outside her castle window in a mirror, and to weave what she sees into a tapestry. She is forbidden by the magic to look at the outside world directly. Looking at the world in a mirror and depicting it in a work of art is an allegory for the life of a teacher viewing the world from an ivory tower and interpreting it for her young students. And Miss Brodie's often fearless lifestyle is much like the heroic action taken by Tennyson's lady which leads to her doom.
Finally there is the irony of the betrayal by the one student who is the most like her, the only one in whom she really confides. But the film illustrates the disconnect between Miss Brodie and Sandy, who gets her back up that Miss Brodie considers Jenny the ideal. Brodie is too self-absorbed to pick up on Sandy's growing disenchantment just as she does not have the insight to realize that Mary McGregor's brother was fighting against (not for) Franco in Spain.
In many ways Miss Brodie is a wonderful teacher and most young girls would have benefited from membership in the Brodie set, mostly because of her encouragement to openly explore the possibilities life offers. She contrasts the word "education", derived from the Latin "educere" (to lead out)-seeing her role as leading out her students' own ideas by encouraging them to think for themselves with the conventional teaching style of "intrusion"- the stuffing of heads with required information.
Which adds a lot of complexity to the production and makes it quite unique. One on level it is a rebel teacher fighting the repressive system to give her students a better education. While on another level it is clear that she is going a bit too far and messing up some of her charges.
The film covers a five-year period and the 18 year-old Franklin believably manages a transformation from a mousy 12 year-old to a sexually liberated young woman. Her nude scene in the artist's studio shocks the viewer because the passage of time has been handled quite casually and because it is really a reverse striptease, starting nude and slowly putting "on" her clothes.
The DVD has a commentary feature by Director Ronald Neame and Pamela Franklin. It too is quite unusual as they were not together in the studio and their voices alternate throughout the film without having any interaction. Neame tends to digress too often to other events in his career but the commentary still manages to provide some useful information.
Ultimately this is a depressing but interesting story with Miss Brodie's colorful outfits standing out in the grays and browns that dominate the production design.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Once you understand that the Sandy transformation is the principle dynamic, the rest of the story fits together rather smoothly. The on-going struggle between Miss Brodie and the headmistress is almost a Hitchcock McGuffin, providing a lot of character motivation but ultimately of little importance.
Another key is the use of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott". "When the Moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed; "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott."
In the poem she is a magical being who lives alone on an island upstream from King Arthur's Camelot. Her purpose is to look at the world outside her castle window in a mirror, and to weave what she sees into a tapestry. She is forbidden by the magic to look at the outside world directly. Looking at the world in a mirror and depicting it in a work of art is an allegory for the life of a teacher viewing the world from an ivory tower and interpreting it for her young students. And Miss Brodie's often fearless lifestyle is much like the heroic action taken by Tennyson's lady which leads to her doom.
Finally there is the irony of the betrayal by the one student who is the most like her, the only one in whom she really confides. But the film illustrates the disconnect between Miss Brodie and Sandy, who gets her back up that Miss Brodie considers Jenny the ideal. Brodie is too self-absorbed to pick up on Sandy's growing disenchantment just as she does not have the insight to realize that Mary McGregor's brother was fighting against (not for) Franco in Spain.
In many ways Miss Brodie is a wonderful teacher and most young girls would have benefited from membership in the Brodie set, mostly because of her encouragement to openly explore the possibilities life offers. She contrasts the word "education", derived from the Latin "educere" (to lead out)-seeing her role as leading out her students' own ideas by encouraging them to think for themselves with the conventional teaching style of "intrusion"- the stuffing of heads with required information.
Which adds a lot of complexity to the production and makes it quite unique. One on level it is a rebel teacher fighting the repressive system to give her students a better education. While on another level it is clear that she is going a bit too far and messing up some of her charges.
The film covers a five-year period and the 18 year-old Franklin believably manages a transformation from a mousy 12 year-old to a sexually liberated young woman. Her nude scene in the artist's studio shocks the viewer because the passage of time has been handled quite casually and because it is really a reverse striptease, starting nude and slowly putting "on" her clothes.
The DVD has a commentary feature by Director Ronald Neame and Pamela Franklin. It too is quite unusual as they were not together in the studio and their voices alternate throughout the film without having any interaction. Neame tends to digress too often to other events in his career but the commentary still manages to provide some useful information.
Ultimately this is a depressing but interesting story with Miss Brodie's colorful outfits standing out in the grays and browns that dominate the production design.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost 5 stars
Maggie is incomparable. You can almost feel her being pushed from all sides and resisting. She was as good when young as when she aged.
Published 1 day ago by Jane Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie gives us a new look into education
Looking across the world at grand lady who gave her intellect and teaching skills to advance the education of young ladies.
Published 2 days ago by Samuel H.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Or "The Not So Modern Guide To Sex With Students"
The ONLY redeeming feature of this film is Maggie Smith's performance. I was appalled and disgusted by the depiction of child molestation both directly and by proxy. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Max the Steeler Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Movie
Shows Maggie Smith at her best! Story is so-so but her acting would make "Roses are red..." a thrilling epic!!!
Published 5 days ago by Camera Guy
2.0 out of 5 stars
It's OK
Very disappointed in this movie. Didn't expect nudity in a movie this old and I didn't like Maggie Smith's character.
Published 10 days ago by John Knox
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic
I loved this movie when it first came out, but I bought it to have Maggie Smith's performance on hand.
Published 11 days ago by Suzanne Sousan
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
I had just watched a recent movie staring Maggie Smith who is one of my favorite actresses.
I remembered seeing this movie a long time ago and bought the DVD because I wanted... Read more
I remembered seeing this movie a long time ago and bought the DVD because I wanted... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Eleanor Palmer
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Maggie Smith is such an outstanding actress, both past and present. I would suggest to anyone who enjoys quality acting to her films.
Published 16 days ago by M. Pittman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maggie Smith rocks!
Many people may have been introduced to Maggie Smith by way of Downton Abbey. This is Maggie Smith many years earlier, and is just delightful. Read more
Published 24 days ago by E. H. P. Killeffer
5.0 out of 5 stars
As I Remembered
Just as I remembered when I saw this movie in the theatre. Maggie Smith is a great actress & has been all these years. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Bett
