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Rating:  - Good Update for The Good Soldier
The Good Soldier is an old favorite and one I thought I would always be condemned to view from an old VHS tape. The DVD is a great update of an old friend.
Rating:  - Not great, but good.
I bought this film because I am a huge fan of Jeremy Brett and wanted to see him in a role other than Sherlock Holmes. I would have liked this film better if Brett's character would have been a little more involved, but at least I did get to see him in a different role on screen. I also was pleased to see "Miss Lemmon" from "Poirot" in the film briefly. I don't know if I would recommend this. I bought it for a personal reason, not because I thought it would be great. For me, it filled that purpose, and I will probably watch it more than once, but not often.
Rating:  - Gorgeous production of a sad story
I am a very visual person so I can sit through lots of meaningless despair as long as it photographed in beautiful settings with lots of lush costumes and fantastic architecture. This film has all of that. It helps that the cast is strong and rather attractive, too. It makes for a "good show."
As for the content, well...I found the story interesting, told as it is, from the view point of the man who was deceived. First we see the splendid surface--the two wealthy couples, one American, one English, in a German spa, pre-World War I. They spend several years together, performing, as the narrator says, a "minuet." A lovely picture. Then the narrator lets us in to the story behind the story, almost as he has discovered it. From reading some of the reviews of the book, it seems that the narrator is much more befuddled than he is portrayed in the film. That may be a flaw in the translation of book to film...I don't know. As the layers of the characters peel away and we learn of the rotten-ness at the core of the apple (his words), the story intensifies, or as they used to say, "the plot thickens."
My attention was held throughout, mostly by the strength of the actors and the visual splendors. The plot, itself, doesn't have much to offer modern audiences. We know about adultery, betrayal, revenge, hypocrasy. There is nothing here that illumines any of the characters, raises them up to a higher plane. No one changes, learns anything, grows, transcends his dire situation. Most of the players chose cowardly outs---three out of five chose suicide, and one descends into madness. So I wasn't left with a particularly satisfied feeling at the end.
The main character, who is supposed to be the befuddled weakling, was played by the charming Robin Ellis, who I fell in love with in the tv series, "Poldark." That's probably what kept my interest--not a great reason. But he remains as befuddled at the end as he was in the beginning. So one could ask "What's the point of all this?" Perhaps Ford Maddox Ford was using this as a means to discover answers to his the riddles of his own life. Here he offers us questions but no answers.
I suppose there is more value to the story if one were to read the novel, but having seen this, I don't think I'll bother. I give it four stars just for the splendid production. (It was really funny to see John Ratzenberger, Cliff Claven, the mail man in "Cheers," in a totally different setting.)
Rating: - A stellar cast
With a stellar cast that includes Jeremy Brett, Robin Ellis, Susan Fleetwood, Vickery Turner, Elizabeth Garvie, Pauline Moran, and John Ratzenberger, "The Good Soldier" is the story of two Edwardian couples who become friends when meeting for nine consecutive years at an annual retreat in a German spa. Superbly adapted from the novel by Ford Madox Ford, "The Good Soldier" features beautiful costuming, meticulous set designs, and superb photography in a 104 minute production that is technically flawless in its execution. Viewers are treated to an unfolding story of unexpected plot twists, memorable characters, and shifting perspectives, as this remarkably engaging story of love, loss, betrayal is revealed. Strongly recommended for community library video collections, the DVD format of "The Good Soldier" allows for the inclusion of a Ford Madox Ford biography, cast filmographies, and a scene index feature.
Rating: - rivetting!
The Good Soldier is a rather haunting period story and film, with many delicate layers of meaning and subtle character revelations, made more complex because they are seen from different perspectives, but also (paradoxically) because often they are seen, rather than spoken of. The contrast between the measured elegance of the couples, and the anguish (it is revealed) that seethes below the surface of their leisurely, even lazy, lifestyle, is absolutely rivetting.
Although it is essentially a sad story - the 'soldier' of the title seems at first to be the villain, then turns out to be the victim - Jeremy Brett's performance is such that this scarcely matters, one is more struck by the quality of his portrayal, which far surpasses the undeniable excellence of the other actors. Brett is able, with a minimum of words, and the slightest gesture or fleeting expression, to reveal an entire sea of his character's suffering.
The tale is set in the Edwardian era, yet its theme of social relationships is surprisingly modern (with its overtones of wife-swapping, extra-marital affairs etc).
The viewer can't help but be drawn into the lives of the characters, trapped, as they seem to be, with their pain and age-old human problems. It is a brilliant film, and a special one.
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