Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|1968 British film by John Krish}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher

| image = Decline_and_Fall..._of_a_Birdwatcher_film_Theatrical_release_poster_(1968).png

| image =

| image size =

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = [[John Krish]]

| producer = Ivan Foxwell

| writer = [[Ivan Foxwell]]<br>[[Alan Hackney]]<br>[[Hugh Whitemore]]

| based onbased_on = {{based on|''[[Decline and Fall]]''<br>1928 novel|[[Evelyn Waugh]]}}

| screenplay =

| narrator =

| starring = [[Robin Phillips]]<br>[[Donald Wolfit]]<br>[[Geneviève Page]]<br>[[Felix Aylmer]]<br>[[Colin Blakely]]

| music = [[Ron Goodwin]]

| cinematography = [[Desmond Dickinson]]

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| studio = Ivan Foxwell Productions

| distributor = [[Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]]

| released = {{Film date|1968|09|25|London|1969|101|26|United States|df=y}}

| runtime = 113 min.minutes

| country = UK

| language = [[English language|English]]

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}}

'''''Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher''''' (also known as '''''Decline and Fall''''') is a 1968 [[De Luxe]] British [[comedy film]] directed by [[John Krish]] and starring [[Robin Phillips]], [[Geneviève Page]] and [[Donald Wolfit]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150016462 |access-date=21 March 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/30951 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114003051/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/30951 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 January 2009 |title=BFI &#124; Film & TV Database &#124; Decline and Fall (1968) |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |date=16 April 2009|accessdate=13 February 2012}}</ref> It iswas anadapted adaptationby of[[Ivan Foxwell]], [[Alan Hackney]] and [[Hugh Whitemore]] from the 1928 novel ''[[Decline and Fall]]'' by [[Evelyn Waugh]].

It was the final film role for Wolfit.

The film was made with a budget of $1,970,000.<ref>Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series)''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255</ref>

==Plot summary==

Paul Pennyfeather is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself sent down after a group of drunken undergraduates remove his trousers and he is accused of exposing himself.

{{Expand section|date=May 2015}}

Paul Pennyfeather is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself expelled after a gang of drunken freshmen remove his pants and he is accused of exposing himself to a girl. Looking for work, he retains the services of an unsavory employment agency that secures a position for him at a sleazy Welsh boarding school for boys, presided over by the colorful Dr. Fagan. On staff at the school are an assortment of distasteful screwballs; Mr. Prendergast (Robert Harris) is a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes is a one-legged two-timer with his eye on Fagan's daughter, Flossie; and Soloman Philbrick is an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler.

Forced to look for work, he seeks the services of an employment agency who secure for him a position at a sleazy Welsh boys' boarding school, presided over by the colourful Dr. Fagan.

The school's staff are an assortment of eccentric characters: Mr Prendergast, a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes, a one-legged philanderer with his eye on Fagan's daughter; and Solomon Philbrick, an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler. Paul, who tutors Peter Beste-Chetwynde, is enchanted at the school’s annual sports by the boy’s rich mother. Peter thinks Paul her perfect husband so invites him to vacation at their country home. The two are taken with each other but on the day of their wedding, Paul lands in prison for his inadvertent role in her tawdry business deals. There he runs across everyone from his school days, only to be sprung and sent back into the world by the powerful husband she’s married in his absence.

==Cast==

{{div-col}}

* [[Robin Phillips]] as Paul Pennyfeather

* [[Donald Wolfit]] as Doctor Augustus Fagan

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* [[Colin Blakely]] as Solomon Philbrick

* [[Felix Aylmer]] as Judge

* [[Robert Harris (British actor)|Robert Harris]] as Prendergast

* [[Leo McKern]] as Captain Grimes

* [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]] as Maniaclunatic prisoner

* [[Donald Sinden]] as Prisonprison Governorgovernor

* [[Griffith Jones (actor)|Griffith Jones]] as Sir Humphrey Maltravers

* [[Paul Rogers (actor)|Paul Rogers]] as Chief Warder

* [[Rodney Bewes]] as Arthur Potts

* [[Patience Collier]] as Flossie Fagan

* [[Kenneth Griffith]] as Mr Church

* [[Joan Sterndale-Bennett]] as Lady Circumference

* [[David McAlister]] as Peter Beste-Chetwynde

* [[Michael Elwyn]] as Alastair Digby-Vane-Trumpington

* [[Victor Maddern]] as 1st warder

* Kenneth J. Warren as 2nd warder

* [[Duncan Lamont]] as Police Inspector

* Michael Newport as Lord Tangent

* [[Rodney Bewes]] as Potts

* [[Roland Curram]] as Otto Silenus

* [[Jack Watson (actor)|Jack Watson]] as gallery warder

* [[Helen Christie]] as Mrs. Clutterbuck

* Jonathan Collins as Clutterbuck

* [[Clifton Jones]] as Chokey

* [[Michael Nightingale]] as Colonel Clutterbuck

{{div-col-end}}

==Production==

The film was made with a budget of $1,970,000.<ref>Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series)''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. {{ISBN |978-0-8108-4244-1}}. p255</ref>

==Reception==

=== Box office ===

According to Fox records the film required $3,100,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $1,475,000 so made a loss to the studio.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/foxthatgotawayt00silv/page/328 328]|title=The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox|url=https://archive.org/details/foxthatgotawayt00silv|url-access=registration|last=Silverman|first=Stephen M|year=1988|publisher=L. Stuart|isbn=978-0-8184-0485-6 }}</ref>

=== Critical ===

''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "John Krish has directed a fast-moving and funny ''Decline and Fall'' with enough familiar faces to ensure its commercial success. But unfortunately, in adapting Waugh's novel, Ivan Foxwell has taken too literally the author's claim that it belongs to no particular period, and has set Waugh's sharply observed comedy of manners in the present day. Though the scenes in the Dickensian school and in the futuristic King's Thursday retain – thanks to Jonathan Barry's inventive sets – most of their outrageous charm, the characters fare less happily: abstracted into the 1960s and uprooted from any recognisable social setting, they are relegated from the realms of satire into those of farce.&nbsp;...The answer is perhaps to forget about the novel and simply enjoy the acting.&nbsp;... ''Carry On Countess'' might have been a better title, but on its own level the film is enough of a success to make it worth seeing."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1968 |title=Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305839174 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=35 |issue=408 |pages=168 |id={{ProQuest|1305839174}} }}</ref>

''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Ex-documentary director John Krish has a stab at Evelyn Waugh's partly autobiographical 1928 work, ''Decline and Fall''. It was a vainglorious attempt, as the joys of this hilarious comedy of upper-class manners lie solely on the page; neither Krish nor his trio of scriptwriters have the satirical wit or irreverent verve to translate them to the screen. They are not helped by Robin Phillips's ghastly performance."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |___location=London |pages=239}}</ref>

[[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Flabby, doomed attempt to film a satirical classic which lives only on the printed page. Odd moments amuse."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |___location=London |pages=261}}</ref>

==References==

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==External links==

* {{IMDb title|0062872}}

* {{amgTCMDb movietitle|89061id=72704}}

* {{tcmdb title|id=72704}}

* {{AFI film|id=23680|title=Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher}}

{{Evelyn Waugh}}

[[Category:1968 films]]

[[Category:British musical comedy films]]

[[Category:1960s1968 musical comedy films]]

[[Category:Films directed by John Krish]]

[[Category:Films based on British novels]]

[[Category:Films based on works by Evelyn Waugh]]

[[Category:English-languageFilms filmsscored by Ron Goodwin]]

[[Category:British1968 comedy films]]

[[Category:Film1960s scoresEnglish-language by Ron Goodwinfilms]]

[[Category:1960s British films]]

[[Category:English-language musical comedy films]]

{{1960s-UK-film-stub}}

{{musical-comedy-film-stub}}