The Spanish Prisoner and the Winslow Boy: Two Screenplays

by David Mamet

Book Overview

Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet ranks among the century's most influential writers for stage and screen. His dialogue--abrasive, rhythmic--illuminates a modern aesthetic evocative of Samuel Beckett. His plots--surprising, comic, topical--have evoked comparisons to masters from Alfred Hitchcock to Arthur Miller. Here are two screenplays demonstrating the astounding range of Mamet's talents. The Spanish Prisoner , a neo-noir thriller about a research-and-development...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037570664X
• ISBN13: 9780375706646
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Habeas Corpus versus military buraucracy

This play is a great play in many ways. First of all it is a real case. A 13 year old boy was sacked from an English naval academy accused of having stolen a 5 shilling postal order, what's more without his family being heard or informed, without the boy being provided with counsel and the opportunity to clear himself. No real investigation was carried out. They founded their conviction and their decision on the post-office lady who obviously should not have been trusted that much, and a graphologist expert who was proved later in court as untrustable. Why was that one an expert at all for court cases, even if these cases did not go to court? The second interest is of course the battle in Parliament to get the right for the boy to be properly tried in a court of justice, hence to reassert the fact that no public or state agency was over the law. Then, and that is so English, the Attorney General conceded defeat before the end and dropped the case and decided to grant the boy with a full victory before the court's decision, probably because somewhere in this country that invented Habeas Corpus right is more important than the vanity or authority of any one bureaucrat, be he even an admiral or general. By right is meant here the rule of law that has to be guaranteed equal and fair to everyone without exception. Finally it is essential to see how a whole family decides to fight, and in order to fight to sacrifice all they have or may have gotten in the future. Right, the rule of law, is never gratuitous nor free. We have to fight for it but we have to pay for that fight without knowing in advance if there will be any real compensation, not to speak of a profit, in the end. Rattigan adds to these enormously interesting elements the suffragette case on the side, and even in a way on the sly, and a personal dramatic art that makes nearly every scene and character heart-moving and mind-stirring. It is even poignant to see a father and his daughter fighting like gladiators against the state and its abuse of power. Rattigan builds the whole play around this poignancy, and in a way the light insouciance of the boy himself who is so virginally naïve that he could never be thought to be a thief. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

An Exciting, Thoughtful, Beautiful Play

There are two movie adaptations of "The Winslow Boy" available, recently starring Jeremy Northam (1999), and anciently starring Robert Donat (1948). But neither is an adequate substitute for the real thing, the full text by Terence Rattigan. In 1988, PBS broadcast a superb production of the full text, starring Ian Richardson and Emma Thompson, but it has not, unfortunately, been transferred to video. The play concerns a public battle against the government, waged by a father to vindicate his son, expelled from a naval academy for cashing a stolen money order. Although the crusade is exciting, the play is most interesting in what it reveals about the people intimately involved: the members of the Winslow family, their close friends and their lawyer. The resulting insights and realism are among the story's chief virtues. At first reading, the play may seem a straightforward tale of innocence versus injustice. But on closer inspection, one finds that the boy's innocence is never proved, and that some in the family deny or doubt it. Moreover, even if he is innocent, the harm to members of the family and to the country from pursuing the case might be greater than the harm from letting it drop. Such uncertainty is frustrating, but life is like that. Crusades are often launched for ends whose worth is unclear. The play is wise to develop this point. Moreover, the actions and motives of crusaders may be a mixture of good and bad. This may make them harder to join, but certainly interesting and instructive to watch. One admires the boldness, determination and persistence of the father, Arthur Winslow, without whose initiative the crusade would not exist. Yet he is rather a sourpuss, often dominating or humiliating others. His daughter and indispensable lieutenant, Kate, is the most attractive member of the family, bright and realistic but emotionally withheld and often blinded by partisanship. Sir Robert Morton, the celebrated advocate who represents the Winslow boy is a supercilious, cold fish, and a brilliant (unscrupulous?) forensic champion. All three make substantial sacrifices for the sake of their crusade.The author is a master of surprise and reversal. Much of the dramatic excitement comes when esteemed characters behave badly, or disregarded characters greatly please. Perhaps the most beautiful moment in the play is a marriage proposal to Kate by Desmond Curry, an old family friend whom she rather disdains (and the reader discounts). And the mother, Grace Winslow, whose views have been generally ignored, finally makes a powerful case that the crusade, out of pride and stubbornness, is destroying her husband and family for a son who is uninterested in the result. Another excellence of the play is its treatment of controversy. On the questions as to whether the crusade is justified and worthwhile, for the family and for the country, the author impartially assigns plausible arguments to the various sides, from the characters, th

The Winslow Boy

I enjoyed this play immensely and I also enjoyed the David Mamet film as well--a film that I thought was engrossing and a more than satisfying character study.I liked how the play speaks of something that we sometimes give little regard to in today's society---the importance of and honor in a good and stable reputation. It was very enlightening to read this tale of a family (especially the father) who was in service of maintaining their son's dignity and place in society. I was also taken by how this quest for honor taxes the family. My favorite scene in the play also begets my favorite line. The scene where the mother tells the father that he should let their son go on with his ife and not stigmatize him by this singular event is very honest and real. And when the mother says, "When he (their son) is grown, he won't thank you for it."-meaning the preservation of his reputation, I thought the whole idea and point of the story was driven home. An excellent read indeed

Extremely compelling play

I really love this play. A friend gave me a copy and I started reading it on the train and was unable to stop until I had finished reading it! I was able to envisage the characters in my mind and as soon as I finished it, I HAD to go out and rent the David Mamet film adaptation which is also fantastic.Sir Robert, Catherine Winslow and Arthur Winslow are remarkably well-drawn characters and all of the dialogue in the play is excellent. I really enjoyed this play and highly recommend it!

Some of the best writing cinema has to offer.

David Mamet both writes and directs his own films but the strength of Mamet's film comes from his writing. "The Spanish Prisoner" and "The Winslow Boy" are both examples of Mamet's best screenwriting. The dialogue alone is legendary. One of the knocks against Mamet's work has been a disregard for the female characters in his work but "The Winslow Boy" has a vital and strong role that was brought to the screen very well by Rebecca Pidegon. These screenplays exemplify what is good with today's cinema and are essential reading for any one interested in viewing the art of the screenplay.