The_Late_Peter_Cook

Sometimes good movies fall through the cracks of the pavement. They disappear, forgotten about. THE DOCK BRIEF (or TRIAL AND ERROR, fluidity of title is another symptom) is one such film. Despite starring Peter Sellers and made in his glory period, it seldom reaches the television screens (while the likes of THE WRONG ARM OF THE LAW seem always to be broadcast) seldom, if ever, talked about. Even Roger Lewis, while researching his ‘Life And Death Of Peter Sellers’ had to hire a film print and project it against his kitchen wall to view it. I was luckier, able to buy it on DVD (lost among a host of better-loved Sellers movies) at a 'bargin bin' price of £3.99.

Watching this is nothing more than a revelation. The plot is simple, Morganhall (Sellers) a barrister, is given his first case in forty years, as he is chosen to defend Henpecked Herbert Fowle (Richard Attenbourgh), a grey, drab, bird lover, who has murdered his over-bearing, guffawing wife (Reid) because she wouldn’t leave him. It is not an important case (the “Dock Brief” of the title means that Fowle has no money for a lawyer, established barristers avoid them like the plague), but Morganhall sees this as an escape from the prison of his own life, ‘Oh Fowle! The wonderful new life you’ve brought me!’

Morganhall and Fowle are little men, confined long before they are cell-bound (this film is full of images of confinement, prison cells, bird cages, claustrophobic houses, ) and the joy of the movie comes from their relationship, dull, grey Fowle takes wing as he falls under the spell of Morganhall’s imagination. Sellers is wonderful, Morganhall is a tragic character, a defeated man, but never pathetic. In his dreams he is a great lawyer, but, naturally, his one great day in court ends in ruins, ‘I had only to open my mouth and pour out words’.

Fowle is reprieved and released, due to Morganhall’s incompetence and the barrister’s dreams are dashed. Put like that, it is a bleak ending, yet the joy of the movie is that it ends in hope, in Morganhall’s and Fowle’s friendship. For the first time, as the leave prison and walk across Westminster Bridge, they are free from confinement (I love the little jig Sellers performs in long shot).

Both Sellers and Attenbourgh are on top form (though I’ve mostly singled out Sellers, as his Morganhall is perhaps the ideal representation of his cinematic little dreamers, Attenbourgh’s lonely bird lover really is beautifully played) and lover’s of gentle, bitter-sweet comedy, should seek out this movie.

I wrote the bulk of the above for a review for IDMB last summer and this movie continues to live on in my memory as a haunting little mood piece which continues to stick in my mind, long after bigger, more expensive and better known films have faded away.

[ 05. February 2005, 11:30: Message edited by: The_Late_Peter_Cook ]

smudge

I agree chaps, both with LPC's analysis of the film and Tony's comments re: performance and characterisation.

It just shows where Sellers true strengths lay ; good observation of the little details that make characters...well, just that - characters.

This was reflected (although in a more caricatured form) with Chance the Gardener in BEING THERE. Sadly, Sellers wanted to be the hero, the matinee idol and the great lover, and in trying to fulfil these dreams (both personally and professionally) lost the plot and most of his friends along the way.

A most poignant moment in a BBC documentary, talking not long before he died, looking out from his penthouse at the Dorchester. He mused that he could almost see, "The Paris..."(Theatre) where it all started - the Goons and (by his own admission) the happiest period of his life.

Shame there weren't a few more Morganhalls in his in-tray...

SMUDGE

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The_Late_Peter_Cook

I agree, Peter wasn't cut out to be a matinee idol and once he became an international star the roles that suited his talent tended to dry up. To my mind, he did more with his five minutes or so screentime as Dr Pratt in THE WRONG BOX, then being centre stage in the likes of THE PARTY or the 'seventies PANTHER movies.

Certainly I think that at his best he was only equaled by Alec Gunniness in his variety of well-rounded roles (Gunniness too faltered with international fame, post TUNES OF GLORY his career seems a bit meagre, dominated by STAR WARS and George Smiley). Characters such as Morganhall, Fred Kite, Mr Martin from THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES (awful title for a great little movie) Lewis the librarian (ONLY TWO CAN PLAY) are vivid little characters who seem to have a life independent from the actor and the film. That type of role seems to have been lost to Sellers when he went 'Hollywood'.

Dennis Price Fan

Although I agree that Sellers' career became a touch patchy after he "went Hollywood" there are still some great performances from his later career - notably in The Blockhouse, The Optimists and probably my personal favourite of all his films - Hoffman, one of the few films in which he appeared without a verbal or facial mask. Although the Dock Brief is comparatively obscure I would say that Mr Topaze is much more obscure. I'm reasonably sure that most if not all Sellers' films have been released on video in the UK or the US at some stage - except Mr Topaze. Anyone out there have a copy?

smudge

I dunno....

I used to think THE OPTIMISTS wasn't too bad, but on reflection, and knowing more of the man since, I feel it's a little too whimsical and perhaps a touch self indulgent.

SMUDGE

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The_Late_Peter_Cook

I've never seen Mr Topaze (or I Like Money as I think the Americans called it) myself and it does sound intriging. For a long, long time The Waltz Of The Toridors was for me a similar 'lost' movie. I still haven't seen all of it, as for some reason I find it hard to get beyond the first twenty minutes of it.

glyn horton

I finally got to see Mr Topaze at a Sellars film season in Cardiff last year. It was a print from the National Film Archive and was OK apart from colour fading which gave it a reddish tinge. A rather quiet, strange and sad little film, not really a comedy, more a character study - a study of an innocent corrupted by small town politics and council wheeler dealing. Sellers also directed the film but his style is not particularly showy, a lot of it is very much like a filmed play but he seems interested in the decor of the various scenes - in the musty school classroom you can almost smell the dust of old books and stuffed animals. His character is quite similar to The Dock Brief, and the aura of the 'innocent' predates Being There (e.g. he is sacked from his school because he doesn't give good grades to the pupil of a rich benefactor). However the film differs from these other studies in a particular way (PLOT SPOILER coming!) in that Topaze eventually decides to become as cynical and corrupt as those around him, in fact he becomes very good at it until he becomes so rich and powerful he buys out the businessman (Herbert Lom) who duped him. The film ends with him back in his old town having bought the school but his oldest friend (Michael Gough) sees how he has changed and loses respect for him. Sellers wanders over to the promenade and gazes dispassionately out to a wintry sea and that's how the film ends - a rather ambiguous, rather bleak fade-out.

The_Late_Peter_Cook

That sounds a marvelous little movie and it is very sad that it seems to have vanished without trace (especially when the obscure likes of THE GREAT MCGONNIGAL (sic) gets a DVD outing). I wonder who owns the televison/DVD rights?

glyn horton

Roger Lewis reckons he saw the only surviving print at the BFI after a couple of years searching. If thats the one I saw they'd have to release it in black and white on DVD because of the poor colour quality. I was told at the screening the Peter Sellars Appreciation Society had a print but it's in a bad way :unhappy:
Twentieth Century Fox made it so possibly there's a copy in their archives in Hollywood?

aphra

I have a very good VHS tape in PAL of THE DOCK BRIEF with Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough. I had no idea it was such a rarity! Send me a private message if you want a copy.
Best, Aphra

Jim

Watched The Dock Brief last night (thanks Aphra). What a lovely little compact film it was. Sellers and Attenborough at their professional heights. John Mortimer as authour of the piece, was also excellent.

I thought that I had seen all of Seller's films, but I had never seen that one! Excellent!

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