The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Muriel Spark (novel)
Jay Presson Allen (play)

Release Date:

January 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

In the surprising world of Jean Brodie, there were two men and four girls.

Plot:

A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12 year old charges with her over-romanticized world view.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | School | 1930s | Schoolteacher | Influence

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Maggie Smith	...	Jean Brodie
Robert Stephens	...	Teddy Lloyd
Pamela Franklin	...	Sandy
Gordon Jackson	...	Gordon Lowther
Celia Johnson	...	Miss Mackay
Diane Grayson	...	Jenny
Jane Carr	...	Mary McGregor
Shirley Steedman	...	Monica
Lavinia Lang	...	Emily Carstairs
Antoinette Biggerstaff	...	Helen McPhee
Margo Cunningham	...	Miss Campbell
Isla Cameron	...	Miss McKenzie
Rona Anderson	...	Miss Lockhart
Ann Way	...	Miss Gaunt
Molly Weir	...	Miss Allison Kerr

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Barnbougle Castle, Dalmeny, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Trivia:

According to director Ronald Neame, his own grandson posed on the potty as the baby for Teddy's family portrait.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Miss Brody presents a slide show to the class. She tells a tale of how Dante Alighieri fell in love with Beatrice Portinari when they met at the old bridge (Ponte Veccio) in Florence. Miss Brody changes some of the facts of the Dante and Beatrice story, but in doing so she is relating the story (consciously or unconsciously) of her own failed romance with an older man.

Quotes:

Jean Brodie: [after Miss Mackay has read a supposedly incriminating letter, written by Sandy and Jenny] There's very little for me to say, Miss Mackay in the face of your extraordinary prejudice and hostility.
Miss Mackay: Miss Brodie, I am not asking you to say anything. I am asking... demanding... that you put your signature, your own signature, on a letter of resignation which I have prepared for you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign.
Miss Mackay: If you will not resign, you will force me to dismiss you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign and you will not dismiss me, Miss Mackay. You will not use the excuse of that pathetic, that humorous document to blackmail me! Mr. Lowther, you are a witness to this. Miss Mackay has made totally unsupported accusations against my name and yours...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Scotland on Screen (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Jean

Brilliant film, incredible performance

Beautifully filmed and acted by all the performers, this is a knock-out film. Maggie Smith is incredible right down to her Morningside accent. The other players hold their own against her powerhouse performance. The Edinburgh locations are great and the film has a remarkably nostalgic quality that reflects Brodie's romanticism. A beautiful Rod McKuen score as well! A must see film. An interesting comparison can be made with Dead Poet's Society, which has a male teacher in an all male school (compared to a female teacher in an all girl's school). In Brodie, unorthodox irresponsible teaching is condemned while in Dead Poet's Society it is valorized. In both the teaching methods bring about the death of a student and the school's reaction is similar. The film makers, however, come down on opposite sides in their attitudes toward the teachers