DVD Review

Title: Evelyn Waugh Collection
Includes: A Handful Of Dust & Scoop

Genre: Drama/British

Rating: PG

Release Date: February 2, 2010

Running Time: 233 minutes

Language: English

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Two very well-made productions that highlighting one of England’s less prolific satirists, The Evelyn Waugh Collection features two films based on the authors books titled A Handful of Dust and Scoop.

The former a drama starring the illustrious Judi Dench, Alec Guiness, Angelica Huston, and Kristin Scott Thomas, and the latter is a worldwide romp starring Michael Maloney, Donald Pleasance, and Denholm Elliott.

Most famously known for his greatest literary achievement, the dark satire of high society Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh is commonly known as the man who delights in bringing down the rich “a peg or two” with his grim sense of humour. Nothing could be funnier in a Waugh novel than the wealthy getting their comeuppance.

Waugh’s stylings are reminiscent of a man with a beef against the upper class in England circa 1940s. Almost gregarious in his commentary, he leaves little room for nuance and none for wit. Waugh seems to be quite the literalist in his satire that many alleged intellectuals cling to like precious morsels of wisdom.

In short, Waugh is no P.G. Wodehouse.

A Handful of Dust, written in 1934 — a full nine years prior to Brideshead Revisited — is the story of a wealthy couple, Brenda and Tony Last, whose marriage and empire are in demise. Tony is weak and willowy, almost stupid in his acceptance that his wife has more time in her “lonely” London flat, than raising her son in Tony’s distinguished family home “Hetton Abbey”.

Brenda (Kristin Scott Thomas) seems to be living the high life in London with her social-climbing young lover John Beaver (James Wilby) when she discovers her son has died due to an unfortunate hunting accident. A divorce is to ensue and a poorly coordinated game plan on Tony’s part matched to a dwindling love affair for Brenda, leaves both in a situation neither would want for themselves.

Of the two productions, A Handful Of Dust is definitely the best. The story has an essence of the time in which the novel was wrote and set. Somerset Maugham, EM Forster and DH Lawrence all embraced this analysis of relationships and almost quiet stories of class and relationships. Unfortunately, the characters are cold and empty, which is very hard to act your way through, so many of the performers had little to work with and a lot of talent to boast. The production is beautiful and Kristin Scott Thomas is incredibly dynamic, but A Handful Of Dust is a little too dreary.

Of course, Scoop was written directly after A Handful Of Dust by Waugh, and although the plot's tempo is very upbeat and what might be closely akin to farce, the two films in this collection are a perfectly balanced pairing.

Scoop prefers to poke fun at a dwindling wealth and the media. We follow William Boot, a young, naive journalist misplaced in a case of mistaken identity in to being a war correspondent for The Daily Beast, a paper he usually writes the nature column for. William (Michael Maloney) takes the commission to Ishmaelia, a fictional African country on the brink of war. What ensues is a malady of collective journalists acting dumbfounded and the witless William actually discovers the scoop of the country’s war.

On the surface, all the themes are blatant as we see the media as a buffoon that will engorge itself in false stories at the benefit of simply having a story over its competitor. Scoop is also very long-winded and exhausting to watch. Truly one of my least favourite films to spend time with, and I suspect this is simply because of how Waugh relays a story. Yet again, the production is fabulous, as are the actors.

So here is my theory as to why you will love The Evelyn Waugh Collection, you are either a fan of Waugh already and are looking to get your hands on some great cinematic versions of his novels, or you worked on wall street and are presently unemployed, looking for shows that indulge your resentment towards the class system you have toppled from. Either way, if you love Waugh, you will love these renditions, if you do not love Waugh, may I recommend a little Jeeves & Wooster?

Written by :

Kindah

 

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