User reviews

Maggie Smith was already a major star in her native England and 4 years before she had earned an Oscar nomination in the supporting category for her Desdemona in "Othello" with Laurence Olivier but her Jean Brodie arrived to revolutionize everything, specially her own career. She won an Oscar and her win was considered one of the great upsets in the Academy's history. Watching The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 48 years after its original release, told me that the Academy got it right then. Her performance is, quite simply, extraordinary. She's not playing a regular human being, no, she's playing a sort of benign monster, full of good intentions but, goodness, she's mad, mad as a hatter and from that point of view, she's truly dangerous. Maggie Smith goes for it, body and soul, Her confrontation of her superior, played magnificently by Celia Johnson, is of such power that I had to rewind immediately and see it again once, twice, three times. Superlative.

This movie is often billed as a 'one-woman show', a study of an extraordinary character, Miss Jean Brodie, played by an excellent actress. However, the movie is much more than that. It is a study of charisma and influence, of teachers and students, and presents a complex and fascinating coming-of-age story. This study takes place through the movie's double-focus on both Jean Brodie and her most precocious student, Sandy. Sandy is the strongest and most independent of Miss Brodie's students, and eventually she rebels and rejects her teaching completely. However, she is also truest to her teacher's expressed goals. Miss Brodie supposedly wants to teach 'her girls' to be like herself: powerful, independent individuals, free from the shackles of authority and group-think, beyond conventional sexual morality. In fact, she preys on the weakness and insecurity of her students, punishes independence and rewards slavish loyalty to her and to her personal plans and ideals. (The film's more subtle concern with fascism and authoritarianism echoes this theme: fascism elevates great individuals and praises their strength, just as it demands total obedience and slavishness from the rest.) Sandy, by recognizing and rejecting Miss Brodies's actions and plans, becomes her truest student: not only sexually adventurous, but bold, independent, and confrontational. The final scenes illustrate this beautifully. Miss Brodie has truly put "an old head" on Sandy's "young shoulders", and she truly is "hers for life"--though not in the way originally intended. In this way the movie presents a profound, sophisticated and realistic account of the way powerful individuals influence one another.

Maggie Smith is mesmerizing. She paints the blind monstrosity of Miss Jean Brodie in the most recognizable human tones. Robin William's character in "Dead Poet Society" is as irresponsible but doesn't go near as far as this repressed masterpiece of a creature. Her romantic slant towards "Il Duce" and what he represents is at the core of the simple complexity of the character. Maggie's mannerism, now a precious trade mark, belong to Miss Brodie, totally. Her arms, her chin, the turning of her face. Pamela Franlklin is also superb. What a powerful young actress -- Where is she now? -- and Celia Johnson's performance is the icing on the cake of this feast of a movie.

I saw this film thirty years ago and Maggie Smith's performance still rates as one of the finest on screen. The storyline is already well known. I just want to crow about her presence in the movie. This woman even managed to blush when she and Mr Lloyd were caught in a clinch by Mary MacGregor! All these years later I still recall the line she delivered so witheringly when she heard that the music teacher she had once been linked with was finally going the marry the science teacher "Do you not think that with one snap of my fingers I couldn't send Miss (beat) Lockhart back to her gaseous domain!" Rent the video and whoop with delight at the sheer brilliance of this woman.

Robert Stephens was the least convincing of the lead performers, beside his then wife he was positively wooden. I saw them together on the London Stage in Hedda Gabler and they electrified the place! This film though was all about her. Her scenes with the Head Teacher were astonishing " I didn't want to be late - or early!"

A joy!

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

Just watched it for the third time in as many days. Oh, Edingurgh looks gorgeous, and so does Dame Maggie. I admit to knowing very little about her, but this role alone would make me a lifetime fan.

Rather than another summary and interpretation I want to riff on a few seemingly random points ...

1) The costumes. Fabulous, fabulous period costumes. The grey of the "gehrls" ... all those pleated skirts and dropped waists! Sandy's little gingham number! The bloomers ... oh, how sweet those bloomers were (and I mean nothing perverse by that, I just thought they were cute, and I'll own up to always wondering what was under those '30s skirts). The school uniforms, the effect of the repetition on that gray, gray, gray, and those tidy peter-pan collared shirts: you could easily see why Miss Brodie fancied herself a bit of a Duce herself, she seemed to be surrounded by a uniformed army. And then ... against the greys of the girls, the greys, whites and blacks of the staff -- wonderful houndstooths and glen plaids, especially on the headmistress -- Miss Brodie, impossibly slim and hipless, in radiant plums, flame colors, paisleys and asymmetrical jackets. If only I could have a tailor like that. It worked, it absolutely works still: it doesn't look a bit garish, as so many Technicolor extravaganzas can.

2) Miss Brodie's blindness to who Sandy really is - her insensitivity to her; going on about how "ordinary morals will not apply" to the allegedly-beautiful girl (well, she's blonde anyway) while failing to look beneath the glasses of the real stunner, Sandy. Who with the slightest bit of knowledge about pre-teen girls would do that - harp on a friend's beauty and negligently add, "Oh, but you have insight, dear"? The whole set-up: Sandy's elevated to a peer-like relationship, Sandy's confided in, yet Sandy is only a mirror for Jean, not valued, not truly noticed. I believe that's the dynamic - almost like a neglected lover's - that triggers Sandy's betrayal.

3) Sandy, and her amazing transformation. My jaw actually dropped when we saw her with the painter: did they film over a period of years, I wondered? How could that little girl be THIS young woman? Going back and watching - the schoolgirl uniform, the tousled short hair, the whole expression, look in the eyes, everything. The over-sized glasses. The most convincing precocious-12-year-old performance. And then - pow, an adult! all without CGI. That was impressive.

4) The giggling and sexually curious girls. Hey, I do remember being 12, and yeah, it was like that!

5) That incredible dance scene, the 2 girls tangoing while speculating on "doing it." Fantastic blocking. And funny, and charming as hell. I especially like Sandy's aggressive cranking of the Victrola.

I personally detested the painter - the whole notion of the father of 6 tomcatting about, well, yuck - and his manhandling of the ladies is simply vile. But those were the times, I suppose. The headmistress was sublime. The overall look is artful but not overdone and all perfectly unified and beautiful. Enjoy - I certainly have!

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

Maggie Smith was singled out for her performance in the film. Dave Kehr of Chicago Reader said that Smith is "in one of those technically stunning, emotionally distant performances that the British are so darn good at." Yes, but what about Pamela Franklin? I think it is a shame she ever quit acting, as she is by far one of the best actresses of the 1970s and 80s.

It is interesting to see how little Maggie Smith changed over 30 years, and how the school in this film could just as easily have been Hogwarts.

MAGGIE SMITH is excellent as a highly dedicated teacher full of idealized traits who wants to transfer all of her moral and political philosophies to her Scottish girl students in the '30s.

It's a very timely theme when you consider how so many in the teaching profession take it upon themselves to impress their own political and moral views on their students. It's happening all the time at universities and colleges where liberal viewpoints are being paraded on a daily basis.

She makes the mistake of making one of the girls her confidante, telling her she would make an excellent spy. The girl (PAMELA FRANKLIN) has an astonishing and exceedingly well acted scene later in the film, the final confrontation between her and Miss Brodie which gives the story a clarification of just what Miss Brodie's faults have wrought upon her students.

Frankly, I think Pamela Franklin was overlooked when it came to handing out awards. She's undoubtedly a very fine actress and should have had a supporting role Oscar.

Lensed in fine Technicolor, the film is full of colorful and witty dialogue, providing as many chuckles as it does drama. CELIA JOHNSON is amazing as Miss Mackay, head mistress of the school who wants to get rid of her progressive-minded teacher.

All in all, a film full of moral ambiguities surrounding the character of Miss Brodie, whose dedicated professionalism is undermined by her foolish eccentricities and poor judgment concerning the political realities of the time.

Maggie Smith revels being in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," a 1969 film based on the play by Ronald Neame. Smith, in her great film role, plays the narcissistic, romantic, unconventional Jean Brodie, a teacher in a conservative school in 1932.

Brodie refers to her 12-year-old students as "her girls," rhapsodizes about her lover who fell in World War I, shows slides of her trip to Italy, extols the virtues of "Il Duce" (Mussolini) and Fascism, and has picnics with the students, serving food such as pate de foie gras. The headmistress (Celia Johnson) may not like her, but two male teachers (Robert Stephens and Gordon Jackson) are crazy about her: one the handsome, married art teacher, whom she won't let herself love, and the other, a weak, traditional man who wants marriage but gets the free-wheeling Ms. Brodie instead.

One can't help liking or even loving Jean Brodie, mostly because of the vivid characterization of Maggie Smith - her Brodie is funny, fun, eccentric, devoted, and loves bucking the system. Underneath all that "truth" and "romance," however, is a woman with a very over-idealized view of the world, a woman who doesn't really see "her girls" as anything but tools in her own game and to satisfy her own needs. One student (Pamela Franklin), the strongest of the lot, ultimately sees through her.

Franklin is marvelous, and holds her own against Smith's brilliant, biting, flamboyant performance. Smith's husband, Robert Stephens, is very good as the art teacher who loves her in spite of himself; Celia Johnson is formidable as the headmistress; and Gordon Jackson, as the overwhelmed, good Mr. Lowther, is wonderful. Each makes a strong impression.

Ultimately, though, the role of Jean Brodie is a beautifully constructed one, and as played by Maggie Smith, is the center of the film. I saw Smith in person in "Lettice and Lovage," and it remains one of my all-time great nights of theater. I laughed until my face hurt, and then at the end, the character has a serious monologue - and you could hear a pin drop. What a privilege to see this actress anywhere and any time, in any medium.

Maggie Smith bagged an Oscar as unorthodox teacher in 1930s Edinburgh. She believes she in her prime although she looks that she is slightly over the hill.

Miss Brodie also has an unhealthy obsession with strong fascist leaders such as Mussolini and Franco.

Smith plays Jean Brodie as a pompous, delusional spinster playing with the men who are infatuated with her. (Including her then real life husband Robert Stephens.) She equally manipulates her favourite students.

The essence of the film is that as a teacher she wants to encourage free thinking within her girls and seize the opportunities that life has to offer them.

However she shows a different face when confronted by one of her students, Sandy. Played very well by Pamela Franklin.

Sandy informed on Miss Brodie and hastens her demise due to one of the students fleeing to Spain to fight for the Franco side and ends up getting killed.

The film is well acted by some well known British actors. It has some location shooting in Edinburgh and captures the strong conservative and church ethos of the school and its inhabitants.

However the film suffers from not being opened up from its stage origins which the the later television series did.

I don't know about you, but every time I see Maggie Smith on the screen it's always a good sign to stick around for the whole movie. It holds true with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. A rather slow-moving, at first, and quiet movie, it has a certain seductiveness to it that's just below the surface. As you watch the movie you can almost feel and see the emotions building up. Always at the edge and never missing a beat, Smith executes her role with absolute perfection and in doing so driving the audience insane. Pamela Franklin also comes through as a girl changes Miss Brodie's outlook on her and changes our outlook on Miss Brodie. Torn between rooting for her and hating her, and mostly you'll be doing the latter, Miss Brodie is a character with far less facets to her than one might expect. Only once again proving that trust can be misplaced and appearances can be deceiving.

See it for Maggie Smith who was much deserving of her Best Actress Oscar in 1969. I'd rank this performance among the best ever preserved on film. Her character is unlike any you've ever seen and ranks up there with Sandy Dennis in "Up the Down Staircase" and Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love" as one of the most memorable teachers on screen.

Ronald Neame does a nice job of moving the film along so the adapted play doesn't seem stagy. The focus is the wonderful adapted screenplay and the great cast.

The triumph of "Jean Brodie" is the final confrontation scene with Smith and young actress Pamela Franklin.

Don't miss it.

This is my favourite movie ever. It's made 19 years before I was born, but I don't care. I quite started crying after I'd seen this movie... Maggie Smith may be as old as my grandfather, whatever. She's the most wonderful actress ever... Oh, for heaven's sake, if ever someone deserved an Oscar...

What more can I say? Miss Jean Brodie is a dangerous, hypocrite and narcistic woman, and yet you like her. You have to like her. When you watch the movie, you know she's a facist, and you know that what she preaches is rubbish, but you just do not caze. Miss Brodie stands for "art, beauty and truth" and you just feel she's just deceived and too progressive for her time. But, as Sandy says it in the end of the movie, she is "a dangerous woman". Yet I love her.

And I love Maggie Smith. Dear Dame Maggie, if you ever read this, you are just... so... damn... bloody... great.

Oh for heaven's sake... go and watch this movie.

Fascinating character study of a type most of us who have not been home schooled have had to deal with at some time or other, namely the teacher as cult figure who makes the class all about them rather than the subject they're teaching. In the right hands, like those of Mr. Holtby in my tenth grade English class at University High, it can be a stimulating experience. In the wrong hands, like those of the title character in this film, it can be downright dangerous. And Maggie Smith, in her deserved Oscar winning performance, brings out the perils as well as the charms and excitement of being one of Miss Brodie's "girls". Also good as the most resentful of her pupils, and the one who brings her down, is a kid actor named Pamela Franklin who, for some reason, never made it as big as I thought she would.

Unfortunately, the characters surrounding these two are on the caricatured side. You know, the uptight, prudish headmistress, the painfully shy choirmaster, the libidinous art teacher. And scenes with the students tend to descend into semi hysterical gasping, shrieking and tittering. Plus, the whole feel of the film is that of director Ronald Neame trying to keep up (or tagging along) with scenarist Jay Presson Allen. Certainly expected more from the director of "Horse's Mouth" and "Tunes Of Glory", the later of which is a much more vivid evocation of Edinburgh even though, unlike this one, it was largely shot on a sound stage. B minus.

PS...Had to pull the plug on the end credits 'cause Rod McKuen's Oscar nominated song was literally making me want to puke and there wasn't a receptacle handy.

This is perhaps one of the greatest films in the English language -- but only because of Maggie Smith's museum-quality portrayal of Miss Jean Brodie. This masterpiece in mannerisms and manners will be looked upon in the future much in the same way we look upon THE MONA LISA today. I know that this sounds like a stretch, but someday someone will know what I mean.

The only downside to this film is the sad realization that if Jean Brodie were to have been played by anyone other than Maggie Smith it would have been a bore -- but oddly enough, this fact alone seems to add to the greatness of the film overall.

While my header might be the best line in the film, my personal favorite was, "Indeed, for those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like."

Damien

For most of us, school is the first introduction to institutionalized socialization and politics. That is why so many coming of age stories take place in schools. 'Goodbye, Mr.Chips' (1939), 'Dead Poet's Society' (1989) and 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' (1969) are prime examples. At face value, 'The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie' is exactly that - a coming of age movie. However, there are darker and more complex themes woven into this story which elevates it to high cinema. The movie is based on the novel written in 1961 and the subject is as apt today as ever. Jean Brodie, the independent, romantic, worldly wise teacher, is the main character in this cautionary tale about the insidious, manipulative and yet, seemingly harmless encroachment of fascist ideology. It takes place between the World Wars, in a time where Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini are viewed by many with fascination. Mussolini after all, "made the trains run on time". How he did it was another matter? Maggie Smith (who won an Oscar for her performance) portrays Brodie as heroic, fiery, good intentioned and devoted to her vocation and her selection of hand picked students. Is she reckless and naive or calculating and exploitative? Is she hero or villain? It is a complex theme that is handled masterfully by director Ron Neame (who would go on to direct 'The Poseidon Adventure' in 1970) and a wonderful supporting cast. You will undoubtedly recognize some familiar faces including Gordon Jackson, Pam Franklin and a young Jane Carr.

Ronald Neame's memorable film version of Muriel Spark's novel boasts a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen adapted from his stage play. Neame's direction lacks pacing and the passage of time in the film is somewhat uncertain. Otherwise, Neame's straightforward approach is well-suited to the material which is less sentimental than Goodbye, Mr. Chips, To Sir, With Love and Dead Poets Society as well as more ambiguous in its view of education and teachers. Highlighted by Maggie Smith's Oscar-winning turn as the entertaining, witty and even inspiring crackpot, Smith's performance is a tour de force. The supporting cast is well-chosen and evocative, and Celia Johnson as Miss Brodie's adversary and Pamela Franklin and Jane Carr as 2 "Brodie girls" are excellent. The film was widely seen when released in the US because it was double-billed with the box office smash, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Worhwhile drama.

I felt much the same way about "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" the movie as I did about "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" the book -- so what?

Miss Brodie is an unlikable character; she's pompous, arrogant, sometimes delusional. So when she goes too far and is brought down by one of her less impressionable female students (who is also unlikable), I didn't really care at all. Nothing of grand consequence seems to hinge on the outcome of this battle of wills, one way or another.

I've never understood the allure of this book. It's supposed to be a great piece of literature, but it strikes me as immensely inconsequential, and the movie didn't illuminate anything for me. Yeah, Maggie Smith's pretty good. I also enjoyed seeing Celia Johnson, as she's responsible for one of my favorite female performances of all time, in "Brief Encounter." But the rest? Meh...

And by the way, the sound on this film is horrible, muddled and indistinct, not that I cared much about what anyone had to say.

Grade: C