The play was based on an incident that took place in Edwardian England 1910 at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. A five-shilling postal order was stolen. Fourteen year old cadet George Archer-Shee was charged with the theft, summarily expelled, and thus his family humiliated. His father mounted a very public campaign to exonerate his son of the charges. The case reached London's High Court in 1910.
The play....The Winslow Boy....written by Terrence Rattigan in 1946....was followed by two films....the first in 1948 which was very good and starred Robert Donat as the famous barrister who took up the expelled cadet's case....and the second film from 1998 is as of today my second favorite film of all time. It starred Jeremy Northam as the barrister Sir Robert Morton.
A little side bar so to speak on that film. My wonderful pastor at the time had seen the film first and so highly recommended it to me that my wife, son, his friend and I travelled about 25 miles or so to see it. I was totally absorbed when about half-way through the film the reel snapped or something. Everyone in the theater waited and waited....twenty minutes passed and an announcement was made that they could not fix the problem, and that we, the audience, could come back at another time. Someone in the crowd yelled out...."At least let us know how it turns out!" I....what can I say....I jumped up with hands in the air and responded..."Don't anybody say anything!"
So I'm not going to tell how the film ends but will describe how the boy's father spent much of his probably sizable bank account in defense of his son. You had to look carefully but as the scenes progressed pieces of furniture, wall paintings and other ornaments disappeared from the home as they were sold off to pay for the defense.
I'm writing this post because of a main tenet in the film. The boy technically could not appeal in the courts because it was a Royal Navy issue and the Admiralty "can do no wrong"...kinda like the Trump administration to many conservatives today, but he could also not appeal the charge because it was not a court-martial. Sir Robert Morton, a fictitious name for the real barrister, took the matter directly to Parliament. In that appeal to the Parliament Sir Robert used what was an archaic legal point called a petition of right. whereas the defendant pleads for the case to heard as a "a matter of grace," or simply...do what is right. The defense then was built upon...."Let right be done."
President Trump is in trouble because of a number of factors not the least of which has been his own mistakes. He filled his administration with the very people we fought against for years before he came along. He has not been either truthful or transparent in all his dealings with us. Many may love his tweets but they disgust the rest of us. Everything seems to be 'the art of the deal' with him with very little attention to just doing what is right!
Mr. President......Let Right Be Done.....do what is right and forget about the politics! These friends that you have brought along will be of no help....and are part of the problem. You are in the process of splitting conservatives and I fear that you could care less....but along with the conservatives that you are jettisoning is also that which originally propelled you to where you are....that being the passion for someone somewhere....to Let Right Be Done.
Young George Archer-Shee was eventually commissioned in the British Army after completing his education at another school. He died at the age of 19 at the First Battle of Ypres in 1914! You know I think that I'll pull out that CD and watch the film tonight....for at least the tenth time!
The play....The Winslow Boy....written by Terrence Rattigan in 1946....was followed by two films....the first in 1948 which was very good and starred Robert Donat as the famous barrister who took up the expelled cadet's case....and the second film from 1998 is as of today my second favorite film of all time. It starred Jeremy Northam as the barrister Sir Robert Morton.
A little side bar so to speak on that film. My wonderful pastor at the time had seen the film first and so highly recommended it to me that my wife, son, his friend and I travelled about 25 miles or so to see it. I was totally absorbed when about half-way through the film the reel snapped or something. Everyone in the theater waited and waited....twenty minutes passed and an announcement was made that they could not fix the problem, and that we, the audience, could come back at another time. Someone in the crowd yelled out...."At least let us know how it turns out!" I....what can I say....I jumped up with hands in the air and responded..."Don't anybody say anything!"
So I'm not going to tell how the film ends but will describe how the boy's father spent much of his probably sizable bank account in defense of his son. You had to look carefully but as the scenes progressed pieces of furniture, wall paintings and other ornaments disappeared from the home as they were sold off to pay for the defense.
I'm writing this post because of a main tenet in the film. The boy technically could not appeal in the courts because it was a Royal Navy issue and the Admiralty "can do no wrong"...kinda like the Trump administration to many conservatives today, but he could also not appeal the charge because it was not a court-martial. Sir Robert Morton, a fictitious name for the real barrister, took the matter directly to Parliament. In that appeal to the Parliament Sir Robert used what was an archaic legal point called a petition of right. whereas the defendant pleads for the case to heard as a "a matter of grace," or simply...do what is right. The defense then was built upon...."Let right be done."
President Trump is in trouble because of a number of factors not the least of which has been his own mistakes. He filled his administration with the very people we fought against for years before he came along. He has not been either truthful or transparent in all his dealings with us. Many may love his tweets but they disgust the rest of us. Everything seems to be 'the art of the deal' with him with very little attention to just doing what is right!
Mr. President......Let Right Be Done.....do what is right and forget about the politics! These friends that you have brought along will be of no help....and are part of the problem. You are in the process of splitting conservatives and I fear that you could care less....but along with the conservatives that you are jettisoning is also that which originally propelled you to where you are....that being the passion for someone somewhere....to Let Right Be Done.
Young George Archer-Shee was eventually commissioned in the British Army after completing his education at another school. He died at the age of 19 at the First Battle of Ypres in 1914! You know I think that I'll pull out that CD and watch the film tonight....for at least the tenth time!
