The Hireling

(UK)

World. Dir Alan Bridges; Producer Ben Arbeid; Screenplay Wolf Mankowitz; Camera Michael Reed; Editor Peter Weatherley; Music Marc Wilkinson Art Dir Natasha Kroll

Robert Shaw
Sarah Miles
Peter Egan
Elizabeth Sellars
Caroline Mortimer
Patricia Lawrence

Based on a novel by L.P. Hartley set in 1923, this heavily atmospheric, painstakingly accoutred and splendidly acted pic deals with the increasingly close relationship, on a conversational-companionship level at first, of a young widow (Sarah Miles) and the hired chauffeur (Robert Shaw) who drives her home after a spell in a clinic recovering from a nervous depression.

Temporarily, class barriers are down - or so he begins to believe. Shortly, however, as she recovers her equilibrium and social contacts, the barriers and demarcations return.

Item has quality written all over it, and patient viewers will savor its many plusses. Miles is splendid as the confused lady, Shaw fine as her momentarily blinded opposite.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1973. Running time: 95 MIN.

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