A Question of Attribution [VHS]
by John Schlesinger

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VHS Movie Reviews of A Question of Attribution [VHS]

Movie Review: Essential movie
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: An interesting allegory on fakes...and attributions
Summary: 4 Stars

The Cambridge Spy Ring of the 30's and 40's. There were four: Guy Burgess, Donald MacLean, Kim Philby, and Sir Anthony Blunt, and they passed on information to the Soviet Union. When found out, Burgess, MacLean, and Philby fled to the Soviet Union. As for Blunt, he remained in charge of H.M.Q.'s art collection and confessed in 1964. However, the Thatcher government exposed him and he was stripped of his posts and knighthood, dying four years later in 1983.

Alan Bennett, originally one of the Fringe (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore), wrote a drama work on Sir Anthony Blunt. Blunt is being persuaded by various intelligence men led by Donleavy to reveal other names, or rather, names behind the names in the Burgess/MacLean/Philby spy ring. To that end, Arthur Chubb, a firm but congenial man is sent to take over from the last agent who failed to get Blunt to reveal names. As Blunt is reminded over and over, he was guaranteed immunity, but not anonymity. The temptation is growing among MI5 to expose him, but alternatively, as Donleavy says, "we could order a vat of excrement and publicly haul ourselves into it." Meaning that the British public will know the government was involved in a coverup in shielding Blunt.

Aside from showing Blunt the usual stack of B&W photos of past faces, Chubb tries to get to Blunt through art, and learns about art theory and history as a result. But Blunt already knows who the fifth man is, and continues the evasion: "the canvas is vague, but the details stand out."

Standouts include the explanation of Titian's painting the Allegory of Prudence, and the restoration of a fake Titian, where they uncover a face that has been painted over it, mirroring the puzzle intelligence agents face when trying to figure out what the whole picture, i.e. who else is a traitor? Blunt tells Chubb that both their careers involve teasing out riddles and running some risks, where common sense is thrown out in favour of making a hobbyhorse. The faces behind the canvas, faces behind the faces, that's what Chubb is indeed looking for, moles and their puppetmasters.

However, the surreal conversation between the Queen and Blunt makes one wonder. In talking about the fake Titian, she tells him that it's very well to have a painting with the pedigree and background, but when one voices suspicions, hard to believe, that it's not what it seems, that it's a fake, does one still stick with its official attribution? Is she talking about the painting, or about Blunt? Yet the thing about fakes is, they are more interesting than the genuine article because of the publicity and sensation.

There are lots of revealing things about art, on how different periods and styles reflect different ways of looking at the world, and how importance it is not to see a painting and see it as one would see a photograph, but to see it as if one were living in that time, not as a stage to something better. And portaits are self-revealing, showing what one's really like; it shows one's secret self.

James Fox does a clearly toffee-nosed, snobbishly scholarly performance as Blunt. James Calder's good as Chubb, well known as Eleanor Bramwell's patient father in the Bramwell series. Geoffrey Palmer (As Time Goes By) has a small role as Donleavy, someone who's anxious on what Blunt will do. However, having Prunella Scales, a.k.a. Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers playing Queen Elizabeth II, is an interesting choice for this drama piece that debuted on Masterpiece Theatre.

Movie Review: Great film - pity it's being sold by a cynical profiteer.
Summary: 5 Stars

I'm sorry, but to sell this video at 3 times its original price strikes me as daylight robbery, and a blatant attempt to cash in on the present rarity of this title. Such profiteering just makes Amazon.com look bad. Hopefully, the powers that be will re-release this video at some point (preferably on DVD) so that the seller will be forced to lower the price to a more reasonable amount for a video that is certainly in less-than-collectible condition.

Movie Review: masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Good acting, confusing story
Summary: 3 Stars

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