February 16, 2024

"Henry" (Ian Hunter) and his boss and friend "Sir Frank" (Stephen Murray) are discussing the impending promotion of the latter man to the position of Lord Chief Justice. Unfortunately for "Henry", who would hope to step up into his freshly vacated shoes, "Sir Frank" seems uncertain and reluctant to explain why. When pressed, he tells a tale of a rather stern childhood and of a door. A magic door that when opened took him into a magical and beauti… read the rest.

"Henry" (Ian Hunter) and his boss and friend "Sir Frank" (Stephen Murray) are discussing the impending promotion of the latter man to the position of Lord Chief Justice. Unfortunately for "Henry", who would hope to step up into his freshly vacated shoes, "Sir Frank" seems uncertain and reluctant to explain why. When pressed, he tells a tale of a rather stern childhood and of a door. A magic door that when opened took him into a magical and beautiful garden. At home or at school, nobody would believe him - and now, many years later, he longs to find that door and go through it again. This is quite a gentle and considered H.G, Wells short story and Murray, with his usual clipped style of speaking, plays the role quite engagingly as his story of a rather sad childhood unfolds. What I did not understand was the distracting concept of "dynamic framing" that accompanied the film. We zoom in, out, full screen, quarter screen - all supposedly assisting on focussing our attention on the salient aspects of the set, of the plot, or the characterisations - but actually it just made me feel a bit dizzy and unsure why I was watching a tiny image amidst the full screen. The film in normal, standard, scale would be well worth half an hour - imagination derived from sadness and a need to escape; or maybe a real door and a real garden?

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