In England, about 1920-it was never stated, we see an older woman disembarking a train and immediately going over to a man trying to get a horse to start pulling a heavy load up a hill. She commands him to stop and to take half the load off because it was too much for the horse. He says it's none of her business. She then buys his horse for 10 pounds. He retains custody but she'll check in on him to make sure he's taking good care of the horse from now on, otherwise, she'll demand her money back. We do later see her checking on the horse, and from all appearances, the man is upholding his end of the bargain.
Right after finishing with him in the opening, we hear the train pulling out. The lady, played by Hermione Gingold, calmly says this is the first time today the train people didn't show patience. Before you know it a car pulls up with a chauffeur and a lady inside. This lady calls out to the new horse-owner, "You must be Miss Hope." She proceeds to invite her into the car, saying she's glad to me her new governess for her children.
We understand almost immediately that Miss Hope has a unique, one might say almost-Mary Poppins-type way of dealing with children. She tells the lady, Mrs. Wellington, and her husband that she follows the Schartz-Metterklume Method of teaching young children. She is told that the goal is not only for her to teach the 4 children, but to make them interested in learning.
On that, Miss Hope excels. She has a blunt way of speaking her thoughts too directly to suit her employers, but they give her a chance. At dinner with her employers the first night, she got them looking suspiciously as she directed the maid to put much more wine in the glass than she had, and after eating, sort of demanded that some brandy be sent to her room along with a decent glass in which to drink it. The only glass in her room was one for teeth (I presume she meant false teeth, overnight.)
They are alarmed when everyone goes out all morning and comes back late for the noon meal. The parents are more alarmed when the kids come back rather dirty with such things as frogs in their hands. They've been learning about where baby frogs come from in their "biology" lesson. When Miss Hope starts to answer a boy's question about whether or not cows lay eggs, the parents let her know they don't want to hear any more of that.
The next day is to be history. Here Mrs. Wellington finds it appalling that she is teaching them about ancient Rome and having them act out "The Rape of the Sabine Women." I need to make clear that the boys are only carrying the girls around." So Miss Hope is dismissed. She seems to take it extremely well.
At the train station, a woman gets off as our Miss Hope is about to board, and the newcomer asks if she is Mrs. Wellington. Her response, "Decidedly not." As she is about to move on, she turns and asks the newcomer, "Are you Miss Hope?" When told she is, she gives her the advice that she isn't expected to arrive today, and she'd best take a taxi to the house.
As the viewer tries to figure out what's going on, we see "our Miss Hope" with some friends who've been watching her pet Cheetah and we learn that our star is really an aristocrat named Lady Charlotte. She exits center stage to start a game of croquet.
Watching on DVD, I went back to the opening and there were some subtle signs when Mrs. Wellington first encountered our star, facial expressions that only hinted that something was amiss. Now I understand, she only pretended to be the governess because the train too off without her. She took to play the role figuring the person actually hired would arrive soon and replace her. Until then, she was having a ball, basically playing with the children while actually teaching them in a way that made it fun for the kids-which was clearly shown in a few scenes. Her "method" was, was suspect, simply something she dreamed up.
So we watched this most interesting old lady show innovative teaching techniques and have lots of fun in her temporary role, as well as teach a man how to handle a horse.
I also note the finishing shtick with Hitchcock, where as we return from commercial he is writing on a blackboard the finish of a sentence, "I shall not criticize the commercial again." Now we see him actually write, cursive, the last two words and that the board now has the identical sentence written seven times. Of course, we know Alfred will continue to criticize commercials on many episodes through the remaining years of this series. What struck me is that the handwriting that we saw him add, exactly matches the previous 6½ sentences. There's no doubt that Alfred actually wrote all 7 sentences-he didn't just finish the final one for the camera.
I think it interesting that he didn't just put in the last two words and not care at all if viewers could see that his writing didn't match that of whatever stagehand wrote the other 6½ sentences. He labored to do it all so it would look authentic.
As for the play, an 8.
Right after finishing with him in the opening, we hear the train pulling out. The lady, played by Hermione Gingold, calmly says this is the first time today the train people didn't show patience. Before you know it a car pulls up with a chauffeur and a lady inside. This lady calls out to the new horse-owner, "You must be Miss Hope." She proceeds to invite her into the car, saying she's glad to me her new governess for her children.
We understand almost immediately that Miss Hope has a unique, one might say almost-Mary Poppins-type way of dealing with children. She tells the lady, Mrs. Wellington, and her husband that she follows the Schartz-Metterklume Method of teaching young children. She is told that the goal is not only for her to teach the 4 children, but to make them interested in learning.
On that, Miss Hope excels. She has a blunt way of speaking her thoughts too directly to suit her employers, but they give her a chance. At dinner with her employers the first night, she got them looking suspiciously as she directed the maid to put much more wine in the glass than she had, and after eating, sort of demanded that some brandy be sent to her room along with a decent glass in which to drink it. The only glass in her room was one for teeth (I presume she meant false teeth, overnight.)
They are alarmed when everyone goes out all morning and comes back late for the noon meal. The parents are more alarmed when the kids come back rather dirty with such things as frogs in their hands. They've been learning about where baby frogs come from in their "biology" lesson. When Miss Hope starts to answer a boy's question about whether or not cows lay eggs, the parents let her know they don't want to hear any more of that.
The next day is to be history. Here Mrs. Wellington finds it appalling that she is teaching them about ancient Rome and having them act out "The Rape of the Sabine Women." I need to make clear that the boys are only carrying the girls around." So Miss Hope is dismissed. She seems to take it extremely well.
At the train station, a woman gets off as our Miss Hope is about to board, and the newcomer asks if she is Mrs. Wellington. Her response, "Decidedly not." As she is about to move on, she turns and asks the newcomer, "Are you Miss Hope?" When told she is, she gives her the advice that she isn't expected to arrive today, and she'd best take a taxi to the house.
As the viewer tries to figure out what's going on, we see "our Miss Hope" with some friends who've been watching her pet Cheetah and we learn that our star is really an aristocrat named Lady Charlotte. She exits center stage to start a game of croquet.
Watching on DVD, I went back to the opening and there were some subtle signs when Mrs. Wellington first encountered our star, facial expressions that only hinted that something was amiss. Now I understand, she only pretended to be the governess because the train too off without her. She took to play the role figuring the person actually hired would arrive soon and replace her. Until then, she was having a ball, basically playing with the children while actually teaching them in a way that made it fun for the kids-which was clearly shown in a few scenes. Her "method" was, was suspect, simply something she dreamed up.
So we watched this most interesting old lady show innovative teaching techniques and have lots of fun in her temporary role, as well as teach a man how to handle a horse.
I also note the finishing shtick with Hitchcock, where as we return from commercial he is writing on a blackboard the finish of a sentence, "I shall not criticize the commercial again." Now we see him actually write, cursive, the last two words and that the board now has the identical sentence written seven times. Of course, we know Alfred will continue to criticize commercials on many episodes through the remaining years of this series. What struck me is that the handwriting that we saw him add, exactly matches the previous 6½ sentences. There's no doubt that Alfred actually wrote all 7 sentences-he didn't just finish the final one for the camera.
I think it interesting that he didn't just put in the last two words and not care at all if viewers could see that his writing didn't match that of whatever stagehand wrote the other 6½ sentences. He labored to do it all so it would look authentic.
As for the play, an 8.
