Edward Fox is the perfect military man, an officer on duty, meticulously sticking to his mission and constantly demonstrating his militariness, although he wanted to be an archaeologist; Denholm Elliott is an academic, a professor and teacher at the university, well versed in history, literature and philosophy; they are both officers in the Red Army as it liberates Czechoslovakia in April 1945, Edward Fox is a colonel and Denholm Elliott is a deserter hiding in a ditch when Edward Fox comes across him in his jeep, and they recognize each other, the professor and his former student. Fox takes him on in his jeep, and their trip takes them to a fine old manor which has seen better days, with only a young girl and her old nurse living there. The girl is the sole survivor of a wealthy family whose father was killed by the Nazis and the mother died of grief six months later three years ago. Fox and his soldiers arrive there with Elliott, trying to restore something of the old glory of the house, including a magnificent chandelier in the former dining hall. The girl insists on having another of those old great banquets under the chandelier with only Elliott and Fox as guests apart from her and the old nurse. It's a great drama, the fantastic banquet is the final scene with some settlement with both the past and the present, but above all the acting is absolutely formidable, the prize going to Denholm Elliott who finally makes an effort to rise out of the mire of his human degradation.
Review of Shooting the Chandelier
