Another Country (1984)

Based on the life of the young Guy Burgess, who would become better known as one of the Cambridge Spies.

Director:

Marek Kanievska

Writers:

Julian Mitchell (screenplay), Julian Mitchell (play)

Stars:

Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Michael Jenn

Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rupert Everett	...	Guy Bennett
Colin Firth	...	Tommy Judd
Michael Jenn	...	Barclay
Robert Addie	...	Delahay
Rupert Wainwright	...	Devenish
Tristan Oliver	...	Fowler
Cary Elwes	...	Harcourt
Frederick Alexander	...	Menzies
Adrian Ross Magenty	...	Wharton
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Yevgeni
Phillip Dupuy	...	Martineau
Guy Henry	...	Head Boy
Jeffry Wickham	...	Arthur (as Jeffrey Wickham)
John Line	...	Best Man
Gideon Boulting	...	Trafford

Storyline

Based on the award winning play by Julian Mitchell, the film explores the effect of Public School life in the 1930's on Guy Burgess as his homosexuality and unwillingness to "play the game" turns him eastwards towards communist Russia.

---

Plot Keywords:

gay | homosexuality | based on play | guy burgess character | morality | 

---

Taglines:

The smash hit London play now a big screen event... not to be missed!

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

---

Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Loosely based on the early life of Guy Burgess, a key figure in the Cambridge Five spy ring of the 1930s and 1940s, who eventually defected to Russia in 1951. Even the manner of "Guy Bennett"'s father's death, as he discloses it to Harcourt, is the same as Burgess's father. Even so, the closing credits make the standard declaration, "The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms is purely coincidental."

---

Goofs

In the closing credits, Llewellyn Rees is credited as "Llwelyn Rees".

---

Quotes

Guy Bennett: In your heart of hearts, like Barclay and Delahay and Fowler and Menzies, you still believe, inspite of your talk of equality and fraternity, you still believe that some people are better than others because of the way they make love.

---

Connections

Referenced in Wanderlust (2006)

---

Soundtracks

I Vow to Thee, My Country
Lyrics by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice
Music by Gustav Holst

User Reviews

Hypocrisy vs. Passion

This movie, based on a play, presents the tension between class distinctions in a rigidly victorian society and the passion of basic human attraction. The setting is an all-boys military-style British school. The fact that one of the boys is willing to let his homosexuality be exposed even though others at the school are also homosexual dramatizes the hypocrisy of a world that is more concerned with appearances than with the reality of the human heart.

Some viewers may be put off by the stuffy atmosphere that pervades the story, but that very atmosphere is the real villain of the plot.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1984 (UK)

Also Known As:

Another Country

Filming Locations:

St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Goldcrest Films International, National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color