Quartet *** (2012, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Gwyneth Jones, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins) – Classic Movie Review 12,359

The amusing 2012 British comedy-drama film Quartet stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Gwyneth Jones, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, and Pauline Collins.

Maggie Smith has a field day as eternal diva Jean, the former wife of one of the residents at a home for retired musicians, who are ready for their annual concert to celebrate Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, though they are not so ready for Jean’s disruptive arrival.

Ronald Harwood’s stage play becomes a hugely entertaining film experience, thanks to its special, fail safe cast and Dustin Hoffman’s attentive direction. The cast are uniformly good, at a high level, and the film, though maybe a bit corny and sentimental, is a real crowd-pleaser.

Quartet by Ronald Harwood ran in London’s West End from September 1999 until January 2000.

It was filmed late in 2011 at Hedsor House, Buckinghamshire.

The film is Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut.

Tom Courtenay and director Dustin Hoffman in Paris at the film’s French premiere, March 2013.

The cast are Maggie Smith as Jean Horton, Tom Courtenay as Reg Paget, Gwyneth Jones as Anne Langley, Michael Gambon as Cedric Livingstone, Billy Connolly as Wilf Bond, Pauline Collins as Cissy Robson, Sheridan Smith as Dr Lucy Cogan, Andrew Sachs as Bobby Swanson, Trevor Peacock as George, David Ryall as Harry, Luke Newberry as Simon, and Michael Byrne as Frank White.

Having appeared in the 1981 film Quartet, Maggie Smith became the first star to appear in two unrelated films of the same title since Joan Crawford with Possessed (1931) and Possessed (1947).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,359

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