The Bespoke Overcoat ***** (1955, David Kossoff, Alfie Bass, Alf Dean, Alan Tilvern) – Classic Movie Review 7863

The 1955 British Oscar-winning drama The Bespoke Overcoat is an astonishingly fine, beautiful short film from producer-director Jack Clayton, based on a Nikolai Gogol tale called The Cloak, with Alfie Bass and David Kossoff perfectly cast in the story about an old Jewish clothing clerk and the overcoat he covets.

It won the 1957 Oscar for Best Short Subject Two-reel, the award for Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1955, and a Special Award at the BAFTA Awards in 1956.

Alfie Bass plays Fender, whose one ambition is to have an overcoat of his own while working in the warehouse of clothing manufacturers Ranting and Co. Refused an overcoat by his hard-hearted boss Mr Ranting (Alan Tilvern), Fender asks his tailor friend Morry (David Kossoff) to make him one, but dies of cold before he can get it. However, Fender returns as a ghost to persuade Morry to steal the overcoat for him, the one denied to him in life.

The Bespoke Overcoat is notable for its beautifully atmospheric filming and remarkable, spot-on, subtle playing this time from a pair of much loved actors who could sometimes be prone to overdoing it. Also in the cast is Alf [Alfie] Dean as the Gravedigger.

This triumph was shot for £5,000 at Marylebone Studios, Marylebone, London, England.

The Bespoke Overcoat is directed by Jack Clayton, runs 36 minutes, is made by Romulus Films and Remus Films, is distributed by Independent Film Distributors, is written by Nikolai Gogol (story) and Wolf Mankowitz (adaptation), is shot in black and white by Wolfgang Suschitzky, is produced by Jack Clayton, and is scored by Georges Auric, with Art Direction by Anthony Masters.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7863

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