The Tales of Beatrix Potter **** (1971, Frederick Ashton, Alexander Grant, Lesley Collier, Wayne Sleep) – Classic Movie Review 11,724

Director Reginald Mills’s charming 1971 British ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter [Peter Rabbit and the Tales of Beatrix Potter] brings Potter’s most beloved characters to life in an ideal live-action classic.

Beatrix Potter’s delightful Peter Rabbit tales are danced by members of the Royal Ballet dressed up to the nines as animals, in this extremely attractive and appealing ballet movie, imaginatively choreographed by Frederick Ashton.

This jolly idea, which can entrance all those in the mood, is an unexpected treat from the British cinema of the 70s, harking back to The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann days. The choreography, the dancing, the costume designs, the sets and particularly Rotislav Douboujinsky’s masks are the stars of the show.

Ashton plays Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Alexander Grant is Peter Rabbit, Lesley Collier is Hunca Munca and Wayne Sleep is Squirrel Nutkin.

The score is arranged by John Lanchbery from sources such as the operas of Michael Balfe and Sir Arthur Sullivan, and performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

It is produced by Richard Goodwin and John Brabourne is executive producer.

The cast are Frederick Ashton, Alexander Grant, Julie Wood, Keith Martin, Ann Howard, Robert Mead, Gary Grant, Sally Ashby, Brenda Last, Wayne Sleep, Michael Coleman, Lesley Collier and Leslie Edwards.

The Beatrix Potter stories are adapted for the screen by Richard Goodwin and his wife designer Christine Edzard, who also did the costume designs and sets (with John Howell). Edzard produced more than 200 sketches instead of a conventional screenplay. She was nominated for BAFTA awards for Best Art Direction and for Best Costume Design.

The Tales of Beatrix Potter is the only feature film directed by Mills, best remembered as a film editor, who edited The Red Shoes.

Bryan Forbes was head of production at EMI Films at the time and he later recalled the EMI Board was not enthusiastic about the film, and studio boss Nat Cohen had never heard of Beatrix Potter, but Forbes could go ahead as he had complete artistic control on films made for less than £1 million. However, rather surprisingly, and gratifyingly, the film was one of the most successful of Bryan Forbes’s time as head of production at EMI Films. It was one of the most popular movies in 1971 at the British box office. By June 1972 it earned EMI a profit of £18,000 on a reported cost of only £256,000.

Edzard and Goodwin founded the Sands Films studio and production company in Rotherhithe, London, in 1975. Edzard is best known for her film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel, Little Dorrit (1988).

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,724

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