The Shooting Party
| The Shooting Party | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Alan Bridges |
| Produced by | Geoffrey Reeve |
| Written by |
Isabel Colegate (novel) Julian Bond |
| Starring |
James Mason Edward Fox Dorothy Tutin John Gielgud Gordon Jackson Robert Hardy |
| Music by | John Scott |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Shooting Party is a 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges and based on the book of the same name by Isabel Colegate. The film is set in 1913 and shows the way of life of English aristocrats, gathered for pheasant shooting and general self-indulgence. Their way of life is contrasted with the local rural poor, who serve as 'beaters', driving the game for the aristocrats to shoot. It was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.
There is a general feeling of the end of a way of life, as the characters go about their lives unaware of the coming war (World War I) and the changes it will bring.
Released posthumously, this is the last film appearance by James Mason, who plays Sir Randolph Nettleby, the local landowner who has something of the old values. Edward Fox as Lord Gilbert Hartlip represents the newer types who don't have the same solid beliefs: he gets into a competition over who is the best shot, despite his host's disapproval.
According to the DVD extras documentary, on the very first shoot of the very first day of filming, all the male lead actors, including Paul Scofield who was playing Sir Randolph Nettleby, were to come into shot on a horse-drawn shooting-brake driven by the well-known film horse-master George Mossman. However as they turned the first corner, the brake-plank that Mossman was standing on broke in two and Mossman was hurled forward and down falling between the sets of wheels, taking the reins with him. He was struck by a horse's hoof and concussed. The horses then shied and broke into a gallop. Rupert Frazer admitted that he was the first to jump off, landing safely, but bruised. Now out of control, the horses turned to the right when confronted by a stone wall causing the shooting-brake to roll completely, catapulting the actors into a pile of scaffolding that had been stacked next to the wall. Robert Hardy stood up and realised to his amazement that he was unhurt. He looked across to see Edward Fox stand up, "turn completely green and collapse in a heap". He had broken 5 ribs and his shoulder-blade. He then noticed that Paul Scofield was lying very still on the ground, "and I saw that his shin-bone was sticking out through his trousers". As the film takes place in October due to the partridge-shooting season, the filmmakers had to make a choice to either delay filming for a year, or re-cast. Fortunately James Mason was just finishing filming Doctor Fischer of Geneva for the BBC and the schedule was changed to allow him to take over the part of Sir Randolph Nettleby six weeks later.
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Wikipedia