AN INSPECTOR CALLS... ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN?

Copyright relevant owner

I suppose it must've been during my last year at secondary school that the following event I'm about to relate occurred.  Well, the location is definite, but the year is an educated guess, arrived at from the fact that the timing would've been just right. Several classes of soon-to-be school leavers (if my conjecture as to the year is correct) were taken to the screening room in the science block to see a movie one day, the particular film presented for our appreciation being An Inspector Calls, starring Alastair Sim, and based on the play by J.B. Priestley.

It's an excellent movie, directed by James Bond stalwart Guy Hamilton, and it's a tightly-woven morality tale of how one's every action has unforeseen repercussions that impacts on not just the individual responsible for them, but others as well.  No doubt it was intended to inculcate a sense of responsibility in our young minds to prepare us for our impending entry into the working world and justify our position among the ranks of 'adulthood'.

It's a great story, and is so masterfully constructed that you 'can't see the joins' as it unfolds before you.  By that I mean each event appears to be a random happening, totally unconnected to the one that precedes it and the one that follows, though slowly but surely we learn that they're all tied together and that, in life, everything we do has consequences, like the ripples caused by a pebble thrown into a pond.

So if you've never seen the film, hunt it down now as it's a true classic (and available on dvd). The twist in the tale of the original play has been 'accentuated' to greater effect in the movie, and I can promise you that you'll be thoroughly entertained, as well as having your imagination stimulated and maybe even your mindset and behaviour affected in a way that's beneficial to not only yourself, but also those with whom you interact.

Hey, that's a movie well-worth seeing, don't you think?!  If you're already familiar with the film, feel free to agree with my assessment of it - or not, as the case may be. The comments section awaits your esteemed presence.

The actual screening room - taken 33 years after the event

Posted in: Cartoons