DEAN SPANLEY aka Peter O'Toole for the Oscar!

Peter O'Toole has been nominated for a staggering 8 Oscars. More staggering still is that he has not won a single one. But perhaps the most surprising fact of all is that this giant of the acting world keeps returning for more, and at the tender age of 76 he is returning to grace our screens in DEAN SPANLEY. Set in Edwardian England, the film is a curious tale of one man's relationship with his father. And a clergyman. A clergyman who occasionally reverts to his past life. As a dog. Sound odd? It is a bit. Jeremy Northam takes the role of Henslowe Fisk, a reserved man whose boredom with the routine of his life leads him to pursue his interest in 'the translocation of the soul' or reincarnation as the rest of us call it. When he drags his father to a lecture on the subject he encounters Dean Spanley, the aforementioned clergyman, whose appearance at a lecture on reincarnation confuses and intrigues Fisk Jnr. Fisk Snr, however, is just a little peeved. But when Fisk Jnr bumps into Dean Spanley again he begins to discover the quirks of his past life. The original short story by Lord Dunsany, on which the film is based, focusses heavily on the amusing exchanges between Dean Spanley and Fisk Jnr. However the film shoehorns in a more meaty tale of a difficult father-son relationship to keep us interested. The dinners over which Spanley and Fisk Jnr chat create an intimate atmosphere that gives the film a warm and personal feel, and it is this atmosphere which makes the film worth watching. It sets the scene for the broader tale in such a way that we do not need lengthy backstories or emotional showboating, but rather we are drawn into a comfortable and delightfully eccentric world. For all the charms DEAN SPANLEY had to offer, the publicity it is likely to receive will surely be based around the presence of O'Toole. His performance as the brusque, stiff-upper-lip Fisk Snr has enough range for him to be considered for the Oscars once more. He is sharp and ascerbic for a moment, comically abusive the next, and with the predictably happy ending we are treated to a flood of emotional awakening followed by a purified and childlike happiness. In all honesty it is not so much a brilliant performance by a great man, so much as a final showcase that could finally give him that crowning achievement he has been deserving of for so long. The bottom line: a witty and watchable period drama, but in danger of being remembered more for its service to O'Toole than for the impression it leaves on audiences.