"The Winslow Boy" was an American

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television mov ...

broadcast by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

on November 13, 1958, as part of the television series, ''

DuPont Show of the Month ''DuPont Show of the Month'' was a 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology series hosted by June Allyson, '' The DuPont Show with ...

''. It was based on the play by

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

. Alex Segal was the director and

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

the producer.

Frederic March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...

starred as Arthur Winslow and was nominated for a Sylvania Award for his performance.

Plot

The play was on the Archer-Shee Case, a famous case heard in 1910. A 14-year-old boy, Ronnie Winslow, is unjustly accused of stealing a five shilling postal order and expelled from the

Royal Naval College, Osborne The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921. Boys were admitted at about the age of thirteen to follow a course lasting ...

. His father, Arthur Winslow (played by

) hires a famous solicitor who successfully proves the boy's innocence and clears his name. (The real-life Winslow Boy was subsequently killed in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

at age 19.)

Cast

The cast included performances by: *

as Arthur Winslow *

Florence Eldridge Florence Eldridge (born Florence McKechnie, September 5, 1901 – August 1, 1988) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in '' Long Day's Journey into Night''. E ...

as Grace Winslow * Rex Thompson as Ronnie Winslow *

Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott, (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor, with more than 125 film and television credits. His well-known roles include the abortionist in '' Alfie'' (1966), Marcus Brody in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (19 ...

as John Watherstone * Peter Bathurst as Desmond Curry *

Siobhan McKenna Siobhán is a female given name of Irish origin. The most common anglicisations are Siobhan (identical to the Irish spelling but omitting the acute accent over the 'a'), Shevaun and Shivaun. A now uncommon spelling variant is Siubhán. It is de ...

as Catherine Winslow *

Noel Willman Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 24 December 1988) was an Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States. Willman's films included '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), '' Across ...

as Sir Robert Norton *

Norah Howard Norah Howard (12 December 1900 - 2 May 1968) was a British actress of stage and screen. Biography She was born as Norah Lillian Emily Smeed on 12 December 1900, in Fulham, London, England, her father was Alfred Howard Smeed. She changed her sta ...

as Violet * John Milligan as Dickie * Guy Spall as Attorney General * Jean Cameron as Postmistress * Pat Nye as Miss Barnes

Production

The production starred

and his real-life wife

as the Winslow boy's parents. The program was an adaptation of the play by Terence Ratigan.

was the producer and Alex Segal the director. For his performance as Arthur Winslow, March was nominated for outstanding actor at the 1958 Sylvania Television Awards.

Reception

In ''The New York Times'', Jack Gould gave the production a positive review.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winslow Boy 1958 television plays American television films