Dean Spanley (Dean Spanley (DVD))

Member Name: adambrown400

Product:	Dean Spanley (DVD)
Date:	24/06/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast, music and script

Disadvantages: some dull moments

Many Dooyoo reviewers will often be on the hunt for new films to watch and review just like me. Recently I saw an advert for a very strange film starring one of my favourite actors, Peter O'Toole. O'Toole has had a bit of a resurgence in recent years what with the fantastic Oscar nominated 'Venus'. Dean Spanley has got such a bizarre premise that you will be very intrigued by I'm sure.

Basically the film revolves around four main characters. One is the son of O'Toole himself here Junior Fisk is played by Jeremy Northam, with O'Toole playing Senior Fisk. The film is based on a series of novellas written by Lord Dunsany in the 1930's and chronicles Dean Spanley (Sam Neill) a man who believes he is a reincarnated dog. Canine reincarnation is not an obvious subject for a film, but the setting, direction and acting are absolutely superb.

The film is very unique. It has been summarised by others as 'a surreal period comedic tale of canine reincarnation exploring the relationships between father and son and master and dog.' Weird!

Northam visits his father every Thursday ('I like Thursdays,' says O'Toole 'it helps Wednesday and Friday from colliding into one another.'). He is a really irritable old man, and Northam wants a break from the usual routine. He takes O'Toole along to a talk on the subject of reincarnation by a visiting swami (Art Malik). At the lecture is the mysterious Dean (Sam Neill) and conveyancer Bryan Brown. Through a strange set of consequences, Notham meets up with Neill on Thursday evenings. When he takes a sip of the rare Hungarian Tokay wine he dreams he is a dog, and vividly recounts his life running through the fields and barking at the moon.

The strange script is perfect material for O'Toole who is able to rant and shout and whisper sweet soliloquy's throughout. What is surprising though is Sam Neill's excellent Dean Spanley who is also weirdly believable as a dog!

What we have here is a set of four actors who are at the top of their game. Neill, Brown, Northam and O'Toole are equally excellent in their respective roles. The direction too is also praiseworthy. This is the first film for Toa Fraser who handles the subject material form the 30's very well indeed. The setting and cinematography is also very good, using Cambridgeshire locales to good effect.

The soundtrack is also very good, here written by Don McGlashen who provides an operatic and lush score.

I would highly recommend Dean Spanley to any fan of period drama, comedy and science fiction as it strangely manages to combine all three of these elements. Dean Spanley never got the recognition it deserved at the cinema and really should have got O'Toole the best actor gong (after losing out a record eight times).

Summary: A fascinating and original film