Rent The Shooting Party (1985)

Authentic in regard to acting and scenes. - The Shooting Party review by CP Customer

Well cast.  Countryside scenes well chosen and authentic.   Representation of the period generally excellent.

Last Gasp - The Shooting Party review by Steve

Another of those elegiac Edwardian dramas about a way of life about to be exposed to the brutality of industrial war; except this is more critical of the aristocracy than most. It's 1913 and the elite are shooting game while long overdue political adjustment pulls gently at the threads of the British class system.

There's an impressive ensemble cast led by James Mason- in his final role- as the patriarch who doubts whether the gentry has any function or moral justification, while still enjoying its many privileges. Most of the characters are positioned around how they feel about multiple different kinds of incoming change.

Rupert Frazer and Judi Bowker play dilettantes curious about socialism and female emancipation, while considering an extra-marital affair. They would make very beautiful illicit lovers but lack political will. More comically, John Guilgud campaigns for the rights of animals, while the toffs empty the sky of wildlife.

The period recreation is exceptional, and Alan Bridges is a master of this milieu. His approach is to present the distractions and dreams and dishonours of a generation, while we observe in the prior knowledge that most of them will soon be lost in the tide of history. This is hardly original, but still a heartbreaker.