TOP 25 CAMP FILMS OF ALL TIME - 17

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

Now any countdown of a camp film would not be complete without this masterpiece in acting, film and campness. Maggie Smith plays the eponymous Jean Brodie in late 30s Edinburgh as a schoolteacher who moulds her "gels" (with a hard "g" and not a soft "g" which is now a hair product) into ladies with prospects - she believes they benefit from her teachings because she is "in her prime"

Jean is a single gel herself who teaches at the Marcia Blaine school for Girls. She can't be bothered with conservative teaching methods or working through the school curriculum, but feels her gels will learn far more through art, history, music and love. She has her favourites known as The Brodie Set who aspire to be more like Miss Jean Brodie.

The film really sparkles when Jean has a set to with Miss McKay the school headmistress who severely disapproves of Jean's methods. Jean gets the upper hand a fair bit but in the end, her relationship with her gels is her ultimate downfall as one conspires against her resulting in Jean leaving the school. Her love affair with the simperish Mr Lowther and the artistic Teddy Lloyd also speed this process up. Ironically, as Sandy (Jean's very own Judas) leaves the school for the last time, Jean's voice is still heard in her ears - showing that Jean has had the effect on her gels that she always intended.

A satisfying movie in all different levels - Maggie Smith's tour de force makes all of us wish we had a Jean Brodie teaching at our school. She is fabulous, witty and deeply engrossed in her gels taking them to Cramond for the weekend with Mr Lowther, having picnics and annoying the tits off Miss McKay. She talks so sweetly about the love of her life, Hugh - he fell on Flanders Field at the First World War - her dramatic monologue tugs at the heartstrings and revels in one of the gels bawling her eyes out. When Miss Mckay asks why the gel is crying, Jean dismisses her with "Monica cries easily"

Jean's sparring wars with Miss McKay drip with sarcasm and disrespect but above all - politeness, which is why from the word go, we are all on Jean's side - willing her Prime to pull her through!!!! Here's a taster of some bon mots throughout the movie....

JEAN - Oh Miss Mackay! I do not believe I have ever fully appreciated the taxing load of trivia with which a headmistress must concern herself.

JEAN - I am truly in my prime.

JEAN - Sandy, please try to do as I say and not as I do. Remember, you are a child, Sandy, and far from your prime

JEAN - Little girls! I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.

JEAN - There's very little for me to say, Miss Mackay in the face of your extraordinary prejudice and hostility.
MISS MACKAY - Miss Brodie, I am not asking you to say anything. I am asking... demanding... that you put your signature, your own signature, on a letter of resignation which I have prepared for you.
JEAN - I will not resign.
MISS MACKAY - If you will not resign, you will force me to dismiss you.
JEAN - I will not resign and you will not dismiss me, Miss Mackay. You will not use the excuse of that pathetic, that humorous document to blackmail me! Mr. Lowther, you are a witness to this. Miss Mackay has made totally unsupported accusations against my name and yours. If she has one authentic shred of evidence, just one, let her bring it forth! Otherwise, if one more word of this outrageous calumny reaches my ears, I shall sue! I shall take Miss Mackay to the public courts and I shall sue the trustees of Marcia Blaine, if they support her. I will not stand quietly by and allow myself to be crucified by a woman whose fetid frustration has overcome her judgment! If scandal is to your taste, Miss Mackay, I shall give you a feast!
MISS MACKAY - Miss Brodie!
JEAN - I am a teacher! I am a teacher, first, last, always! Do you imagine that for one instant I will let that be taken from me without a fight? I have dedicated, sacrificed my life to this profession. And I will not stand by like an inky little slacker and watch you rob me of it and for what? For what reason? For jealousy! Because I have the gift of claiming girls for my own. It is true I am a strong influence on my girls. I am proud of it! I influence them to be aware of all the possibilities of life... of beauty, honor, courage. I do not, Miss Mackay, influence them to look for slime where it does not exist! I am going. When my class convenes, my pupils will find me composed and prepared to reveal to them the succession of the Stuarts. And on Sunday, I will go to Cramond to visit Mr. Lowther. We are accustomed, bachelor and spinster, to spend our Sundays together in sailing and walking the beaches and in the pursuit of music. Mr. Lowther is teaching me to play the mandolin. Good day, Miss Mackay.

MISS MACKAY - It is infact a letter. It was found my Miss Mackenzie in a library book. She barely glanced at it but after the first sentence, she daren't not actually read it. She brought it instantly to me.
JEAN - Yes. Is it addressed to you?

And my ultimate favourite line in almost any movie - on a par with Bette Davis. Jean has had a set to with Miss Mackay and is walking out and looks at a vase of flowers in her office....

JEAN - Chrysanthemums. Such serviceable flowers.

Although not your typical camp movie, Maggie Smith, Pamela Franklin as Sandy and Celia Johnson as Miss Mackay are worth it alone. The male actors also shine and Gordon Jackson who was Maggie's real life husband as Teddy Lloyd puts in a particularly sterling performance. This has a special place on my list as it's based on a novel from Scottish author Muriel Spark and the scenery in Edinburgh where it was filmed is just fabulous - as were Maggie's clothes and accent - she really worked it to win the Oscar. I almost feel as though I'm in my prime now!