The Bespoke Overcoat
7.4 /10 1 Votes
Director Jack Clayton Music director Georges Auric Duration Country United Kingdom | 7.2/10 IMDb Genre Short, Drama, Fantasy Screenplay Wolf Mankowitz Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Nikolai Gogol , Wolf Mankowitz Release date 7 October 1956 (1956-10-07) Initial release October 7, 1956 (New York City) Cast David Kossoff (Morry), Alfie Bass (Fender), Alan Tilvern (Mr. Ranting), Alan Tilvern (Gravedigger)Similar movies Inequality for All , Requiem for the American Dream , Mind the Gap , Park Avenue: Money, Power & The American Dream , Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty , Deuda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Bespoke Overcoat is a 1956 British short film directed by Jack Clayton, based on a 1953 play of the same name by Wolf Mankowitz. The story is an adaptation of Gogol's short story The Overcoat with the action moved from Russia to the East End of London. In this version the protagonists are poor Jews working in the clothing trade. It won an Academy Award at the 29th Academy Awards in 1957 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). The play was performed at the Arts Theatre in London with Kossoff and Bass and was directed by Alec Clunes. The supporting cast was Harold Kasket and Oscar Quitak.
Contents
The bespoke overcoat
Plot
Fender is a lowly clerk in the warehouse of clothing manufacturers Ranting and Co. His one ambition is to have an overcoat of his own. Refused one by the coldhearted Ranting, he asks a tailor friend, Morry, to make him one instead, but dies of cold before he can take delivery of it. Unwilling to give up his only desire even in death, he returns as a ghost to persuade Morry to steal him the overcoat he so coveted in life.
Reception
Pauline Kael called The Bespoke Overcoat "one of the best short-story films ever made".
Cast
References
The Bespoke Overcoat WikipediaThe Bespoke Overcoat IMDb The Bespoke Overcoat themoviedb.org