The History Boys (2006) is adapted from the original Tony Award winning play by Alan Bennett (he also wrote The Madness of King George). Eight precocious students at an English prep school seek to go to England’s most elite university: Oxford. Two teachers help the boys prepare for the Admission process. One teacher is a shrewd newcomer who sees the application process as a game. The other teacher is an eccentric who tries to inoculate the boys from the falsity of the process with poetry, music, and silliness. Between the two vastly different approaches to Life, the boys learn that history can be both ironic and random. I loved the play and I enjoyed this movie version. The Tony Award winning cast from the play recreate their roles in the movie version. Both the play and movie explore what education and history really are. I picked up this DVD at BIG LOTS for $3. A bargain! GRADE: B+
Saw this years ago and it struck me then as a winsome lament for the old tradition of educating for the sake of Education, rather than toward some more tangible (and less rewarding) object.
Dan, you’re right. THE HISTORY BOYS heaps praise on Keats and Auden. Most of my students would have no idea who Keats and Auden are.
I got to see this on the stage in the UK with the original cast and it was wonderful – the movie is a great reminder.
Sergio, I really liked the original cast and having them re-create their roles in the movie version is a big plus.
Ah, BIG LOTS, from curry sauce to Beatles calendars to History Boys on DVD, will you ever stop amazing us with the breadth of your merchandise?
/Once picked up the entire run of SCTV for $10 there!
Deb, I’ve found dozens of great movie bargains in BIG LOTS. Of course, you have slog through a lot of crappy DVDs to strike gold.
It’s very frustrating. I keep reading of all the finds you and Stan Burns and others pick up in Big Lots but whenever we go to one (in Florida) we don’t find anything worth having.
I’ve liked what I’ve read (and seen) of Alan Bennett’s stuff. The late Richard Griffths was the Olivier Award and Tony Award for his role in this.
Jeff, Richard Griffiths deserved the Olivier Award and Tony Award for his role in THE HISTORY BOYS. Timing is everything at BIG LOTS. You have to be there when the shipments of new DVDs show up.
Really enjoyed this at the theater. And Alan Bennett is al jewel. Too bad he is so little known here. We saw a couple of his plays whilst in England in the ninties.
Patti, I want to see more of Al Bennett’s work after watching this movie version of THE HISTORY BOYS. He’s a clever writer.
I’ve read several of Bennett’s stories and monologues and short plays.
Just checked and I see our library system as a four DVD set called The Alan Bennett Collection from the BBC.
Jeff, thanks for the heads-up on that ALAN BENNETT COLLECTION from the BBC. I’ll track it down.
Showing on HBO this month.
Steve, thanks for the heads-up.
Couple of things. There’s an excellent 25 minute interview with Bennett when History Boys opened on Broadway here:
http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2013/06/tt_just_because_129.html
Haven’t seen the play, but I can at least brag on seeing Bennett (with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore & Jonathan Miller) on Broadway in Beyond the Fringe, the show that made all their careers take off like rockets.
Art, great interview! Thanks for the link. There’s also audio commentary with Bennett and the director of THE HISTORY BOYS, Nicholas Hytner, as a Bonus Feature on the DVD.
Wow, George you must hang out at discount stores all the time.
Rick, I LOVE to spend money…but I HATE to waste money. Stores like BIG LOTS have bargains, but you have to dig for them.