The Winslow Boy (1948) on Netflix
Ronnie Winslow is a cadet at a naval college. He is accused of taking a postal order worth five shillings. His father Arthur and sister Catherine work to clear his name.
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Plot summary
Arthur Winslow retires from his bank job because of arthritis. Dickie, the eldest, studies at Oxford. Catherine, his daughter, is a suffragette who rejects militancy. His youngest son Ronnie has entered the Royal Naval College as a cadet. Neighbor John Watherstone asks to marry Catherine. Ronnie then turns up at home soaked, carrying a letter for his father that he is too frightened to hand over. The college has found him guilty of taking a postal order worth five shillings, after an inquiry that gave him no chance to defend himself. Arthur will not accept that verdict.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Winslow Boy (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The 1948 film was inspired by the real case of George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908 accused of stealing a postal order; his brother, Major Martin Archer-Shee, convinced their father to engage lawyers. Sir Edward Carson insisted the case come to court, where the Solicitor General accepted Archer-Shee was innocent and the family was paid compensation.
- Unlike the stage play and David Mamet's remake, the 1948 film shows the actual trial; the other versions keep it offstage and only tell the audience what occurred.
- George Archer-Shee, the cadet whose case the story is drawn from, died in the First World War; his name is inscribed on the war memorial in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, where his parents lived.
