Masterpiece Theatre production, originally aired on TV in 1991,
starring three of my faves, the fabulous Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud
and Patrick McGoohan. The Best of Friends was such a special treat,
I bought myself a copy from Amazon and watched it again last week.
I adore the art of letter writing and books written in letter form, so
this was right up my alley. It's an adaptation from the journals and
correspondence between a Benedictine nun, Dame Laurentia
McLachlan (Hiller), the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Cambridge, Sydney Cockerell (Gielgud) and the legendary Irish
playwright, George Bernard Shaw (McGoohan). The screenplay was
written by Hugh Whitemore, whose work you remember from All
Creatures Great and Small.
The sparkling dialogue, taken directly from the trio's intimate letters
and journals, is brought to life by the performance of these veteran
actors. I enjoyed reliving their vigorous discussions on everything
from the existence of God to the finer points of tango dancing. This
peek into their amazing 25 year friendship is intelligent and poignant.
I couldn't help but compare their relationships to those I have with
my own bloggy friends through our long distance correspondence.
Our blog posts, as well as comments, are a rich and intimate mode
of sharing in the same style of letters and journals, only intensified
by the speed and extent of the internet. Isn't it amazing how quickly
we can become the best of friends in the blog world?
