Written by John Osborne, this is a story of the unhappy personal life of a seemingly successful and privileged man who has just been honoured with a knighthood. It is an eminently polished production, leisurely in pace, but with the abrasive quality and well-written, intelligent dialogue that one would expect from a dramatist of Osborne's calibre. Additionally it has the advantage of fine acting performances. Older film fans will be interested to note a fleeting appearance by John Justin, whose most famous film role, perhaps, was as the hero of Alexander Korda's 1940 production of The Thief of Bagdad, Justin plays a guest at a party: another familiar face at the same party belongs to veteran New Zealand-born Ewen Solon, once best-known as the dogged Lucas of the Maigret television series.

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