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Hireling (The) (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Powerhouse Films Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (9th July 2025). |
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The Film
 Robert Shaw (Young Winston) and Sarah Miles (Blowup) star in The Hireling, a devastating exploration of emotional repression, trauma, and class relations from director Alan Bridges (The Shooting Party). In the years following the First World War, the widowed Lady Franklin (Miles) establishes an unlikely friendship with her working-class driver, Ledbetter (Shaw), a traumatised former sergeant major. But, as Lady Franklin develops a relationship with a scheming former officer (Peter Egan, Ever Decreasing Circles), Ledbetter’s precarious mental state rapidly deteriorates. Adapted from the novel by L. P. Hartley (The Go-Between) by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz (The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll), The Hireling was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
Video
An adaptation of L. P. Hartley's 1957 novel of the same name, this is a rather melancholy, grim narrative about class, repression and misunderstanding. Acting, writing, production and direction are flawless so it simply comes down to what one finds personally engaging. I found it all rather depressing and heavy drama isn't really my bag, certainly not the type we have here being purely character driven; the trajectory of it's character's lives is obvious from the off and thus it becomes a slow spiral towards it's depressing conclusion. However, it's a gorgeous looking film, expertly shot by Michael Reed - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965) - with strong colour values to enhance the mood, favouring browns, grays and blacks (very few primaries). Acting is exceptional and director Alan Bridges keeps it interesting. From the booklet: The Hireling was sourced from Sony’s HD remaster. The film’s original mono soundtrack was remastered at the same time.The film relies on it's chiaroscuro lighting which is expertly handled lending shadows surprising depth. Contrast is lowkey allowing detail to show through bringing texture to the image. Film grain is, as expected, ever present but generally fairly smooth and the encode does a grand job keeping it filmic. As with most Sony masters I've seen it's in good condition and been cleaned up so it looks like it was shot yesterday. The only criticism I could levy is that the film is on a single layered disc (BD25) and perhaps a dual-layered presentation might have enhanced the image in all areas by a notch or two. Still, this is a strong presentation of a well lensed film shot flat in 1.85:1 so the full height anamorphic presentation works very well as is ('A-'). 1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD25 / 1.85:1 / 107:44
Audio
English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) Subtitles: English HoH Mono soundtracks essentially get the job done but there's very an artistry to them where dialogue, sound effects and score get dialled up and down in the mix. This one is very dialogue driven which is not surprising for a story focussed very much on human drama and Wilkinson's score - which surely must've influence Barrington Pheloung's work on Inspector Morse (1987-2000) and it's spinoffs - which makes itself heard at key moments being very much in a mood enhancing ambient style. As with all mono tracks I've heard of this period, there's a slight echo at times and very mild hiss when heard at volume but it's all part of the analogue nature of the original recording. As usual, about as good a representation of the original track as can be expected. Hrd of hearing subtitles are provided and are typically detailed and comprehensive ('B+').
Extras
"The Driving Force: The Making of The Hireling" 2025 featurette (11:13) "The Lady and the Chauffeur: Getting Into Character on The Hireling" 2025 featurette (11:10) 22:23 collectively, these two featurettes form a retrospective with actors Sarah Miles and Ian Hogg, composer Marc Wilkinson (1929-2022), production manager Hugh Harlow, wardrobe mistress Brenda Dabbs (1931-2022), production accountant Maureen Newman all discussing The Hireling and it's making. The first featurette focusses more generally on the film as a whole and the second the leading actors. I found it all interesting but especially the comments of Wilkinson who was given a free hand to do what he wished with the scoring so he emphasised dominance and subservience. Also, everyone seems to have found Shaw a very nice man and easy to deal with which is not always the case (see Jaws). Both are presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 112Kbps) with no subtitle options. "The British Entertainment History Project (BHEP) Interview with Phyllis Dalton: Conducted by Rodney Giesler on 11 February 2000." 2000 interview plays as an alternate audio track over the film (105:04) Dalton (1925-2025), a celebrated costume designer whose career spanned from 1951 (The Dark Man, Scrooge) through 1993 (Much Ado About Nothing) according to IMDB. Topics covered: her childhood, early life, parent's and family, education, life during the war, how she got into the business and obviously many of the films she worked on and the people she worked with. Presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (48kHz, 192Kbps) with no subtitle options. "Trailers from Hell with Larry Karaszewski: The Hireling" 2014 featurette (3:35) Screenwriter Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People Vs. Larry Flint) champions the film which he says seemed to have disappeared from the public eye and he doesn't quite know why. I disagree with his assessment that films on Trailers from Hell are either awful movies or box office flops and strongly disagree that the film making skills on productions presented on Masterpiece Theater are dull. MT was a framework show in the USA on PBS that was introduced initially by expat Englishman Alistair Cook; it was where many of the best BBC and ITV television productions debuted on US television; such classics as Elizabeth R (1971), I .claudius (1976), Danger UXB (1978) and Upstairs Downstairs (1971-75) being examples. Theatrical Trailer (3:02) Vintage promo presented in 1080p24 1.85:1 with English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) sound. No subtitle options. The Hireling Image Gallery (28 images) HD gallery of promotional images. 32-page liner notes booklet with new essay by Peter Cowie, selected interviews with screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz on his adaptation of L. P. Hartley’s novel, an overview of critical responses and film credits The essay gives us a nice overview of the production from the play to the film itself, the cast and key crew are covered as well as the path the film had on release. A vintage interview with the screenwriter and an overview of critical responses, all positive.
Packaging
Not sent for review.
Overall
A long forgotten drama about class, repression, discretion and a misunderstanding based on L. P. Hartley's novel gets the limited edition treatment from Powerhouse Films in the UK. This gorgeously melancholy film gets decent image and sound from a strong Sony master and engaging extras. Recommended ('B+').
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