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The History Boys (2006) DVD Review
The History Boys (2006) DVD Credits:
The History Boys (2006) Directed by:
Nicholas Hytner
The History Boys (2006) Written by:
Alan Bennett
The History Boys (2006) Cast:
Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison, Frances De La Tour, Stephen Campbell Moore, Sacha Dhawan, Samuel Anderson, Dominic Cooper, Andrew Knott, Samuel Barnett, Russell Tovey, Jamie Parker, James Corden
The History Boys (2006) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
The History Boys (2006) DVD Release Date:
16th April 2007
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The History Boys (2006) Synopsis:

"The History Boys" tells the story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master (Richard Griffiths), a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores (Stephen Campbell Moore), a grossly out-numbered history teacher (Frances de la Tour), and a headmaster obsessed with results (Clive Merrison), the boys attempt to sift through it all to pass the daunting university admissions process. Their journey becomes as much about how education works, as it is about where education leads.

The History Boys (2006) DVD Review:

Most movies which come from popular and award winning stage play don’t seem to come off as well on-screen. The musicals usually seem to hokey and the plays too dull, but somehow The History Boys manages to transition so seamlessly that there are only a few moments that it is even recognizably based off of a play. Even the actors, which usually have difficulty transitioning from stage to screen when the material is so familiar, are remarkably underplayed in some moments, with perhaps the exception of Richard Griffiths who isn’t afraid to put his whole self into crying.

Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), the new teacher who is more interested in teaching the boys the tricks to getting accepted into a university than he is teaching history and literature. Hector (Richard Griffiths) may be the one most responsible for the thirsting of knowledge these boys have for history, without which they would never have had the opportunities they had. Despite his unconventional way of engaging the boys in a history lesson and his longing for a more intimate encounter with the students, Hector is the reason these boys are even considered at these universities, yet his time is soon passing at the school due to his inappropriate behavior. Mrs. Lintott (Francis de la Tour) is the only professor not called by her first name, managing to keep the distance between herself and the children without sacrificing the knowledge.

The object of attention for all of the male teachers, although getting no special attention from Mrs. Lintott is Dakin (Dominic Cooper), a rather shallow student whose looks garner him with plenty of attention, even from his fellow classmate, Posner (Samuel Barnett), a sensitive young boy desperately and openly obsessed. Dakin becomes a source of many issues with all of the teachers, and he is unashamed about it, despite his claimed love of women. This sub-plot is a strange one which adds much more complicated issues into the script, certainly what would be much more expected of theater, although it seems to play out well on film as well. At any rate, Hector never becomes completely dislikable, despite his shortcomings.

Since the theatrical cast is nearly the same as the theatrical cast, the performances are all rather good, and the DVD has a special featurette about the tour of the show, mostly just home footage that they took by handheld camera as they traveled on their show. The DVD also has a featurette about the working of the material into a screen version, and a commentary track with director and writer.

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The History Boys (2006) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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