White Mischief is a 1987 British period crime drama film directed and co-written by Michael Radford. It dramatises the events of the Happy Valley murder case in Kenya in 1941, wherein Sir Henry “Jock” Delves Broughton was tried for the murder of Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll. The film stars Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance, Joss Ackland, Sarah Miles, Geraldine Chaplin, Ray McAnally, Murray Head, John Hurt, and Trevor Howard.

The screenplay is based on the non-fiction book White Mischief: The Murder of Lord Erroll (1982), by James Fox, which originated from a newspaper article published in 1969. Shooting took place on-location in Kenya and at Shepperton Studios.

At the 42nd British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Joss Ackland) and Best Costume Design.

The film came out around the same time as a BBC series set against the background of the same crime, The Happy Valley (1987).

Plot

Throughout the Second World War, aristocrats in the Kenya Colony's Happy Valley region often led hedonistic lifestyles of indulgence in alcohol, drugs, and extramarital relationships.  On 24 January 1941, Josslyn Hay, the philandering Earl of Erroll, was found dead in his car in a secluded area, with his reputation for adulterous relationships preceding him.

One such married woman is Diana Delves Broughton, the beautiful wife of Sir John Henry Delves Broughton, known as "Jock", who is thirty years her senior, with whom she has a pre-nuptial understanding that, should either of them fall in love with someone else, the other party would not impede that romance.

Diana has indeed succumbed to the charms of the Earl of Erroll, The title came from Black Mischief, Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel set in the mythical African kingdom of Azania. The New York Times called it "a fascinating book." The Boston Globe said "had ‘White Mischief’ been a work of fiction it would have required the collaboration of Agatha Christie and P. G. Wodehouse." While researching the book Fox also collected information about Beryl Markham, which was turned into the film A Shadow on the Sun.

Development

The film rights to the book were optioned by Michael White, a friend of Fox's, while the book was being written.

Director Michael Radford collaborated with British playwright Jonathan Gems on the script. Radford emphasized that "films of Africa should be made by Africans" and described the project as "a film of melancholy about people who have everything and yet have nothing. It's about people who want to possess what they can't possess."

Securing funding for the film posed a challenge. The financing was sourced from a chain of Canadian cinemas, Cineplex Odeon, plus Goldcrest Films, BBC Television, Nelson Entertainment (headed by Barry Spikings, which provided $2.5 million in exchange for North American video rights), with the remaining amount coming from Columbia Pictures, then under David Puttnam as head of production.

Shooting

Filming took place from February to May 1987 at Shepperton Studios and on location in Kenya. Wrotham Park was used as Doddington Hall, the home of Delves Broughton.

Historical accuracy

The real Alice De Janzé shot herself on 30 September 1941, while Jock Delves Broughton eventually returned to England and committed suicide by morphine overdose in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool in December 1942, over a year later.

"There is a difference between fact and truth," said producer Simon Perry. "You can be truthful without being factual. It's inevitable there will be people who think Kenya was and still is a paradise of remittance men and black sheep of aristocratic families. Kenya was an exaggerated microcosm of society in Britain at that time, painted in primary colours with characters larger than life."

Diana Broughton died in 1987.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed £1,532,903 in the United Kingdom and $3.1 million in the United States and Canada.

Critical

Variety wrote the film "displays high production values, impressive acting talent, and a strong — virtually factual — storyline. The money invested can be seen on the screen, and with an excellent lead performance (following his major role in ‘‘The Sicilian’’) Joss Ackland should finally receive the acting kudos he deserves. Pic should make a healthy b.o. impact worldwide."

Book author James Fox said he was "ambivalent" about the movie.

Radford said the reviews of the film " almost ruined my career. It stopped it in its tracks... I think it was difficult for critics because Britain is obsessed by class. It wasn’t done to make a film about upper-class people. I think people were expecting one of those James Ivory films or A Passage to India... It wasn’t meant to be like Out of Africa, the cinema of waxed furniture. I was trying to make something much more decadent."

Legacy

In 1996, Mariette Bosch murdered Ria Wolmerans in Botswana. Both women were white South Africans. The case was referred to as "Botswana's white mischief".

See also

  • The Happy Valley, a BBC television drama also dealing with the murder, was first aired on 6 September 1987, several months before White Mischief was released.

Notes

References

  • White Mischief review in cosmopolis.ch