Available on Blu-ray Disc (Region B)UK 1967 English (Colour); Drama/Mystery (London Independent); 105 minutes (PG certificate)Crew includes: Joseph Losey (Director); Harold Pinter (Screenwriter, adapting Novel by Nicholas Mosley **½ [5/10]); Joseph Losey, Norman Priggen (Producers); Gerry Fisher (Cinematographer); Carmen Dillon (Art Director); Reginald Beck (Editor); John Dankworth (Composer)Cast includes: Dirk Bogarde (Stephen), Stanley Baker (Charley), Jacqueline Sassard (Anna), Michael York (William), Vivien Merchant (Rosalind), Delphine Seyrig (Francesca), Alexander Knox (Provost); Harold Pinter (Bell)BAFTA nominations (4): British Film, British Actor (Bogarde), British Screenplay, British Art Direction - Colour; Golden Globe nomination: Foreign Film - English Language"The story of a love triangle... and the four people trapped in it!"An emotionally suppressed, Oxford University don (Bogarde) vies with a more successful (in life) academic colleague (Baker) for the affections of an exotic, icy student (Sassard), who survives a car accident that kills his favourite male tutee (York).Second (and finest) of three collaborations between American director Losey and English playwright Pinter (briefly seen as a TV producer) takes a dim view of human nature and what cruel, selfish acts we are capable of, regardless of surface beauty and propriety.Following his '50s emergence as a matinée idol, one of Bogarde's intellectual, grown-up dramas, during which he and Baker (total opposites) did not get along, thus aiding their on-screen rancour.Blu-ray Extras: Documentary, Interviews, Trailer. *** (6/10)

It's hard to believe that this script came from one of England's finest playwrights. The dialogue is so monosyllabic and kindergartenish that it's also hard to believe that the characters are members of academia. The actors go through their parts like zombies--you can drive a truck through the lines. Nobody seems to react to anyone else or anything else. the sexual attraction for the Austrian student can be explained only by the phrase zombie meets zombie. She opens her mouth and the result is embarrassment. She has the facial expressions of a patient shot full of novacaine and the body language of the Venus de Milo. The direction is pretentious, lackluster and uninspired. Like so many "art" films, the entire movie is overshot and overly long and, quite frankly, not only do I wonder why it was ever made but why most of those who have posted here seem to regard it as the greatest thing since buckwheat.

Having just viewed The Victim, Night Porter, and The Servant -all Dirk Bogarde films, I found the accident interesting but somewhat boring. Yes, the atmosphere is thick with uncomfortable people in uncomfortable situations. The dialogue is sparce. People stare. We hear thoughts. . . a whole sequence of Stephen and a former girlfriend meeting in a restaurant with very little if any dialog. And a sign in the restaurant "Eat here and keep your wife at home as a pet." Lovely. Apparently the restaurant was known for late night trysts.The three men, Stephen, Charley, and William have the hots for Anna, although I can't imagine why. She is as warm as a piece of stone, and her acting is minimal. I wasn't prepared for the final accident. Whose? I was reminded of some of the French and Italian films of the 1960 -L'Avventura, La Notte, L'Eclisse.

Not a lot happens, but we were glued to The Accident. The script is wonderfully understated. Pinter as screenplay writer is a different style from Pinter the playwright. Pinter teases us, though, with a small cameo performance of his own using almost mock-Pinter dialogue for that one short scene. Also of note script-wise is the scene soon after Pinter's scene when Dirk Bogarde visits his old flame in London and the dialogue is almost thoughts, almost dialogue - you don't see either of them actually speaking. The cinematography on this movie is superb. Oxford in the summer is a soft target for beautiful shots, but this film fills its boots with that beauty. Yet the dark mood never leaves you despite the beauty - partly because 90% of the movie is a flashback, so you have already seen most of the tragedy unfold. Also, the behaviour of the two professors is just so awful. Dirk Bogarde comes across somewhat sympathetically because he is Dirk Bogarde, but the character is a more or less unmitigated toad. The Stanley Baker character is also horrible. The acting of all the main characters is superb.This is high class stuff - seek it out.