Yes, that is Larry Olivier on the front cover and the girl is a very young Sarah Miles. Barlow's novel was turned into a film a year after publication and also starred Simone Signoret, Thora Hird and Terence Stamp.
Amazingly, it doesn't appear to have been released on DVD or VHS which, no matter how bad the film might be, is surprising given the distinguished cast.
In 1963, someone called Bosley Crowther published a damning review in the New York Times, complaining that:
'A hero more afflicted than Lazarus and more humble and patient than Job is not likely to cut a dynamic or captivating figure in a film, no matter how finely he is acted, even by Lawrence Olivier. And that's why "Term of Trial," which came to the Paramount yesterday, is not an exciting picture, for all its skittering around a sordid theme.
The meek and shabby high school teacher that Mr. Olivier plays in this British rehash of "Blackboard Jungle," with minor "Lolita" overtones, is a wistful and well-meaning fellow for whom your heart bleeds a drop or two as you watch him stoically enduring all sorts of troubles and woes. But he's just not enough of a person to make your blood run hot or cold.'
Crowther clearly doesn't like what he describes as the 'current British "kitchen sink" style' however on this side of the Atlantic the film appears to have been more successful and Olivier received a BAFTA nomination for his performance.
To give you a flavour of Barlow's style, here is the first page to click on:
As for Barlow himself, there is next to nothing about him on the internet. Not even a small Wikipedia entry. The author blurb says that he was born in 1921, when means that he may still be alive (he's a year older than our friend Sam Youd). However, like David Karp, he appears to have stopped writing novels at the end of the 1960s. I would love to know why.
Term of Trial may be derivative in places, but it is a thoughtful, well-written novel that is both a perceptive study of human nature and a compelling social document. It doesn't deserve to be out of print.
Addendum: James Barlow died in 1973, at the age of 51.
9 comments:
The Burden of Proof was a recommended text by our English teacher at school in the mid-1960s. How far a fall from grace that has proved to be!
That's a rather risqué novel to recommend to schoolchildren! However, I'm glad to hear that it received an endorsement from an English teacher.
Dreary 1950s England with school teacher shenanigans! What does it say about me that this sounds like my ideal book?
I expect these books provide you with a little light relief from the relentless blue skies and sunshine.
Barlow ended up emigrating to Tasmania and writing the hysterical screed "Goodbye England". I'd be interested to know if the personality he revealed there (a puritanical, snobbish, racist paranoiac) is apparent in his novels.
Thanks for this. I managed to catch the end of the film broadcast on Turner Classic Movies in America. Bosley Crowther was a reviewer for the NYTimes in the sixties. And, while the film sank into melodrama at many points, there was a lot to like. Especially the story and performances.
I read this book years ago when I was young and impressionable and thought it excellent. I picked up a second hand copy by chance a few weeks ago and settled down for a nostalgic re-read. Alas, I found it almost unreadable and can't get beyond the first few chapters. I think it is the lack of nuance and subtlety that I find off-putting: the descriptions are heavy and laboured; the characters almost caricatures - the sort of thing you come across in creative writing classes. I'll persevere and see if it develops into the novel that gripped me all those years ago.....
I came to the novel with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I suppose the writing is full of cliches and I've given up on two of Barlow's other novels, but I liked the way it captured the essence of postwar Britain, barely out of rationing, unsure of its identity.
I came across these posts when searching for information about James Barlow. I'd finally started reading an old copy of 'The Patriots' and loved it.
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