Four literary portraits from Omnibus
This week, the last in the series
Torrents of the Mind by v. S. PRITCHETT
An introduction to the novels of Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) with Maurice Denham as Goriot, Stephen Murray as Vautrin
Honore de Balzac, one of the world's great story-tellers, wrote The Human Comedy in 20 years: it is made up of more than 70 novels and collections of short stories. Early in his career, he wrote: 'Our passions, our vices, our inborn extremism, our pleasures and our pain, are torrents of the mind flowing through us. When a man gives himself totally to fixed ideas he is destroyed by them.' It is those words which V. S. Pritchett sees as the theme of 'The Human Comedy', and in tonight's film he shows his own way into the comic and consuming world of the great French writer.
Old Goriot MAURICE DENHAM, STEPHEN MURRAY, JEREMY CLYDE, FRANCES KEARNEY
Cousin Bette MARGARET WHITING , GERALD CASE
Lost Illusions STEPHEN MURRAY , RICHARD WREN
The Wild Ass's Skin CHRISTOPHER BROWN, RAF DE LA TORRE, MARILYN GALSWORTHY
Cesar Birotteau JEFFREY SEGAL , KATE BINCHY
Balzac played by JOHN SHARP
"I thought it was very fine. A major achievement" MARGARET DRABBLE (The Critics)
Film cameraman ELMER COSSEY
Film editor HOWARD BILLINGHAM
Director CHRISTOPHER BURSTALL