Major James Prentis VC (played by the late Sir Alan Bates) is a British spy of World War II and war hero who goes under the code name of “Shuttlecock.” Alienated from his family and children, he ends up in a mental institution in Lisbon, Portugal where he eventually decides to publish his memoirs 20 years after the war ended. The Major’s son (played by Lambert Wilson), becomes increasingly alarmed with the director of the institution, and comes to the conclusion that the institution director is in fact responsible for his father’s mental decline.
Shuttlecock was first screened back in 1991 but at the time Director Andrew Piddington described the film as ‘unfinished’ and so the film sort of went back into hiding and lay in the ‘film vault’ for many years. Between then and now the film lost its lead actor, the amazing Alan Bates (he passed away in 2003) who I tend to associate with one of my all time favourite films Whistle Down The Wind, and if you haven’t seen that film, please do seek it out and watch it. Its amazing and Alan Bates is amazing in it.
Over the years Andrew Piddington began working on ‘Shuttlecock’ again and adding new footage which reunited some original cast members to help get the film to a more completed version that Andrew was happy with. Now that film has been released as Shuttlecock:Directors Cut and has been picked up for digital distribution by UK Distributor Cockerel Entertainment who have put the film on Prime Video for the world to finally check out. And I did indeed check it out.
Unfortunately I hadn’t seen the ‘non directors cut’ version so I cant really compare the film then to the film now, however I did enjoy the ‘film now’ Its kinda surreal to be watching an Alan Bates film that has just recently been released even though we lost Alan over 20 years ago. Is Shuttlecock:Directors Cut any good?
Yes I enjoyed it and on all accounts the near 20 minutes or so of ‘new footage’ that the director added did very much improve it from the 1991 version so that’s definitely a win for the film, its cast and the crew too. What we get with Shuttlecock:Directors Cut is a well made (now) film, and if you like psychological thrillers then its definitely worth checking out the film. Also if you want to analyze what a film shot in 1991, which then has added footage to improve the film (successfully) decades later, then Shuttlecock:Directors Cut is worth it too. For me, I wanted to see the film mainly for two reasons. 1: I’m a big Alan Bates fan, and 2: I wanted to see what a film that was started, then revamped, then rereleased looked like and I’m happy to report- that it looks great!
Out Now To Rent Or Buy From Amazon
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