TV Reviews : Values Clash Tragically in ‘Dressmaker’

What we get from Britain for entertainment seems to be full of self-examination that soon enough erupts into self-flagellation--like a headlong charge into Victorian intransigence. Miss Marple is stalwartly Victorian, but with keen perceptions; Benny Hill is Victorian, too, but naughty; the Monty Pythons are always slashing away at the forces of English propriety by showing the naughty bits.

In “The Dressmaker,” airing on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” Sunday (8 p.m. on Channels 24 and 50, 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15), the intrusion of the Yank soldiers in war-weary 1944 Liverpool represents an attack on the old values, as well as possible escape to the new and the possibly better. It looks like a spritely slice of life, then turns tragic.

It was made as a feature and had a small theatrical run in this country. It was produced by Ronald Shedlo, written by executive producer John McGrath from a novel of the same name by Beryl Bainbridge and directed by Jim O’Brien (“The Jewel in the Crown”).

Dressmaker Nellie (played by Joan Plowright) is the rigid and righteous sister, Margo (Billie Whitelaw) the raucous one. They’re aunts who are raising 17-year-old Rita (Jane Horrocks), who is smitten with a cloddish GI from Mississippi, Wesley (Tim Ransom). Well, she’s more smitten with the possibilities of Wesley rather than the actual Wesley.

Rita is the metaphor. She is lashed by the warring values. How far should she let Wesley go? Nowhere, insists Nellie; you have to “give” to get, counsels Margo. It turns out that Rita just can’t give and Margo, who can’t help herself, helps herself.

The fine actors Plowright and Whitelaw give out exquisitely. Horrocks presents a lovely, painful adolescent for whom you can weep. Great performances, although, of course, they won’t bring a smile to your face.