Poignant account of Elgar

A black-and-white documentary style approach with a crystal-cut formal narration by Huw Wheldon gave a very sensitive and poignant account of Elgar's life. Though written in a high literary style with imaginative photography there were the tell-tale fingerprints of Russel: the boyish and gauche humour of the dropped tray and the rather crude irony of the camera shot spinning across a blur of gravestones to the accompaniment of 'Land and Hope', for instance. However, these moments were rare but one was left with the feeling that Elgar never attained happiness for very long, which may or or may not have been the director's intended projection.