Edwardian assortment

Sam Neill stars in Toa Fraser’s second feature Dean Spanley which Variety reviews, describing the film as “immaculately cast”. “Based on an obscure novel by late Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, Alan Sharp’s screenplay is deft; ditto Fraser’s helming.” The Toronto International Film Festival website writes of the period comedy: “a magical mélange of fine wine, canines and eccentric behaviour, Dean Spanley is a rare pleasure … the film transports us to Edwardian England, with its elegant rooms, lavish costumes and surprising tolerance for the outlandish. It takes the finest comedic actors to pull off this material, and director Toa Fraser has assembled a cast of the first rank. Neill treads with grace between comic fantasy and real pathos.”