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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Episode No. 31, "I Wanted to Be with You"<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black"><img width="371" height="281" style="width:3.8645in;height:2.927in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D49069.F224A280"></span></b><b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">The final phase in the slow progression of Jean Ashton's illness commands most of the screen time in this reflective episode, but there are enough bits of subtle humour and character study to balance the scales
and maintain our rapt attention throughout. A continuing sub-plot takes us again to London, where profligate son David treats his self-described "animal" appetites to all forms of gratification with Grace Gould.<br>
<br>
Shelagh Fraser, as Jean, evinces more raw emotion in "I Wanted to Be with You" than she allowed herself to show in the previous episodes. Normally so understated, even to a fault, her portrayal here conveys the frightening prospect of a woman whose failing
mind threatens to isolate her from those she loves. Her poignant nostalgia and grief seem to issue from within, a far cry from those counterfeit "stage tears" that inferior actors ask us to accept. Jean Ashton is a subdued personality, often frustratingly
so, with unfinished sentences and unspoken thoughts, but in this, her penultimate appearance in the series, she truly comes into her own.<br>
<br>
David's perfidy is well documented, of course, but his overindulgence with the uninhibited Grace satiates even his considerable taste for physical passion. "You're not going to be any good for me in the end, are you, Grace?" he asks. Struck by unaccustomed
guilt, he suddenly hopes that Sheila does not think of him in a cheap way because, as he tells Grace, "it's not nice, not the way I was brought up." This does not turn David around entirely, but the stage is set for him to show some positive, redeeming values
in the episode to come.<br>
<br>
Some random comments about "I Wanted to Be with You"...<br>
<br>
The black-and-white photography lends a certain stark imagery that is not out of place with the subject matter. Though I would never suggest that all fifty-two episodes should have been shot in this manner, those eight which were produced in monochrome do not
suffer much in comparison. The eye soon adjusts, and, as I have stated before, there is an agreeable "film noir" look to them.<br>
<br>
The voice-over sequence, when Jean is viewing her childhood home, is quite effective. So, too, is director Baz Taylor's transition between Jean's remembrance of her late son and the cut to Robert's framed photo. It is creative touches such as these that make
"A Family at War" so special.<br>
<br>
I wonder where those scenes of bombed-out "Liverpool" structures (seen in several of the episodes) were shot by the camera crews. Surely no war-torn sections remained as late as the early 1970s.<br>
<br>
The American, Captain Mark Dewar, is a sympathetic figure—thankfully not the "overpaid, oversexed, and over here" stereotype as seen in so many lesser productions. While John Higgins's oddly nasal American accent may be a little overdone, I find his character
to be very likeable, and it is refreshing to hear him say of his wife in America, "Yeh, I miss her like hell." Definitely not the libertine rubbish to which most screenwriters resort.<br>
<br>
Sefton Briggs is very compassionate with his ailing sister, and this shows a softer side of this crusty but complex man.<br>
<br>
In such formidable company, two powerful scenes might easily be overlooked. One is when Edwin is in the attic, hearing Philip chase Freda, and he recalls happier times when the children were young. Another is when Freda, without thinking, blurts out to Philip
that Margaret had a still-born baby while John was away. The timing of this tricky dialogue is handled very deftly by Barbara Flynn, at a critical moment where any false step would have been ruinous. Instead, her delivery was entirely convincing.<br>
<br>
While I am on the subject of Barbara Flynn, I must say that she proves herself many times over to be a fine comedic actress: when she attempts to remove her stocking in front of Philip (and, it so happens, Ian McKenzie), when she converses with Margaret about
her mysterious lover, when she jokes with John about Clark Gable and her weakness for older men, when she hammers Philip with an "empty" purse, and, not least, when she suggests that they cancel the birthday party "because Mum will sit there throughout with
a face like the Rock of Gibraltar, with Dad trying to look as if he'd won the Irish Sweeps." Marvelous dialogue, as always, from John Finch.<br>
<br>
I cannot help but wonder whether there was some additional footage in the London dinner club that included actress Wendy Gerrard. She is listed in the credits as a WAAF, but we only see a brief glimpse of her at the table with David. Certainly, she seems far
too pretty for David not to have spoken to her, so I suspect that a bit of flirtation may have ended up on the cutting-room floor.</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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