A man with a curmudgeonly father in genteel Edwardian English society becomes fascinated by the new local clergyman, Dean Spanley, who goes off on odd ruminations about his past life as a dog after imbibing Tokay wine. He sets about acquiring as much of the expensive vintage as possible to draw out more of the Dean's supposed recollections.
The film would fall utterly prey to its wilful whimsicality, eventually incorporating fantasy sequences with frolicking dogs as the Dean's narrative takes over, were it not for the strength of the cast, with Peter O'Toole effortlessly playing imperious and semi-senile in the twilight of his career as the father and Sam Neill as solid as ever as the weird Dean. The performances of these two in particular just about keep the daffy enterprise above water.
5/10
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