As complex as the mind of its creator, Vivian Stanshall, the plot of `Sir
Henry at Rawlinson End' revolves around attempts to exorcise of the ghost of
Humbert, the brother of Sir Henry (Trevor Howard). Humbert was accidentally
killed in a drunken duck-shooting incident whilst escaping from an illicit
tryst. Amongst the eccentric family members, mad friends and grudgingly loyal
servants involved are the eternally knitting Aunt Florrie, the tapeworm-obsessed
Mrs. E, Lady Phillipa of Staines, who enjoys the odd `small' sherry and the
ever-present Old Scrotum, Sir Henry's wrinkled retainer.
Adding to the poetic shambles are the hapless Germans, long post-war, who
populate the fearsome PoW camp that Sir Henry set up in the gardens of his
estate, and his younger brother Hubert who fishes for hairdressers in a pond.
Furnished with a stuffed mechanical bulldog, a champion billiard-playing horse
and a marriage bed cruelly divided by sandbags and barbed wire, Rawlinson End is
an endlessly mad, hilarious outpost of an England as it could have been…
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End is a 1980 British film based on the eponymous character created by Vivian Stanshall (see Rawlinson End Radio Flashes, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (recording)). It starred Trevor Howard as Sir Henry and Stanshall himself as Henry's brother Hubert. Unusually, the film was released in sepia-toned monochrome. After a long wait, while the film obtained cult status, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End was finally released on DVD in 2006. The bonuses include a commentary track with the director, Steve Roberts, as well as Sheila Reid (Aunt Florrie) and Jeremy Child (Peregrine Maynard), as well as a picture gallery, synopsis, the script of unfilmed scenes, and actor biographies.