Hey, how come David Jones‘ Betrayal, a screen version of the renowned Harold Pinter play which came out 22 years ago and was then issued on VHS but never saw subsequent life on laser disc or as a DVD, is still sitting on the Fox Home Video shelf?
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One indication of the completely buried status of Betrayal is that you can’t find any decent online stills from it. This awful shot looks like a screen capture from somebody’s TV screen as the grotesque VHS version was being played.
Ben Kingsley and Jeremy Irons‘ performances (as a cuckolded publisher husband and his best friend, a literary agent) ) are easily among their career best. The luncheon scene alone (“I mean, you love modern prose…probably gives you both a thrill!”) is worth the price alone. And the only way to see it, still, is to buy a cruddy VHS version on E-Bay.
I remember to this day going to the 20th Century Fox lot in ’83 to catch a screening of this. I had just arrived here from Manhattan and was still finding my feet. The screening was two or three weeks away from release and was quite the thing to see. I remember taking a friend, Kathryn Galan, and discussing it with her in the parking lot.
I’ve been badgering Fox Home Video about this title for a good eight to ten years, and all they’ve shown so far is a Ceaucescu-like silence and resistance to the idea.
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