V-A, thank you again for your wonderful and meaningful review in our last post. Now, let me know if you've seen any of these. And if you fancy a good bodice ripper as much as I do (Kate and William aside!)
I've been on a real roll. As you all know, I lurrrvvved Skyfall, which I saw en famille to celebrate turning, um, 42. I then played hooky with a loved one and saw the last matinee of A Royal Affair, which we loved. Followed only a few days later by Anna Karenina, which I saw with my movie gal pal, Mary. I am a woman of simple pleasures. Give me a bucket 'o popcorn, a Coke, and a roomy seat, and I'm good to go. Throw in corsets, big diamonds, British accents or foreign languages, and I'm in heaven. For those of you who haven't seen AK, don't be dismayed by the miserable reviews. Mary and I thoroughly enjoyed this odd take on Tolstoy's tale. And the added treat is that the actress who plays Kitty also stars as the Danish Queen in RA. Her lover is also played by the actor who was Le Chifre in a previous Bond film. But I'll need a diagram if I keep going. V-A, thank you again for your wonderful and meaningful review in our last post. Now, let me know if you've seen any of these. And if you fancy a good bodice ripper as much as I do (Kate and William aside!)
Ottoline
12/3/2012 05:36:59 am
Re "corsets, big diamonds, British accents or foreign languages" -- how about the real thing, which is not as flashy but all the more fascinating: I just read the latest book on Susan Mary Alsop, "American Lady," which is not as good as "My Three Fathers," by her son Bill Patten. It all starts with "To Marietta from Paris, 1945-1960," published in 1975, which was given to me by my mother way back then. She loved the bios of all those WWII folks (Churchill, Duff and Diana Cooper, Susan Mary and Alsop, who SM married after Patten died). Susan Mary wore couture right after WWII from the big-time Paris houses -- they lent dresses to her because she was so thin and was out and about at all the influential places.
grannyj
12/3/2012 06:53:27 am
Ahem...I love bodice rippers.
Ottoline
12/3/2012 07:27:06 am
Oh, good: let's go together. I'll bring the bootleg popcorn.
grannyj
12/3/2012 07:51:43 am
Sounds good. I'll be there. Hope that nice rich buttery smell doesn't give us away!
Laura Novak
12/3/2012 09:58:09 am
It truly is unusual for me to go to the movie theater. We support our local store which I feel good about. And of course it's cheaper. But for some reason, this trifecta of movies came about and I couldn't be happier to have seen them on the big screen. In it's own way, there is something to be said for sharing an experience with an audience. After Hitchcock, which looks like a bucket of fun, I'll retire and return to my living room or my laptop and once again only watch movies that way. Until Mary emails me and we head off to one of our small, local, art houses. But for me, the film had better be good and have good costumes/accents/etc. for me to pay top dollar.
Laura Novak
12/3/2012 10:00:24 am
And Otto, I feel the same way entirely. I love the period pieces, both seeing them on film and reading about them. I read about the Mitford sisters a few years back. And read about a lot of obscure royalty many years ago. William Shirer and Harrison Salisbury were my idea of vacation reading (even though those were rougher subjects.) This is why I love Downton Abbey so much. And Gosford Park. Actresses and actors from both appear in AK. Love the cross pollination of the British acting class.
Up
12/3/2012 10:26:13 am
I adore a good bodice ripper, and I love to see movies in a theatre. More exciting, and no little people waking up to ask for a glass of water. But I'm fortunate to have several good art house theaters close by.
Ottoline
12/3/2012 11:54:32 pm
I AM interested in the Mitford sisters, esp Debo, the youngest. Has anyone read "Wait for Me"?
Ivyfree
12/4/2012 01:17:11 pm
I've read "Wait for Me" which I found interesting but while I usually have to find several faults before I pan a book, I could not get over her enthusiasm for hunting, which she referred to several times.
V-A
12/3/2012 09:51:31 pm
ahem. I think maybe I'm too much of a prude to love a good bodice-ripper. My favorite romantic movie of all time is PERSUASION, a Jane Austen film, and I can't even remember if they ever even kiss in it! You're much more of swinger than I am, Laura-- but that doesn't surprise me at all!
Ottoline
12/4/2012 01:44:55 am
One of my fave love stories that is not a bodice-ripper is "A Town Like Alice," both book and PBS movie.
Laura Novak
12/4/2012 02:42:49 am
Up, thanks for reminding me about Young Victoria. Not sure why I haven't seen it yet. But I also keep putting off the Madonna film on Wallace and Edward (David.) The costumes look divine, and who doesn't love that story line? But I am loathe to put $$ in Madge's pocket.
Ottoline
12/4/2012 02:06:30 pm
Madonna's "W.E." seems to have been panned. Why look at Madonna's version of the clothes and story, when you can see and speculate upon the real thing, which is amazing and full of angles, while Madonna's lower-class+rock-star opinion of it all holds zero interest for me. Laura: Wallis, not Wallace!
V-A
12/5/2012 12:41:55 am
Otto, did you see Persuasion? It was a BBC tv show that turned out so successful they released it as an art film. It is dark, like you point out, as if it really happened in that period. It's a small film, but Kieran Hynes was the male lead and I totally fell for him. Now he just plays villains and heavies.
Laura
12/5/2012 05:02:38 am
You're right, of course: Wallis. I know that, yet the brain does its own thing sometimes. Well, more often these days!
Laura Novak
12/4/2012 02:44:51 am
But perhaps my favorite all time AK was with Helen McGrory (sp?) who is a fabulous actress but only seems to get off beat or small roles in films. She is in Skyfall as a government minister who questions M. She was a lead in a fabulous PBS show about a trial jury and the relationships they developed. Meantime, she will always be my favorite Anna. The right age and depth. It was a little difficult to accept Keira K. in the role.
Cyn
12/4/2012 10:22:32 am
Laura, Is the Helen McGrory AK, the PBS production that was aired in the late 70s or early 80s? If not do you or anyone remember it?
Laura Novak
12/5/2012 05:00:47 am
Yes, Cyn, that's the one I was referring to. Do you remember it? It was fabulous and I want to find it to watch again.
V-A
12/5/2012 12:45:20 am
Not exactly a bodice-ripper, but one of my all time favorites is ENCHANTED APRIL. Very romantic and pretty and still sharp. About what happens to 1910s (?) English people when they let loose in Italy. There is romance but there is also a beautiful evocation of women's friendships.
Laura
12/5/2012 05:04:16 am
Holy Cow I love this new reply feature!!! V-A, I too love Enchanted April. Joan Plowright never achieved the adoration or fame of Dame Maggie, did she. But what a powerhouse she was in that film.
Ottoline
12/5/2012 02:27:19 am
Oh, wow, some serious free viewing ahead for me.
Ottoline
12/5/2012 04:04:06 pm
O.M.G. -- I just watched "Enchanted April" on the link above. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for steering me to it. (part 5/9 is missing from the link above, but no matter). Just as a tiny symbolic blip, near the end, Joan P uses the word "presently" correctly -- like a special little greeting to me, because it is one of the little gremlins that I have a lifelong irritation with (presently = "in a moment," not "at present").
Laura
12/6/2012 02:52:50 am
I too am a stickler for the true meaning of "presently." It's nice to find someone else who understands the meaning of it. :-) And so glad you found something new to watch! Ah, the joys of sharing. 4/12/2013 07:25:51 pm
6/26/2013 03:51:57 pm
I too saw the Royal Affair and the Anna Karenina. I am happy to know that there are people out there who enjoy historical movies as much as I do. I think we all should meet and start getting to know each other. Comments are closed.
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Laura NovakReporter, Author, Blogger, and Mother...
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