A Few Of My Favorite Bodice Rippers

12/3/2012

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 08:36:59

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.

I wonder if anyone else is into that period? The behind-the-scenes story and the local color of that time/place are pretty riveting.

I am longing to go to the movies now, per V-A's great post and these 2 movies too. It's just not one of my habits anymore -- the real movies -- because there is so much great free stuff right here on my laptop (incl better popcorn!). And you get so spoiled, being able to rewind and catch that bit of dialogue or see some special scene over. Or see the whole thing twice. And right when one might otherwise be having insomnia. Pretty amazing world these days.

grannyj

12/3/2012 09:53:27

Ahem...I love bodice rippers.
I agree with Ottoline- I have not been to the movies for longer than I can remember- and between you and V-A- I am all pepped up and ready to go.

Ottoline

12/3/2012 10:27:06

Oh, good: let's go together. I'll bring the bootleg popcorn.

grannyj

12/3/2012 10:51:43

Sounds good. I'll be there. Hope that nice rich buttery smell doesn't give us away!

Laura Novak

12/3/2012 12:58:09

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 13:00:24

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.

12/3/2012 13:26:13

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.

My all time favorite is the PBS remake of Jane Eyre starring Ruth Morris and Toby Stephens. I had no idea one might need to fan oneself over Jane Eyre.

If you are interested in the Mitford sisters, look for the Masterpiece production of Love in a Cold Climate.

Bright Star was a lovely film, for the wardrobe as much as the romance. It was about Keats' romance with a dressmaker. Young Victoria was also charming.

Ottoline

12/4/2012 02:54:32

I AM interested in the Mitford sisters, esp Debo, the youngest. Has anyone read "Wait for Me"?

http://strainedconsciousness.blogspot.com/2010/12/wait-for-me-by-deborah-mitford.html

I love the wallpaper-as-curtains story re her wedding.

Ivyfree

12/4/2012 16:17:11

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

12/4/2012 00:51:31

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 04:44:55

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 05:42:49

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.

Meantime, thanks for that book note Ottoline. I recall that Deb of Devonshire had to move out due to the entail. The very thing that is the fuel of Downton Abbey. And I had forgotten all about a Town Like Alice.

Ottoline

12/4/2012 17:06:30

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!

My understanding of Debo's departure from Chatsworth is that of course upon her husband's death her son inherited all and his wife became Duchess, and Debo became Dowager Duchess, an arrangement known to all, all the time. And Debo amiably moved to smaller digs in the village, or so she says. The deal with Downton is different, in that there was no male heir, plus Cora's Dad stupidly let her sign her entire fortune over to the estate as a condition of marriage (thinking she would surely have a son), but she did not, or at least not a live one.

While I'm being cranky, I want to note that in looking at these trailers, they all waaaay too brightly lit, way too rich, clothes way too new and perfectly ironed. Of course, that's what we want to see. But did anyone see the 10-hr Soviet version of "War and Peace," made about 40 yrs ago? Candlelight only, no excessive make-up, clothes often wrinkled -- reminds the viewer that the past was not a Hollywood set, and esp not a perfect Marchant/Ivory set, in spite of hot and cold running illiterate peasant servants. I recall 5 of the main women huddled in a candle-lit circle, embroidering petit point they could barely see, the edges of the grand room all in spooky shadow, hairdos without hairspray, lots of other clues to remind us that it was long ago.

V-A

12/5/2012 03:41:55

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 08:02:38

You're right, of course: Wallis. I know that, yet the brain does its own thing sometimes. Well, more often these days!

I have a book on English country houses and Deb and her Chatsworth are in there. Personally? I'd rather be the dowager in the little cottage by the lane. Could walk to the village and not worry about the family pile falling down all around one's heels.

Laura Novak

12/4/2012 05:44:51

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 13:22:32

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 08:00:47

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.
Hey, I like Weeby's new reply feature!!! It's brand new!!!

V-A

12/5/2012 03:45:20

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 08:04:16

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 05:27:19

Oh, wow, some serious free viewing ahead for me.

Persuasion, but not the BBC version, which I can't find.
-------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8j6YCtScqM

A Town like Alice
-------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trJxV9909IE

Enchanted April
--------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xWzjYSRGfY

Anna Karenina with Helen McCrory
--------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiSlkv-2AMw

Cant find W.E., Young Victoria.

Ottoline

12/5/2012 19:04:06

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").

I reserve the word "enchanting" for v few things -- like the scent of lily of the valley. This was like that. Once, again, thank you!

Laura

12/6/2012 05:52:50

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.

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6/26/2013 18:51:57

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.

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A Few Of My Favorite Bodice Rippers

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