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By words that just hang in the air and stories that aren't going anywhere
I cannot say that I am going to town on the free channels of the Roku, because as of late I have been so exhausted that I am watching fewer movies than usual, but I am fascinated by TVTime because it gives me access to a remarkable number of British films which have been otherwise difficult to impossible to find—noirs, musical comedies, the aforementioned quota quickies—so long as I am willing to watch them at a quality that gives pirated media a bad name. It reminds me of the early days of Netflix and YouTube and I keep expecting to discover one evening that it's all been pulled on grounds of massive rights sketchiness, but in the meantime it's enabling me to pursue several avenues of exploration that until now had obliged me to wait on the hazards of Criterion and TCM and once upon a time the local arthouses. I am still out of luck on a couple of particular titles, of course, and I am dead out of luck when it comes to finding a couple of source novels in my local library, which would be less annoying if I could find them on my local internet. I'm not entirely sure what I'm researching and am not asking for suggestions, but I'll report back if it resolves into anything more complicated than comparative literature. If nothing else, I had never thought of John Mills as a noir-identified actor like Eric Portman or James Mason, but I've just seen him in a second example after The October Man (1947) and there's at least a third on my radar. I suppose when you are a national archetype, it's an unavoidable phase.
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Also: if you coincidentally ever wanted a list of obscure British films of interest, I might be able to come up with some if I can find my brain, because I rarely watch the major ones. (I still want you to tell me what I should think of The Third Secret, if they have it. I dn't know! I apparently should have watched Psycho first, and I'm not watching Psycho yet because, unlike TTS, it does not not have my man popping in to look concerned for two minutes in a corridor (no moustache, amazing). XD)
(I mean, in all seriousness, though, I have been slowly watching my way through the Ealing Rarities collection that Network offers, which means I have seen little-known 1930s and 40s Brit film. I just haven't seen so much well-known 30s and 40s film to know how it rates by comparison, so may be an unreliable barometer.)
Anyway, have fun! ♥
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As far as I can tell, she. Emery Bonett in private life was Felicity Winifred Carter, whom I hadn't encountered under that name, either.
but not a copy of A Girl Must Live. Which, shame, because it sounds caramel bananas.
That's one I'm looking for! The others are Alec Coppel's A Man About a Dog (1947) and Mr. Denning Drives North (1950). The Internet Archive was able to help me out with Nigel Balchin.
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I really like him. He was not one of the very first actors I followed when I began to pay attention to movies fifteen years ago, but he was close. In December,
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Thank you! (Some of it is crackly! It is digitally ridiculous! It strongly aids the sense of video piracy!)
Also: if you coincidentally ever wanted a list of obscure British films of interest, I might be able to come up with some if I can find my brain, because I rarely watch the major ones.
I always take recommendations. You may have noticed I do not avoid obscure things myself.
I still want you to tell me what I should think of The Third Secret, if they have it. I dn't know! I apparently should have watched Psycho first, and I'm not watching Psycho yet because, unlike TTS, it does not not have my man popping in to look concerned for two minutes in a corridor (no moustache, amazing).
A full two minutes and no facial hair! I will have to keep an eye out. (I watched all sorts of post-Psycho thing before I finally got around to Psycho, which it fortunately turned out I loved and do not need to make compete for affection with Peeping Tom. Which I also saw first.)
I mean, in all seriousness, though, I have been slowly watching my way through the Ealing Rarities collection that Network offers, which means I have seen little-known 1930s and 40s Brit film.
Totally tell me your favorites! That sounds great.
Anyway, have fun!
So far, so good!
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Ha, that's marvellous! I mean, it's not but it is. XD
A full two minutes and no facial hair! I will have to keep an eye out. (I watched all sorts of post-Psycho thing before I finally got around to Psycho, which it fortunately turned out I loved and do not need to make compete for affection with Peeping Tom. Which I also saw first.)
The Third Secret is a thing that I found very interesting/weird/good in several ways, but was not at all sure what to make of ultimately, but it was specifically made by director Charles Crichton in response to seeing Psycho and so I'd be very curious as to what you'd make of it, because you would have more context for the conversation it's part of. But making sense of a random film for me is not actually a compelling reason for anyone else to watch it! It's an odd film because it got massively cut down (how JM is still in it at all, idk; I suppose because otherwise they'd have had to tell Paul Rogers he had landed entirely on the cutting room floor), so even if I did have context, maybe it would still seem weird? It's 1960s psychological-thriller, too, which obv comes with its own warning, but it's also really interesting and the central relationship between a murdered psychiatrist's teenaged daughter (Pamela Franklin) and the TV reporter who is also one of her father's patients (Stephen Boyd) was the real selling point. That and it is, I think, very pretty (to use the technical term). (I talked about it here when I first watched it, although I think I sound more negative about all three of those films than I was. I loved Private Potter in every way, apart from the extraneous subplot that wasn't in the original TV play. And the fake eyebrows. The moustaches, too, but moustaches fade beside terrible fake eyebrows.)
Anyway, I lost a lot of time having fun re-reading old posts while going back through some tags for that one, so I will come back later and give you my recs list of Ealing Rarities (none of which contain JM! They are entirely JM free!)
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I find it a bit hard to judge them because while I have favourites and ones that I definitely didn't like and things, I am generally just so charmed by the whole vibe and existence of the little 1930s Brit films that I am probably an unreliable source. (Some of them aren't 1930s - they are a random collection and mostly 1930s-40s but you get the odd 1950s ones, too.)
Anyway, the standouts:
Laburnum Grove (1936) - probably the single best film on any of these sets (which are usually not top drawer stuff for the most part), so you may have seen it already.
The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947) - stars Googie Withers who is just wonderful in it. Period drama about an Edwardian woman running a farm with masses of location filming of real agricultural workers just at the time things were about to change forever. (There's a really unfortunate subplot with her sister played by Jean Kent that stops me from giving it top marks, but otherwise it would have them.) There is a surprisingly distressing amount of harm to sheep!
Secret Lives (1937) - this is a really interesting WWI spy drama about a woman (Brigitte Horney) who gets dragged into espionage and the cost of it ever after. (But because it is a 1930s film they still have time for a tropey marriage of convenience bit in the middle!)
Cheer Boys Cheer (1939) I do not know if this is actually as good as I thought it was or it just had the luck of being the first one I watched (and after Meet Mr Lucifer, a not-good 1950s film, which only redeems itself because it has Barbara Murray and Gordon Jackson) but it is a comedy about rival beer companies, starring Nova Pilbeam and Peter Coke as Margaret and John, the daughter and son of the two company owners. John needs reforming and Margaret is prepared to crash the car at high speed until he does (this somehow works for them). There is some actual spanking that happens, but I was ok with it because Margaret's response is to bring a spanner to threaten him with next time they meet. Also there was Edmund Gwenn, but Margaret's love of speed is the star of the film. It is a random one, though. It just pleased me very much at the time.
Return to Yesterday (1940) - let down by a romance plot in the middle, but since the film isn't very whole-hearted about that anyway, (the female lead ends up with her original boyfriend anyway!) what's left is a really fun thing about Clive Brook as a runaway jaded Hollywood star winding up in a small town rep production, and there's also May Whitty in the cast and I found it really fun and delightful.
The Shiralee (1957) - this is somehow an actual film made by ealing in Australia in the 1950s? Anyway, it was pretty good - about a swagman (Peter Finch) lumbered with his five year old daughter, but v kitchen sink-ish (as much as the OUtback can be), and not sentimental.
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The Ware Case (1936) #1 in the category of idk what this is or what it's trying to do but it was a ride and it had Clive Brook in it. What I wrote at the time was I was unsure what to say about The Ware Case (1938), but it turned out someone had already written exactly my review (only with more seriousness and intelligence etc.) here, but especially this bit: Difficult to categorise, and with an uneven balance of comedy and tragedy around its central (and most interesting character), The Ware Case is never dull. Because, yes; despite it not knowing what it wanted to be, the cast was good and I would watch it again while trying to figure out what they actually wanted to do with it, and enjoy it all over again. It's about... well, until I figure out what they were doing with it, other than a left-over PG Wodehouse character who won't pay his bills, may be an egotistical bastard and a murderer or possibly just an egotistical bastard who finally does something noble (ish). I DON'T KNOW. (suicide warning if you need one).
(Also in this category The Dictator (1935) and Lonely Road (1936) (although with Lonely Road you need to be prepared - as I was Not - for the fact that after being perfectly fine, some random doctor character pops up at the end and spoils the whole thing with a sexist joke as a last line. *shakes fist at unnecessary bad last lines* If a person knew it was coming and it's not as if it's even Clive Brook's character, they might then think more kindly of the film.) The Dictator is more out there (it's all fun and games till someone loses their head, absolutely) and LOnely Road is nice for having Victoria Hopper & Clive Brook in a mystery plot, but like I said, ending goes a bit wtf even apart from the last line.
Lease of Life (1954) - you might have already seen this one?? It has Denholm Elliott in and is somehow in colour. A vicar (Robert Donat) is given only a short time to live and has to work out what to do with that & life & his faith. It's v low-key but suited me at the time I watched it. I liked the location filming in Beverley, which was v unusual to see.
The Beloved Vagabond (1936) - this is a entirely questionable thing about Maurice Chevalier kidnapping a child and wandering about France with him and then they pick up a wee Margaret Lockwood and it's v dodgy and also very happy-making and wee Margaret Lockwood is completely adorable. (#1 in the category of "It was terrible. I loved it.")
(& now I need to go. I will come back with the other category of "random films I have watched for people I liked." Which are not all things I would anti-rec! XD)
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(I would totally rec you more Alfred Burke but as I've said before, all I've seen are mostly dull/bad films with him in!)
Random other recs - I know you were doing Carry Ons a while back: do watch Cabby if you ever can! (Kitchen sink Carry On of my heart. ♥)
For JM-related reasons, this means I have also watched films by Casper Wrede and other people featuring Tom Courtenay and these are all definitely interesting/good in different ways!
Otley (1968) - did you watch this already? idk, it is a spy-comedy that has dated pretty well & stars Tom Courtenay & just about everyone else from 1968, including JM, who is married to Phyllida Law in it and she looks so like Emma my brain kept breaking all the time. Leonard Rossiter turned up for 15 minutes and stole everything, but there are some other good cameos and I enjoyed the driving test section a lot.
Casper Wrede things (Casper was part of JM's group and they were very intense and earnest and intellectual and definitely slightly weird and I find I like the stuff I've found by him so far. They are sometimes slow but I feel a better persopn inside for having watched them after, if you know what I mean! It's all obscure and thinky, but they worked for me. And they mostly have Tom Courtenay in, so...)
Private Potter (1962) - this is not very long and, as I said, was based on a TV play from the previous year, starring Tom Courtney as a soldier who claims an action that is seen as cowardice is because he had a vision of God, and everyone tries to react to that. (Including JM in fake eyebrows. /weeps).
(There's also A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970) but I have not yet actually watched it, because I think a person has to be in the right mood for watching stuff set in grim prison camps, also because I am saving a last bit of JM, so I can't entirely recommend it, but it is supposed to be very good and is another Casper Wrede thing starring Tom Courtenay - and it also has Alfred Burke. they apparently all learned how to ski in Norway in between making it.) (Both of these aren't very available, though - if your new source has them, watch them! They are otherwise only available on YT if someone has them up at time of looking.)
Ransom (1975) - the last of these, which has no Tom Courtenay, sorry. It gets slated as being a not-good-thriller, but I really liked it, probably because I knew by now to expect it to be a thinky piece above anything else, and it is. Ian McShane is the terrorist & is v young & v good, and Sean Connery is a Scandinavian police officer trying to stop him in nice pullies and a scary moustache & I like what it does with its twist. (It does also have JM in; he is a minister who gets in people's way, but Casper shoots him very prettily, which I suppose is what friends are for - I like the cinematography generally in it.)
I expect you have also seen most of my Margaret Lockwood films I've watched, but if you haven't already watched Bank Holiday (1938), I love it, and it's a Carol Reed film.
Of her others, there's Love Story (1944) which is about a romance between a pianist who's terminally ill (Lockwood) and a pilot who's probably going blind (Stewart Granger), and is exactly how that sounds, except for the fact that Granger has a childhood friend & tomboy who also loves him played by Patricia Roc, who spends the whole thing wandering round in trousers and being femslashy with Margaret Lockwood and I recommend the experience. (I think the others in that set you've definitely already seen!)
(I'm going to end this comment while I look to see if there were any others.)
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Hobson's Choice (1954)
Blithe Spirit (1945) <- both EXCELLENT, but I will say more if you haven't obv.
(I have a lot of films on the DVR as recced by people, including you, but I am slow to get through them!)
I also don't know about these because they are a lot about my grudging but eternal love of 1950s/kitchen sink stuff and JM, but there's also:
Girl on Approval (1961) - this is a low-key kitchen sink starring Rachel Roberts & James Maxwell & is pleasingly female-centric, being written by a woman as a Rachel Roberts vehicle, and was the first UK film to tackle the issue of foster-children in a realistic way, so is mostly about Rachel Roberts, Annette Whiteley (the problem teen in question) & Ellen McIntosh as the social worker, with JM as male back-up. I find all of those things fascinating! Would anyone else is the question? I like it, though, RR is always good and I think Whiteley is excellent as Sheila.
The Traitors (1962) - my inexplicable spy B-movie love! (It's not inexplicable: it stars JM and Patrick Allen, lol). But idk, it's barely an hour, it's very kitchen sink spies, it's nicely ambiguous about the work the 'heroes' do, Anton Rodgers is rubbish at running a betting shop, JM goes in the swimming pool, Jack May gets murdered in a cinema and I like the soundtrack and the grimy real London location work.
Those are the obscure films I have watched and also very much enjoyed! \o/ As opposed to the ones I watched and were meh, or appalling, or all the terrible ones with poor Alfie in them. lol. (I do havesome taste left, somewhere. XD)
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I had not seen that! Cool.
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Okay, that does sound fascinating, and I wish I had an icon of Anthony Perkins to deploy for this conversation. I will make what I can of it when I find it.
It's 1960s psychological-thriller, too, which obv comes with its own warning, but it's also really interesting and the central relationship between a murdered psychiatrist's teenaged daughter (Pamela Franklin) and the TV reporter who is also one of her father's patients (Stephen Boyd) was the real selling point.
Luckily or tragically, I have had to develop a reasonably high tolerance for terrible movie psychology in order to watch several of the genres I really enjoy. I do like Pamela Franklin. (I don't dislike Stephen Boyd, I have just seen him everything from very good to apparently unable to act his way out of a paper bag which is out-acting him. Your recommendation of this movie optimistically suggests the former.) I'm just sorry so much of it was cut. And not in a decade when the footage is likely to be recovered, either.
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I may or may not be able to get hold of any of them, but I still appreciate the recommendations.
Anyway, the standouts
I have heard of several of these, but seen none of them! The Shiralee came up recently because
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I believe you have mentioned it to me before, but now as then, sold. I will watch Clive Brook in pretty much anything. It hasn't completely let me down yet.
and Lonely Road (1936) (although with Lonely Road you need to be prepared - as I was Not - for the fact that after being perfectly fine, some random doctor character pops up at the end and spoils the whole thing with a sexist joke as a last line.
The otherwise delightful Going Highbrow (1935) has one of those and it was so obnoxious that I see I mentioned it in my post. People should definitely be warned in these cases.
Lease of Life (1954) - you might have already seen this one??
I have been trying to see this one for years for the obvious reasons of Robert Donat and Denholm Elliott and it has firmly refused to turn up anywhere I have access to! I may resort to actual piracy one of these days. Didn't know it was in color, though.
(#1 in the category of "It was terrible. I loved it.")
I respect that category.
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I regret to report I can absolutely watch that one on the Roku, because one of the free channels is constantly trying to suggest it to me. I don't know what I did to it.
(I would totally rec you more Alfred Burke but as I've said before, all I've seen are mostly dull/bad films with him in!)
I don't believe he's prominent in it, but he is in The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963), which is supposed to be very good and which I have been looking for ever since running across it in discussion of Expresso Bongo (1959). Opinions not objected to, if you have seen it and have them.
I know you were doing Carry Ons a while back: do watch Cabby if you ever can! (Kitchen sink Carry On of my heart. ♥)
We saw that one! It was wonderful! My favorites are currently standing at Cleo, Screaming, Cabby, and Cowboy, with Spying and Regardless as strong honorable mentions. After that we either hit a wall or couldn't find Up the Khyber and took a break.
Otley (1968) - did you watch this already?
No, I think I have just seen your amazing gif of James Maxwell clutching an unexplained barometer.
Casper Wrede things
All sound of interest to me, with or without Tom Courtenay. I keep not being emotionally up for a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, but I have wanted to see it for some time just for the cast.
I expect you have also seen most of my Margaret Lockwood films I've watched, but if you haven't already watched Bank Holiday (1938), I love it, and it's a Carol Reed film.
I have not already seen it, but I found it on TVTime while looking for A Girl Must Live, so it is likely to happen sooner rather than later!
except for the fact that Granger has a childhood friend & tomboy who also loves him played by Patricia Roc, who spends the whole thing wandering round in trousers and being femslashy with Margaret Lockwood and I recommend the experience.
I should definitely see that.
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I remember enjoying it, but I haven't seen Blithe Spirit since before I started caring about movies, which feels like a good excuse for a rewatch. Hobson's Choice is one of the movies I love so much, I have never written about it, but I was comfort-watching it the other week.
The Traitors (1962) - my inexplicable spy B-movie love! (It's not inexplicable: it stars JM and Patrick Allen, lol). But idk, it's barely an hour, it's very kitchen sink spies, it's nicely ambiguous about the work the 'heroes' do, Anton Rodgers is rubbish at running a betting shop, JM goes in the swimming pool, Jack May gets murdered in a cinema and I like the soundtrack and the grimy real London location work.
Look, you've just made it sound great.
Those are the obscure films I have watched and also very much enjoyed!
Thank you! I appreciate this exhaustive list of which I hope to be able to find more than, like, two movies!
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I haven't seen it! I will have to keep an eye out - I have a feeling I've seen it go past on Talking Pictures before. Thanks!
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I have come to the same conclusion, basically. I haven't actively followed him about yet, but when deciding if I want to record this old film/which next vol of Rarities to get, Clive Brook will sway me in that direction. The Ware Case is, I think, an exceptional example of Clive Brook's watchability! I don't think it would have had the weirdly addictive quality it had without him. (It was like three different genres stapled together and he just went at each with a running leap. Uh. If you ever see it, I apologise for the unintentional pun.)
for the obvious reasons of Robert Donat and Denholm Elliott and it has firmly refused to turn up anywhere I have access to! I may resort to actual piracy one of these days. Didn't know it was in color, though.
It is! I watched it halfway through my second Rarities Vol in a row and was stunned: colour??? What is this? I'm not sure I approve... lol Slightly faded colour, but that suits it. It feels like a slightly faded film, ideal for the right moment and not of note at other times.
(#1 in the category of "It was terrible. I loved it.")
I respect that category.
*nods* There are times when it is the best category. And Margaret Lockwood is v cute indeed in it: proof in gifs here
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It is one of life's ironies that this is totally one of the more available things I've watched for old TV people. But my TV guide I get sometimes keeps giving it 3 stars! Maybe I misjudged it! /side-eyes that magazine hard.
We saw that one! It was wonderful! My favorites are currently standing at Cleo, Screaming, Cabby, and Cowboy, with Spying and Regardless as strong honorable mentions.
That is a good list! I would absolutely concur! I forgot to ask if you'd seen any more, but yes. I do have a soft spot for those pre-Talbot Rothwell 60s ones (Constable, Teacher, Cruising, Regardless), but yes. I once did a thing about 1950s comedy that involved me rewatching Cabby a lot, and I'm still very fond of it. It was Hattie's favourite, as well. I have a feeling Joan liked Cowboy best, also unsurprisingly.
It's not a bad place to stop, though, either, if you had to, although I hope your source comes through, if only for some of the set-pieces, like the big comedy sword fight in Don't Lose Your Head and Joan Sims getting her delivery of "My brother, the comte," past the censor, as well as the Khyber dinner party.
OK, I have watched Carry Ons far too much, my life is just misspent, lol! They were a childhood staple.
No, I think I have just seen your amazing gif of James Maxwell clutching an unexplained barometer.
It is not much more explained in the film! It's a fun one, as I said.
I keep not being emotionally up for a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich,
One day things will either get bad enough or good enough and we'll both be there. *nods* *fist!bumps*
I have not already seen it, but I found it on TVTime while looking for A Girl Must Live, so it is likely to happen sooner rather than later!
I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it the first time, but it's become the 30s film I'm most likely to rewatch after TLV.
Also, btw, I don't know if you have seen this, but I am currently watching a thing off Talking Pictures called The Assassination Bureau and it has Diana Rigg trying to stop the Assassination Bureau by hiring them to assassinate their own chairman, Oliver Reed, and then she has to tail him to report on it & they have basically been running all over early 1900s Europe blowing everything up behind them and accidentally starting WWI in the middle. Anyway, if you have not watched this, unless it does something horrible in the remaining 20 minutes, it seems to be very enjoyably absurd and I'm still not sure how I feel about the Athos/Emma Peel ship, but it is a thing apparently. 0_o
(It has no JM in it. I just saw the title and then saw the cast and pressed the button.)
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I am so great at reccing things no one can get hold of! My pleasure! *bows*
XD ♥
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Your TV guide has unique tastes.
I once did a thing about 1950s comedy that involved me rewatching Cabby a lot, and I'm still very fond of it.
It's the most human, which we were not expecting, and it was a battle of the sexes from 1963 that didn't flame out in misogyny, which was perhaps even more of a surprise. It felt like an outlier within the cycle to me, but extremely worth being fond of.
Also, btw, I don't know if you have seen this, but I am currently watching a thing off Talking Pictures called The Assassination Bureau and it has Diana Rigg trying to stop the Assassination Bureau by hiring them to assassinate their own chairman, Oliver Reed, and then she has to tail him to report on it & they have basically been running all over early 1900s Europe blowing everything up behind them and accidentally starting WWI in the middle.
I've heard of it, actually, because it was one of the last collaborations of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph, but I never have seen it! Did it survive the last twenty minutes?
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Yes, exactly. Once the 70s get all contemporary again, there are some echoes of it scattered through them, but only Cabby goes full on kitchen sink. But, then, that was Britain in 1963 for you! XD It is the only battle of the sexes thing I will watch! XD
I've heard of it, actually, because it was one of the last collaborations of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph, but I never have seen it! Did it survive the last twenty minutes?
THERE WAS AN AIRSHIP!
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Right; I must see this.
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