You don't come out of life, you don't get out unscathed

[sovay]

And today the urgent care appointment for which we spent the afternoon and evening running around the barn and back was spatch's. The telehealth for which we had scheduled him last night after the cold that had been stringing along for the last week flipped suddenly into his characteristic skull-lancing presentation of sinus infection should have been enough, but he encountered an unnecessarily dismissive doctor and instead I had to scramble him an appointment in person which for given values of luckily we were able to make because he was doing so badly that he was allowed out of his nine-hour shift early. The urgent care doctor was chill and competent and recognized me from a different clinic, pre-pandemic. Rob has antibiotics and we had a dinner of fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits and brussels sprouts and ranch fries from Lily P's in Kendall Square and I passed out on the couch again from not having slept the previous night. I am reading Edwin P. Hoyt's Mutiny on the Globe (1975), which my father saw in a little free library on the Cape and brought home for me on general grounds of maritime. I keep watching movies which I think will be disposable and then wanting to say something about them. Send universal basic income, please.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

*hugs*

Food, books, and movies worth talking about are at least something, although *hugs* again for the wherewithal and time to do the talking about them. ♥

ETA: I made a thing! (Although, to my annoyance I have JUST noticed that I don't think 7 out of 8 of the gifs have the aspect ratio quite right, so I may have to redo it sometime, but OH WELL.)

[sovay]

Food, books, and movies worth talking about are at least something, although *hugs* again for the wherewithal and time to do the talking about them.

Much appreciated!

*hugs*

ETA: I made a thing!

It is an excellent thing! spatch and I actually watched the movie this last week.

[thisbluespirit]

It is an excellent thing! [personal profile] spatch and I actually watched the movie this last week.

Oh, cool! I hope you liked it?

[sovay]

I hope you liked it?

Of course! spatch hadn't seen the 1948 film and liked it. I'd started with the 1948 film and liked it. It's much sparer, much more elliptical in its transmission of information, and breathes an incredible amount of emotion between the lines. I knew Jeremy Northam had an early twentieth-century face, but I'd never seen Rebecca Pidgeon before and I really enjoyed her. Nigel Hawthorne and Gemma Jones I already knew I would watch for. Cinematography and set dressing, beautifully done and also basically characters, as in good theater.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, I'm so very glad! ♥ ♥ ♥ \o/ I mean, I know you like Rattigan, and I know you are very fair to films and things in their own right, but nevertheless, it is never a given - doubly so when it is an adaptation of the same thing as a previously seen particularly beloved version. (I can certainly be unfairly grudgy to quite innocent adaptations on occasion for that. i've got better about it as I've aged, but sometimes you want all the adaptations and sometimes just one; that one.)

It's much sparer, much more elliptical in its transmission of information, and breathes an incredible amount of emotion between the lines.

Oh, first off, that is an excellent way to put it, and secondly, I'm glad to hear you say so because I suspected that was the case from both watching it and an exchange on the commentary after. (I need to watch the commentary on again, because now I've giffed it and therefore I've actually noticed visual things, I'm curious about all the doors and I expect David Mamet must say something about that. )

Anyway, re. the exchange about it being a quite terse version - They mention when Mamet was cutting things down, he tried to cut the lines where Arthur Winslow asks Ronnie twice, did he do it, to once, but Nigel Hawthorne insisted that they had to keep both times. (DM says he was right, of course.)

The other bit I do remember is that at the end where Sir Robert is talking to Catherine and stutters over his words, that it was actually Jeremy Northam fluffing his lines & then David Mamet liked it and kept it in, much to JN's distress on the commentary track. (He blames it on his dreading the photographers turning up.)

Rebecca Pidgeon was new to me as well, but I liked her too.

Cinematography and set dressing, beautifully done and also basically characters, as in good theater.

*nods a lot*

[sovay]

Oh, I'm so very glad!

And just in time, since it expired from Tubi as soon as June turned over into July. It claims to be returning in August, at which time it might be fun to write about if I have made any dent in this backlog of accumulating movies which in some cases I have semi-promised at least to mention. In compensation, I could right now be watching Wish Me Luck. I know it's the standard thing where character actors once sighted precipitate themselves suddenly out of the woodwork, but I am beginning to feel slightly stalked.

[edit] Well, that cliff was gone over two episodes ago. We are both enjoying it tremendously, even if I am preemptively worrying about Matty based partly on similarities to Alec Rabinovitch.

I mean, I know you like Rattigan, and I know you are very fair to films and things in their own right, but nevertheless, it is never a given - doubly so when it is an adaptation of the same thing as a previously seen particularly beloved version.

Approaching the material from the other direction, I hope this doesn't mean I have to reconsider watching the 1999 The End of the Affair, because I really hate the 1955 film (except for Peter Cushing) and can't say much for the novel either.

(I can certainly be unfairly grudgy to quite innocent adaptations on occasion for that. i've got better about it as I've aged, but sometimes you want all the adaptations and sometimes just one; that one.)

It took me until 2020 to accept that the 1958 A Tale of Two Cities might be valid for containing Dirk Bogarde instead of Ronald Colman! And it probably is only because of Dirk Bogarde.

Oh, first off, that is an excellent way to put it, and secondly, I'm glad to hear you say so because I suspected that was the case from both watching it and an exchange on the commentary after.

Thank you!

(I need to watch the commentary on again, because now I've giffed it and therefore I've actually noticed visual things, I'm curious about all the doors and I expect David Mamet must say something about that. )

spatch and I also picked up on that motif and would love to hear what it was doing.

They mention when Mamet was cutting things down, he tried to cut the lines where Arthur Winslow asks Ronnie twice, did he do it, to once, but Nigel Hawthorne insisted that they had to keep both times. (DM says he was right, of course.)

He was! It's important! Good for Nigel Hawthorne.

The other bit I do remember is that at the end where Sir Robert is talking to Catherine and stutters over his words, that it was actually Jeremy Northam fluffing his lines & then David Mamet liked it and kept it in, much to JN's distress on the commentary track.

Hah! Alas for Jeremy Northam, it was also the right decision to keep: it follows naturally on the physical vulnerability of really having worked himself to exhaustion on the case and even more beautifully demonstrates that he can't brush off so coolly her awareness of his emotional involvement—trying to dismiss it wittily and failing; it's even more of a crack in his sang-froid than the business with the chair and the whisky and in addition to being desperately endearing, it leads right into Catherine asking why he is always at such pains to prevent people knowing the truth about him. He couldn't have picked a better line to fluff if he'd thought about it.

Rebecca Pidgeon was new to me as well, but I liked her too.

Of course it turns out I actually saw her back at the turn of the century in State & Main (2000) on account of it also having been written and directed by David Mamet, but I have no memory of her character at all. She too had a good face for the time.

[thisbluespirit]

it's the standard thing where character actors once sighted precipitate themselves suddenly out of the woodwork, but I am beginning to feel slightly stalked.

They will do that! XD

[edit] Well, that cliff was gone over two episodes ago. We are both enjoying it tremendously, even if I am preemptively worrying about Matty based partly on similarities to Alec Rabinovitch.



LOL, whoops, unexpected twist! XD Have fun, for an SOE-related definition of fun. Worrying about Matty is a very relatable state of mind. ♥ (I want to say again, my parents let me watch it with them when I was ten. Worrying about Matty is burned right into my soul. I have no regrets, but still. I suppose it must have been pre-watershed.)

I hope this doesn't mean I have to reconsider watching the 1999 The End of the Affair, because I really hate the 1955 film (except for Peter Cushing) and can't say much for the novel either.

Well, the catch is that there is only ever one way to find out!

And, ha re. Tale of Two Cities, you can be grudgy at that one, I think that's fair. I'm pretty sure the 1958 must have been the one my history teacher made us watch while doing A-Levels in college and I hated it, although, tbf, I think I just took against the ending which was probably mostly related to my then ongoing teen love-hate affair with Dickens generally. (I still don't like Great Expectations. I kept trying again with it, and different adaptations, but at this point I have just accepted that I do not like Great Expectations, regardless of what shape it comes in. I wish I knew why, though, but you've got to draw lines somewhere. ToTC I did at least watch the BBC 1980s version with David Collings, and that was all right!)

Hah! Alas for Jeremy Northam, it was also the right decision to keep:

He would have fluffed it properly, on purpose, if they'd told him to!! XD One of the (2) JN tumblrs transcribed that bit: https://www.tumblr.com/notjustamaninahat/131905251443/very-well-if-you-choose-to-endow-an-unimportant?source=share

I think this quote is also from the commentary: https://www.tumblr.com/notjustamaninahat/131904049753/i-always-worked-on-the-principle-that-sir-robert?source=share

Btw, a thing I learned recently thanks to those blogs (answering something I was wondering about Jeremy Northam and big theatre roles), was that the (in)famous 1989 Richard Eyre uncut production of Hamlet, when Daniel Day-Lewis broke down half an hour into the performance (and has never done theatre since), they sent the understudy on, and three guesses who that understudy was? 8-o

[sovay]

[I thought I had left this comment literally weeks ago.]

Have fun, for an SOE-related definition of fun.

I read Leo Marks without anyone twisting my arm!

And, ha re. Tale of Two Cities, you can be grudgy at that one, I think that's fair.

I appreciate your support. I still haven't seen it! I just allow that it has a right to exist.

(It actually has a fantastic cast, most of whom I know from anything except Dickens: Dorothy Tutin, Cecil Parker, Alfie Bass, Rosalie Crutchley, Freda Jackson, Donald Pleasance, Ian Bannen, Alfie Bass, Christopher Lee. It just does not have Ronald Colman.)

I still don't like Great Expectations. I kept trying again with it, and different adaptations, but at this point I have just accepted that I do not like Great Expectations, regardless of what shape it comes in. I wish I knew why, though, but you've got to draw lines somewhere.

Legit. I've never clicked with David Copperfield.

He would have fluffed it properly, on purpose, if they'd told him to!! XD One of the (2) JN tumblrs transcribed that bit

Aw.

I think this quote is also from the commentary

Principle definitely achieved.

the (in)famous 1989 Richard Eyre uncut production of Hamlet, when Daniel Day-Lewis broke down half an hour into the performance (and has never done theatre since), they sent the understudy on, and three guesses who that understudy was?

Hah! I think I may even have known that. So how was he?

[thisbluespirit]

I'm finally back, with links, as threatened. :-)

Principle definitely achieved.

♥

the (in)famous 1989 Richard Eyre uncut production of Hamlet, when Daniel Day-Lewis broke down half an hour into the performance (and has never done theatre since), they sent the understudy on, and three guesses who that understudy was?

Hah! I think I may even have known that. So how was he?

My main sources for this are Jeremy Northam himself, and he's understandably negative about it, for reasons that sound pretty justified, as he went on that night not only in obviously non-desirable circumstances, but without any understudy's run for at least three weeks, while simultaneously being in rehearsal with Ian Charleson (who was already coming in to replace Daniel Day-Lewis) as Laertes, and apparently also starting to learn some other scripts as well. I'll link to the things I've got with him talking about it, but it does sound as if even if they didn't know things would get this bad, they did know there was a problem. But Jeremy Northam does tend to be not only self-deprecating but genuinely quite hard on himself, so he says he was unprepared, very nervous and stuttered for five hours afterwards; the director says he was very self-composed, lol.

It's mentioned in this article, re. Emma: https://www.tumblr.com/notjustamaninahat/99150533023/northam-is-dashing-says-emma-director-doug?source=share

This involves Facebook, but he talked about it here as part of a campaign to get fair treatment and pay for understudies in the 1990s (so he is being negative for a reason). (If you can't listen to this, as I recall, he talks about being underprepared, everyone else helping him by telling him what scene he was in, and the "understudy's nightmare" of hearing all the seats going ping after his name was announced.)

My friend Persiflage funnily enough was reading Judi Dench's Memoir/co-written book on Shakespeare & her performances, The Man Who Pays the Rent and kindly sent me this quote, because she was Gertrude in that production.

The author of this Daniel Day-Lewis bio evidently interviewed Jeremy Northam, and though his paraphrased stuff is unclear sometimes, he has some direct quotes, including him actually talking about playing the role of Hamlet (rather than just the understudy business) here, which is cool. (the link hopefully should preserve my search).

(Ironically, I have not searched for any information on this at all! All this I found either on the JN tumblrs, Pers sent me, and I found entirely by accident while looking for something else that I wasn't even meant to be looking for. I'm not complaining, but sometimes you have to work hard for things; sometimes you have to work hard to avoid things?)

Btw, talking of Hamlet, I enjoyed R&G very much! I finished it not quite as quickly as I somehow got through the Hamlet, but I liked it, yes. I'm grateful to Martin Jarvis again, because I would not have imagined that I would have found either of those things particularly easy or enjoyable on radio, and yet I did. \o/

And in the meantime: *more hugs*

[cmcmck]

You can have my sprouts! :o)

I'm one of the 16% who tastes them as unbearably bitter.

[sovay]

I'm one of the 16% who tastes them as unbearably bitter.

I also have the gene for bitter tastes, but these were pan-fried until they browned and sweetened and really delicious.

[cmcmck]

I've tried them a dozen ways and more and they still taste bitter! :o)

[thistleingrey]

Sending wishes for good health and sleep!

[sovay]

Sending wishes for good health and sleep!

Thank you! I may have slept between eight and ten hours, which would be amazing.

[vass]

*hugs*

[sovay]

*hugs*

*hugs*