That two girls are too many, three's a crowd, and four you're dead
My sleep schedule has gone so far off the rails, I'm not even sure what time zone I'm in anymore, but I don't think it's the one I live in.
Yesterday I tried to take a sort of mental health break, finishing my work in the afternoon and then spending the rest of the day reading Henry Green's Back (1946) and watching John Cromwell's Caged (1950) and a serial and a half of Sapphire & Steel (1979–82) with an interlude of returning books to the library and making rice pudding. I would like to write about all of these things; they were differently great. I may just stare at more Sapphire & Steel instead.
I have decided that my personal best mode of dealing with white supremacists going around invoking Odin as a hate symbol and generally misunderstanding the Vikings is to go around invoking Loki as a queer symbol and talking a lot more about seiðr.
Courtesy of![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moon_custafer: I may be in the wrong country to catch a theatrical screening of Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016) tomorrow night (watching movies for people's yahrzeits is just as valid as for their birthdays), but it looks like it will be coming to TCM. Hurrah.
P.S. Has anybody on this friendlist seen the 1977–78 ITV adaptation of Joan Aiken's Midnight Is a Place (1976)? I just discovered it exists; I like its setting of "Denzil's Song" and it's got David Collings, but I can't tell anything else about it except that it seems to have aged up Anna-Marie.
Yesterday I tried to take a sort of mental health break, finishing my work in the afternoon and then spending the rest of the day reading Henry Green's Back (1946) and watching John Cromwell's Caged (1950) and a serial and a half of Sapphire & Steel (1979–82) with an interlude of returning books to the library and making rice pudding. I would like to write about all of these things; they were differently great. I may just stare at more Sapphire & Steel instead.
I have decided that my personal best mode of dealing with white supremacists going around invoking Odin as a hate symbol and generally misunderstanding the Vikings is to go around invoking Loki as a queer symbol and talking a lot more about seiðr.
Courtesy of
moon_custafer: I may be in the wrong country to catch a theatrical screening of Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016) tomorrow night (watching movies for people's yahrzeits is just as valid as for their birthdays), but it looks like it will be coming to TCM. Hurrah.P.S. Has anybody on this friendlist seen the 1977–78 ITV adaptation of Joan Aiken's Midnight Is a Place (1976)? I just discovered it exists; I like its setting of "Denzil's Song" and it's got David Collings, but I can't tell anything else about it except that it seems to have aged up Anna-Marie.
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I see zero need for embarrassment. I only know him from Sapphire and Steel (and B7), but that sounds like a delightful television oeuvre, and one that should be appropriately celebrated!
(... and Wikipedia tells me there's a highly-acclaimed recording of him reading the ghost stories of M. R. James. I may need to acquire this.)
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<3
The thing with David Collings and his improbable deaths is that he came out of virtually nowhere (from AmDram into Rep) into the lead role in an ITV 1964 adaptation of Crime & Punishment. So, in short, he got type-cast as Raskolnikov and the results are splendidly entertaining, until somewhere in the mid 1980s when he starts being almost normal, barring the odd bit of spaghetti on his head for Doctor Who.
He also wanders round London in a mask stealing girls' hair, played an evil Bertie Wooster, and got turned into a human bomb by aliens. I worked my way through what I could of his IMBD for reasons when I was very ill a few years ago, and it was highly entertaining. He was tortured in the Tower for being a clueless Tudor traitor twice in two years by the BBC. Oh, and he was the PR guy for a cannibalistic chocolate factory. I was not bored, which was the point. But Silver is the best, of course!!
... and Wikipedia tells me there's a highly-acclaimed recording of him reading the ghost stories of M. R. James. I may need to acquire this.
I have half of it! (It'[s in two volumes). It's pretty good, so good luck with that.
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This is reminding me strongly, if somewhat more surrealistically, of the time
[edit] I meant to ask, do you like his Raskolnikov?
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I missed this before - I am sure I would if I could see it! It was part of ITV's Play of the Week strand, and all I've found out so far is that it may exist, or some clips from it may survive, but it was made by Rediffusion who were one of the ITV companies that got merged/bought out and so they have a very bad track record for surviving stuff. (Because of this aspect, ITV stuff is often even more badly hit by burnination than the BBC and it went on for longer. HOw reliable it is, I don't know, but apparently Sapphire & Steel only narrowly survived wiping after ATV was bought by Central.)
However, there is a tumblr that posts TV Times covers and it posted an amazing cover from it.
(Oh, and apropos of nothing, except I found it when looking for the pic, I once also found a review in The Stage from 1959, reviewing some Brighton AmDram. A 19 year old David Collings was in it and they slated him for being "too whimsical"!)
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Yikes. Lost TV always feels like insult to injury—I ran into it hard a few years ago when I was discovering Peter Cushing and the fact that most of his television work was either never recorded or does not survive or is the landmark 1954 BBC Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is groundbreaking and still worth seeing and it is generally agreed that the repeat performance that made it into the archives was not as good as the first night that just spilled out into people's homes and memories.
but apparently Sapphire & Steel only narrowly survived wiping after ATV was bought by Central.
While I recognize it would have been thematically appropriate for the show to have been lost to time, I'm really just as glad it wasn't.
However, there is a tumblr that posts TV Times covers and it posted an amazing cover from it.
You're right. He's coming unglued right off the bat. And in a still image, too. Nice work!
A 19 year old David Collings was in it and they slated him for being "too whimsical"!
Aw. Fortunately he would be appreciated in his own time.
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Me too! It's one that's anecdotal, so may not be true, but what is true is that after Central took over ATV, they weren't showing anything made by ATV and it took some persuading before they'd agree to broadcast the only-just-finished A6.
Yikes. Lost TV always feels like insult to injury—I ran into it hard a few years ago when I was discovering Peter Cushing and the fact that most of his television work was either never recorded or does not survive
Lost TV is heart-breaking. As a Doctor Who fan, I was familiar with the facts and v sad about lost DW episodes, but the rest was just academic. Now that I'm watching old TV, it just keeps coming back and hitting me. I can understand people thinking cheap family SF stuff wasn't worth keeping - DW was much-loved but never highly regarded by critics - but then you realise that, no, they junked everything routinely without checking that it existed, because of Equity rules about repeats, the shift from b&w to colour, and just safety and storage space, because film was a fire hazard and videotape was so valuable they wiped stuff and recorded over it. They junked classic serials and soaps with seemingly equal abandon - lots of the BBC's 60s output contained some of the only adapations of things ever made... and I'll just shut up before I start weeping over non-existent shaky old TV that I would give a great deal to be able to see.
There is a hope that C&P might exist, though, but I'd need to go poking in the lists to see what the current opinion is and I try not to do it too often because it's frequently so depressing.
You're right. He's coming unglued right off the bat. And in a still image, too.
Nobody can fall apart like David Collings, heh. Or be whimsical.
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Anyway, hi!
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I've actually been watching quite a lot of 1930s British films lately, so we can maybe swap notes! (I got interested in Margaret Lockwood and then one thing led to another...) The only US one that I've seen that I think is pre-code is The Miracle Woman, but I enjoyed it. (I don't know if it was just that film, or a UK/US difference, but that one was already a much more modern film in many ways, whereas the UK ones I've seen seem mostly slower to shake off the silent movie.) :-)
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Margaret Lockwood is great.
May I ask what British films you've been watching lately and recommend The Ghost Camera (1933) if you haven't run across it already?
The only US one that I've seen that I think is pre-code is The Miracle Woman, but I enjoyed it.
That's one I want to see! I love Barbara Stanwyck and have enjoyed David Manners whenever he's not in a horror movie, where his personality tends to disappear.
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And then, for reasons, I started picking up some of Network's Ealing rarities releases, which are (mostly) less famous Ealing films of the 30s, 40s & 50s with four random films to a set (I try to mainly get the ones with as most 30s stuff as possible) so it's been a bit of a lucky dip and they vary highly, but I kind of enjoy them even when it's terrible. 1930s filmland is an unexpectedly fun & calming place to visit every now and then. I have been keeping an eye on BBC2's Sat morning habits of repeating old film and saw The Thirty-Nine Steps as well that way (plus, Stage Door, my second US 1930s one, also v enjoyable.)
What I can say so far is that The Lady Vanishes is the best (<3<3<3), but I also very much enjoyed Laburnum Grove, Bank Holiday and The Thirty-Nine Steps & Return to Yesterday, so mostly I rather predictably like stuff that's fun and by Carol Reed and Alfred Hitchcock! I must definitely branch out into more US stuff - so far I've only managed Stage Door (also courtesy of the BBC) other than Miracle Woman. But in the meantime I am tempted by the fact that Network DVD are doing a similar 4-films-per-disc series of British 1930s musicals...
It's a very hit and miss way to see things, but it's also kind of addictive.
The Ghost Camera does indeed sound like something I would enjoy. I've tracked down a DVD of it and added it to the wishlist in the hopes that it gets cheaper at some point. (At least it's got a R2 release, maybe multi-region, it looks like that kind of thing. I'm very frustrated by how many old British films only have a R1 release, which is just mean!)
That's one I want to see! I love Barbara Stanwyck and have enjoyed David Manners whenever he's not in a horror movie, where his personality tends to disappear.
Aw, I enjoyed it, I have to say, but then I kind of generally enjoy the 30s stuff, so I don't know whether I'm a reliable guide or not. Barbara Stanwyck was great! I definitely want to see more of her. And David Manners was very tropey and pretty in it.
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Nice! You have some very good box sets in your life.
What I can say so far is that The Lady Vanishes is the best (<3<3<3), but I also very much enjoyed Laburnum Grove, Bank Holiday and The Thirty-Nine Steps & Return to Yesterday, so mostly I rather predictably like stuff that's fun and by Carol Reed and Alfred Hitchcock!
I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
But in the meantime I am tempted by the fact that Network DVD are doing a similar 4-films-per-disc series of British 1930s musicals...
I repeat my comment about box sets. Go for it. I'm less familiar with British 1930's musicals of the 1930's than I am with American, but everything I've seen with Jessie Matthews has been great. (Okay, I've seen two things with Jessie Matthews, but they were both great.)
(At least it's got a R2 release, maybe multi-region, it looks like that kind of thing. I'm very frustrated by how many old British films only have a R1 release, which is just mean!)
It does seem to miss the point. DVD region codes are the Devil.
Aw, I enjoyed it, I have to say, but then I kind of generally enjoy the 30s stuff, so I don't know whether I'm a reliable guide or not.
In my case you are likely to be. Those are the decades I know the most about in film. (This is apparent from my Patreon, which is the only tag I'm afraid I can point you at. I keep thinking I should go through my journal and put in some basic tags for movies or actors or directors, but that would be thirteen years' worth of entries and then I have to stop thinking about it.)
Barbara Stanwyck was great! I definitely want to see more of her. And David Manners was very tropey and pretty in it.
Films with Barbara Stanwyck that I've actually written about appear to be Baby Face (1933), Night Nurse (1931)—which I love unreasonably—Double Indemnity (1944), and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), but I would also throw Remember the Night (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), Ball of Fire (1941), and East Side, West Side (1954) onto the recommendations heap. David Manners is wonderful along with the rest of the cast in The Last Flight (1931), very funny in Crooner (1931), sadly left his personality at home in Dracula (1931)—but that movie has Dwight Frye, so nobody cares—and looks like he's having fun in Lady with a Past (1932), which is a mess, but I'm really fond of it anyway. He's in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), but I did not notice because I was watching Claude Rains. He's just kind of there in The Black Cat (1934) as well, but again nobody cares or notices because of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and a legitimately weird and nightmarish plot. I also keep forgetting he's in The Mummy (1932).
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Hee, thanks for the enabling! I am mainly hesitating because a) I want more old 70s telly too and b) I am waiting for Network to do one of their marvellous sales, because they haven't had one yet this year & the Ealing sets go down to £5 a shot, with no p&p when they do!
DVD region codes are the Devil.
Aren't they just! Some old stuff is multi-region, or region-free, though, but it's unfortunately not always obvious from seller information.
And so many films! At least I won't run out of stuff to watch. Aside from Margaret Lockwood, I'm mainly being a bit almost deliberately lucky dip in my approach - the Ealing rarities, what BBC2 and charity shops provide, as it's quite fun - and then I suppose I'll have a better idea of what things I want to track down more deliberately. More Barbara Stanwyck, definitely, though.
My reviews of these are fairly short and frivolous, often with gifs. (Sometimes I do have more I would like to say, but I don't always have much brain going spare for such things.) However, if you would like to see, my 1930s, 1940s and 1950s tags are almost 100% for films (as British telly doesn't really exist much before 1960 anyway). But if you are interested, here are the entries for: Miracle Woman & Stage Door, It Happened in Paris, Autumn Crocus, The Dictator & Secret Lives, Three Men in a Boat, The Bailiffs, Loyalties & Laburnum Grove, The Silver Darlings & The 39 Steps, The House of the Spaniard, The Beloved Vagabond, Return to Yesterday, Lorna Doone, Lease of Life & Calling the Tune, The Ware Case & The Shiralee, Cheer Boys Cheer & A Honeymoon Adventure, Meet Mr Lucifer & Cheer Boys Cheer, Bank Holiday and The Lady Vanishes.