laffite
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Days Won
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Posts posted by laffite
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BLUE
...as well having just taken a tab of LSD and then it was learned that everyone would do that and then ad lib their parts which made Laura Mars madder than ever so she got off at the next stop and ended up vanished anyway. Phylis' husband was the limping man having just broken his leg and they drew straws to see who would play the narrow margin although Fred and Phyliss were not good candidates having transformed themselves into a couple of fatties so they were assigned to be the strangers. They held auditions to have someone play the narrow margin and they came up with...
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Merry Christmas to you as well, *Casablancelover.*..and to *all*.
That last batch you posted, a nice group of selections.
laffite
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OF HUMAN BONDAGE
...being forced to take a steam bath in the smoking car by the script which by now had everyone concerned as there seemed to be several scripts mixed together no doubt due to some idiot in the dining care who mixed up all the gravies. So everyone sat around and smoked cigarettes until they sorted this out and then the guy name Guy got up and wondered out load what movie he was supposed to be in and then Laura Mars apologized for having wandered on the wrong set although she thought she smelled something fishy the minute she saw Fred and Phylis with apple fritters in their cheeks. Finally the director came on the scene appearing like a ghost out of the steam which was making it difficult for everyone to smoke their cigarettes and said, "Okay, here's what's what..."
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CAST A DARK SHADOW
?on the whole proceedings by warning Phyllis? husband that his life was in danger but he was so cranky he thought she was an idiot and Fred and Phyllis were in despair because they had missed their opportunity allowing her husband to exit the car and so they ended up just laughing it off and decided to board the train and all go on vacation together including Laura although she felt quite out of place in this story but that was okay. There was a guy in the cabin who asked when he supposed to go get the cigars but everybody said forget it as that will no longer be necessary. Then Phyllis? husband did something wholly unexpected, to wit, ?
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"Okay, we'll keep you on...but no more Abbie Normal mistakes, got it?"
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Here's another sleigh ride. There is about a minute of talking (not very interesting) at the beginning so I hope everyone can get through that:
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SEIZE THE DAY
?and screw his courage to the sticking point which he would have done were it not for that damn fool husband of hers breaking his leg while attempting to bludgeon Phyllis with a poker having tripped over an empty box of Hydrox cookies she had thrown on the floor. The plan was postponed and Fred and Phyllis sat sullen over SUGAR FREE Double Chocolate Fudge Sundae Supremes (after a scrumptious dinner of lettuce and bread) and lamented cruel fate thwarting best laid plans. Fred turned down a promotion and waited and soon patience was rewarded as it was learned one night that the old guy was taking the train so Fred crammed some low-carb sugar-free cookies in his suit pocket and hid in the car awaiting the signal from Phyllis who was sucking malted milk balls on the sly and soon they arrived at the train station when...
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I found it. I'll go through it again, meanwhile, I hope it stands up to the billing I gave it. Some of the screen caps are good though.
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Kingrat,
Your discussion of coded references is fascinating and should have a thread of its own.
Someone initiated a thread quite awhile back regarding coded references about if and when sexual acts were to be understood as having taken place within a story. It was quite fascinating. A number of people jumped in and posted screen caps with explanations that were just great. One movie in particular was Out in the Past. The OP, who I remember as being not a regular poster, started out by saying, "I don't want to be naive..." but took up this question. I thought the subsequent caps and posts absolutely brilliant. There was nothing salacious in the discussion, completely on the level and very mature. There is of course something obvious about sexual situations that lack the subtly of some of the things you brought up. Anyway, I wish I could find that old thread. It really hits home the idea of coded references.
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DOUBLE INDEMNITY
?and he congratulated her for her idea of a train accident since that would fall under the clause but then he was alarmed when she admitted that her daughter was beneficiary of his life insurance and that she was out in the cold which nearly caused him to spill his double chocolate marshmallow malted milk as they met at the soda fountain to discuss their nefarious plans which now included making a new policy for the male witch. They accomplished that with aplomb and the next day over raspberry eclairs and cherry cokes they devised the next step which entailed?
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*Molo,* continuing our little ride through the Royal countryside of Royal Wives, here is a little on Episode III, the story of *Jane Seymour*. All of my comments are based on the BBC drama. I do not know the actual history of Jane Seymour nor did I do any reading and so some of this may not square with the actuality. For instance, there is probably a lot more about the events leading up to Jane becoming Queen, something more than a "random" visit to Wiltshire. I would be interested in your take on this and other comments as well, not only in their own right, but because I am aware how much more knowledgeable you are about the history than I am. And I do appreciate very much your previous posts on this series and appreciate in advance if you are able to comment on this one. I'm not sure I would even go through all this if there wasn't at least one other person here who has been so forthcoming with comments and with the enthusiasm for these wonderful dramas that equals my own. That being said, if you are able to comment on this, please take your time, there is no hurry, absolutely none. No pressure, please. If you are unable to respond right away, all is not lost. I loved doing this. I think Jane is my favorite (as was with Henry as well, probably) and I think this particular episode is just stunningly good.
As you know, each disc has two episodes, so before returning this one I have, I will have a look at *Anne of Cleves*. I have seen it before but need to again and if so moved may try to write something on this one as well (although if you would like to do first honors with that one, please let me know.)
Thanks, *Molo*.
I hope all will jump in with thoughts. And BTW, for those who love drama, don't worry about spoilers. The play is so good that it has to be seen. What I say here doesn't even scratch the surface of what it's like to see the play unfold in front of you. And yet, to be true to code, I have to warn you anyways...*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS* If there is anyone out there who perchance is planning to see these dramas but have not gotten around to it yet, perhaps it would be better not to read this...just to be on the safe side. Laffite
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*The Mistress Jane at Wiltshire?fit to be Queen?*
By comparison with her two predecessors Jane Seymour is an ?accidental queen? for with her there was no negotiated sense of entitlement as in Queen Catharine (No. 1) nor any expression of unbridled ambition as in Queen Anne (No. 2) but simply being in a certain place and at a certain time---the place being Jane?s home in Wiltshire and the time being an apparent random visit by the King. It is here that Jane caught the King?s eye. Henry had seen Jane before. She had been maid-in-waiting to Queen Catharine but had subsequently returned to Wiltshire where, at the time the story of Anne Seymour begins, was apparently destined to marry one William Dormer and perhaps live out her life as a woman from an honorable family who spends her life being a good woman to husband and church. During the King?s visit there is a short conversation between Henry and Jane. He is obviously pleased with her and calls her ?my little nun.? Before being called away to speak with French ambassadors he is informed of Jane?s presumptive engagement to Mr Dormer to which he replies ?Break it.?
Jane is more or less compelled to Court where she is only too aware of the tension surrounding the pregnancy of Queen Anne and it?s implications. She knows she is next in line but she hardly thinks about it. She simply tells her friend at Court that she needs to go home because she ?misses it. I need to do the ordinary things. Weigh wool, choose flowers, feel new bread.? I believe her. That?s the real Jane. If only Queen Anne Boleyn were to have a son! Henry would forget all about Jane Seymour and rejoice in that which he wants more than anything---a male heir---and Jane would quietly leave court, marry William Dormer, and live out her life as it was probably meant to be, well outside the spotlight of history.
Fat chance.
*Jane Seymour, Queen of England*
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Early in the episode before Jane is queen we learn something important when she is forced by virtue of a loyalty oath imposed by Henry (relating to Henry?s break with Rome and the establishment of the Anglican Church) to swear that the ?Lady Mary? is not ?true issue? of Henry and therefore not heir to the throne that practically makes the poor Jane faint for having to affirm something so against conscience. Jane is played by Anne Stallybrass (love that name) who portrays Jane as a woman with an exceedingly gentle constitution, shy, unassuming, and a woman who can seem quite fragile at times. It is therefore all the more difficult for her to tolerate the contradictions that are forced upon her, especially later as Queen. There is a time when she is talking to Henry about Mary insisting that not being at Court, Mary must be unhappy ?not knowing how to keep her honor and your Grace?s good will.? But it?s the same with Queen Jane as well. She will be forever loyal to her husband and to her sovereign, but at what price? What is the betrayal of one?s own conscience worth, especially with a constitution that is Jane?
Jane died due to complications of childbirth?but the drama certainly wants the audience to believe that there might have been other factors as well...factors that touch on "realities of State and change" and how they ultimately affected her.
Had Jane became Queen in a less troubled time she could have been at relative peace and promoted her own causes. But Henry?s break with Rome was not complete and the closing of the monasteries, an imperative, was a nasty business. It was essentially a land and money grab that would once and for put down rebel Papists and provide for the realm. Frairs and monks who remained loyal to the Pope were evicted.
When poor Jane speaks out, it is abundantly clear that she cares not a whit for the politics (though she never overtly expresses this). She simply believes in the goodness of the Church. When Cromwell denounces the friars and monks for ?wicked slothfulness? Jane responds with as much vehemence as we can see from such a gentle soul, ?If you have seen these monks and friars as I have, in prisons and hospitals, among the poor, wherever there is danger and a total lack of reward?? but she has a losing argument and Cromwell, after scoring the devastating point that even Jane?s brother has benefited financially from the taxes extracted from the abbeys, sums up his winning arguments with ?You see, Madame, we are all powerless against the realities of change and State.?
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Jane has a similar but much more dramatic moment with her husband, the King, a scene in which Kieth Michell (Henry) performs brilliantly. It is his best moment so far, perhaps the best in the entire series. Jane pleads for the restoration of the abbeys and dares suggest that it is against God?s will not to do so. For the first time Henry is unkind to Jane reminding her that she has not yet been crowned (the Coronation has been delayed due to fears of the plague) and then goes on a tirade in which he denounces the abbeys and papal enclaves of the Church for abuses. Surely Henry realizes on some level at least that he is being disingenuous since these abuses have been with the church for centuries and that he only brings them up now for political reasons (just as Cromwell?s ?wicked and slothful? friars were wholly political).
Mechanical contrivances to sway the masses, the selling of indulgences, the worship of relics and graven images, he covers a number of these with a Royal hissy fit that ranks among the best during which the gentle Jane is crumbling before our very eyes. Michell gives the King a fabulous moment near the end of all this when he notices out of the corner of his eye the effect his tirade is having on Jane and without missing a beat his countenance registers a series of split-second softening around the edges that are extraordinary examples of the actor?s art. There are no frame changes, it is simply a magnificent take.
*Obey and serve*
He stammers an heartfelt apology. But once again Jane capitulates. Obey and serve at the expense of conscious. (Earlier in the story Jane says to Henry, ?I must obey my conscience!? to which he unctuously replies, ?We all must.? Kings!) Henry has a moment of Kingly vulnerability where he questions his own mental health and asks Jane for help. I wonder if he ever had a moment like that with Catharine or Anne.
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Stallybrass represents convincingly that Jane does indeed really love Henry, there?s more to it than obey and serve. There a number of moments where this is abundantly clear. There is no sign from her that she wants to be anywhere other than where she is, at Henry's side. This is interesting in view of what she has to go through. And there is no question that her sentiments are returned in kind. Is Jane his favorite? She did give him a son but it must be more than that at least if I can believe what I see. Henry is positively smitten. Throughout the story he responds to her gentleness with tenderness of his own, he almost treats her like a child. ?Jane, you are the kindest soul I?ve ever known. Why, if you had your way, my little nun, you would pardon every criminal in the realm.? ?Yes, I would,? she responds, ?I would even believe in Louis? horse.? Henry is curious and gets Jane to tell a story:
?It concerns a thief who King Louis had condemned to death, some criminal, and this man, to save his life, could within a year make Louis favorite horse talk. ?But that?s impossible,? said a friend of the thief. ?Be silent, you fool,? said the thief, ?for within a year, Louis may die, or the horse may die, or I may die?or the horse may talk.??
It?s only a story?nevertheless, such is the childlike faith and goodness of Jane Seymour.
(Is this beginning to sound like hagiography
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*A rare smile from Jane?on seeing Mary returned to Court*
Jane manages to convince Henry to bring the young Mary back to Court though she understands Mary?s retrograde status of succession (but forever hoping, I imagine) to the throne (as Mary represents the authority of the Pope) but it?s a rare happy moment for Jane. Henry actually chides Jane for favoring Mary in the line of succession over any child that she may have with him?but that?s Jane. She doesn?t respond to the politics, she responds to what she feels in her heart is right. She believes Mary should have the right to succession. And, of course, she is loyal to the daughter of her former mistress, Queen Catharine.
Young Mary, too, has to betray her conscience in the admissions she has to make with returning to reside at Court and there is quite a moving moment when Mary is seen kneeling and asking for forgiveness at the cross.
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There comes this scene of revelry, light revelry, a costume party with games, frolic among the elite, if you will?Jane becomes frightened and the scene takes on a sort of surreal, nightmarish quality for Jane.
She is thinking of the fate of Queen Anne Boleyn. There is a scene much earlier, before Jane was Queen, when she begged to leave Court because she felt Anne Boleyn blamed her for her stillbirth. It is , of course, now much later and she finds herself haunted by Anne Boleyn...
Her brother tries to talk her out of this but Jane has ?heard otherwise,? that it was ?false witness.? Jane feels guilty because she believes that she is unjustly queen (though in reality she is being used as a pawn) and that instead of being rewarded she should be punished. How bad is all this for Jane?
?I?ve sought my confessor, I have done penance, I?ve asked God?s forgiveness over and over again. I?ve prayed for it, I?ve begged for it. I kneel till my legs and knees are raw and my body fails me. I receive absolution a hundred times and still I have no waking or sleeping moment when I am at peace.?
I am not religious?but I believe I can understand the depth of this despair. In that earlier scene when she begged to leave Court she told Henry a story of her youth that ended by her saying, ?...but I knew then the terror of being out of grace.?
She is destroyed. I feel she is a victim. There is a certain poignancy to the idea that she almost lived a totally different life, a life with young Dormer, where she would have lived longer and happier, breaking that new bread and choosing those flowers. And she would have done all that...but for the glint in the eye of a King.
She is pregnant when she says ?there is no order.? We know the rest.
The last scene is a little cloying but is still satisfying. It has to do with Jane?s last wishes, wishes that Henry grants..., ?after all,? he says,
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TALK OF THE TOWN
...some more because this real estate stuff really fascinated her and he thought she was a nice girl so he took her to a soda fountain and they gazed at each other while eating banana splits and sipping chocolate malts through colored straws, the kind that were perforated at the top so you could hold your head **** while you did all that gazing. They made the sweetest couple. Then Phyllis' eyes hardened and she said let's cut the crap I know you are in the insurance business and he feigned surprise as a piece of banana got stuck on his lip that made him look ridiculous, just the type I need, she thought, and then she said, "...
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Breakfast at Tiffanys
diabetes
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FLESH
...out an audience because everyone had, in fact, taken Flo's advice and gone to hell. Left alone, Flo and Sadie decide to put on Waiting for Godiva and went through the motions of doing all this waiting and wondering all the while where they were going to get a peeping Tom since all the peepers were down in the hell so they put a notice in the papers for a peeper and finally someone came to audition who was absolutely perfect for the part but was turned down because his name was Ralph. Undeterred, Flo and Sadie decided to...
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General Yen is a fascinating character and very well played. That last scene with Babs is a gem. So sophisticated with all that small talk. Wickedly honest to scare you but then gentle as well. A bigger than life sort of fellow. Barbara is well cast and does great. The slurs were dizzying, especially in the early going. It's good that we can feel okay with Yen, at least at the end of the story.
*Fred*, I liked the way you started this thread a week and a half early. That gives us plenty of time to mark it down and then have a place to go with comments and where there will be other comments as well. I hope we could do this more often with some of the more noteworthy and interesting films.
I hate these synopses they put out. This was the following:
*An American missionary falls in love with a Chinese warlord.* Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Walter Connolly. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC
Yeah, she falls in love with him in the last scene. Why can't they say, "A young American missionary woman in China must fend for herself in a civil war." Okay, it's not as spicy but at least it doesn't give anything away since that's what the situation is at the beginning of the film.
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Edited by: laffite on Dec 15, 2009 7:53 PM for the last two sentences.
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*Brenda in The Rains Came*
Let's remember her here. Bye Brenda. RIP.
EDIT: They've never fixed this?
Edited by: laffite on Dec 15, 2009 6:31 PM
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>And I could use some excitement. 7 hours of Andreas Bocelli at my mother in law's yesterday....aaaagghhh
Aaaagghhh !
Condolences. I hope you're okay now.
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THE UNSUSPECTED
...truth dawned on them, namely, that he would work as a pearl diver in the studio cafeteria and she would be his chief scullery maid. So ambitious were they that they didn't bat an eyelash since they knew that all this would end with their names on the marquis, at least at first...but after 10 years of soap suds and pots and pans they finally said to hell with this noise and decided to open their own theater. They called it the Baxter-Hawkins and soon patrons were flocking to see their incisive dramas and scintillating performances despite the fact they both had dishwater hands. They decided to get married but when the went to the chapel the pastor told them he couldn't marry them because...
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Casablancalover, that was smashing! What a wonderful learning tool that is, a sing-along video. What gorgeous music!
I was looking for a clip from Haydn's The Creation, an oratorio like The Messiah, that I have listened to all my life. Haydn( 1732-1809) lived a long life and composed this marvelous music near the end of it. He was ill and he reportedly got on his knees every morning and prayed to God that he might live long enough to finish it. And he did. It opens with an orchestral prelude to represent chaos (chaos was never more beautiful) and then launches right into Genesis, "In the beginning..." and when they get to the verse, "...and there was light," look out, a wondrous blast from the orchestra...and that is just the beginning. Gorgeous music in the grand Classic style. I was searching for a clip that had English subtitles but couldn't find one. It ought to be as famous as the Messiah. It's wonderful music. I recommend the complete music and take the time to follow the words from beginning to end. Good work, Mr. Franz Josef Haydn!
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The Shanghai Gesture
palooka
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>I look forward to some compositions about The Christ as we move closer to His acknowledgement and celebration...
I am not a religious person. But the following never fails to please...never!
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>RICHARD III is one of the best Shakespeare adaptations, but you could also enjoy it as Laurence Olivier playing a medieval gangster. Claire plays the young widow who can't help marrying her husband's murderer.
I love the way Claire throws herself so whole-heartedly in that early great "wooing" scene. There is, for me anyway, a slight comic tone to the alacrity with which she plays it. What energy! I love watching her. She defies him and spits at him and yet, as you suggest, cannot hide from him, nor us, a yearning that is so well expressed with those little wanton looks at the end of each verbal exchange. Beautifully done.
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ROPE
?the two of them and lower the boom, quite literally in fact, with them so attached onto the dock just prior to departure thinking that they were already a tramp steamer and did not need another in the form of the formidable Miss Hawkins and so relieved were they to be rid of this quarrelsome pair they watched with amusement the battle continue with Sadie getting away and swearing off men altogether but in the meantime walking into a bar and asking a gentleman who looked a lot like C. C. Baxter to buy her a drink and who obligingly said to the bartender, ?Give her another one of these mothers,? pointing to an unspecified drink in front of him. She thought he looked like a nice man so she asked him?
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The Elgar is a great selection, Chris. I watched and listened to the whole thing. It's almost like a prayer.
As I'm sure you know already, Daniel Barenboim, the conductor, was married to Jacqueline duPre, who was famous for this concerto, and and I am aware of at least one clip of her being conducted by him done some 25 years ago, also quite moving.
For folks not familiar, the music seemed to end abruptly because Elgar began the second movement of the concerto without the usual pause and so the "ending" we see here is arbitrary.
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Re Favorite BBC Productions, Plays, TV, etc...
in Your Favorites
Posted
*Casablanca lover*: Thank you. I recall Danger UXB when it came out. It's great to be reminded of it. At the time I remember a certain morbid fascination with it. Not that I wanted to do that kind of work
Truly harrowing! I looked up The Hurt Locker and put it in my queue. Along the same lines I see, rather an up-to-date version of UXB 
. And it's got Ralph F in it. Terrific!
*DougieB*: Mapp and Lucia sounds great! Never heard of it before. And there are books too! I put the first disc on the queue.
And please no "apologies" or reservations are required for claiming to be of a certain brow. These expressions are hereby banned on this thread
. I consider myself so-called "high" in temperament (at times) but I am "low" to "middle" in everything else so these terms are blah to me. By some definitions, just watching the old classic Hollywood movies would be considered "high" so in a way we are all insufferable snobs 
in that respect. But we are wonderful. 
Laffite