Song Sung Blue, The Housemaid and Fackham Hall

 

Based on the real life Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning and Thunder, Song Sung Blue is saved by a great performance from Kate Hudson as Claire. She deserved being nominated for best actress at the Golden Globes. I remeber her vividly from the 2000 film Almost Famous so that was twenty five years ago! But Hugh Jackman is as wooden as ever, only there because he can actually sing. As he did in The Greatest Showman. The script of this latest film was also pretty poor, so I was glad we had so  many Neil Diamond songs to enjoy. And I did. Not forgetting a couple of barnstorming numbers from a Buddy Holly act.

The problem with a true story is that it can be sometimes quite boring. Here we have a recovering alchoholic, single parents and a horrific motor accident that so badly injured Claire. All too true. Why could we not just have had a fictional story about a tribute act. This film is written, co-produced and directed by Craig Brewer and based on the 2008 documentary by Greg Kohs. What was surprising were the performances from the two daughters, Ella Anderson and King Princess. Somehow their engaging personalities came over really well. especially when they first meet and discuss their similar backgrounds. There are also some other good supporting roles. 

As for the critics, the LA Times said "You wont see a movie with better music or worse dialogue ...... (but) bizarrely charming". Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian called it an "undeniably entertaining true life story" and Tome Shone in the Sunday Times "it just shows reality is a poor screenwriter".

The Housemaid was basically a three hander, so quite theatrical in that it was mostly dialogue, Lots of twists and turns along the way as in all these types of movies. It reminded me of those 70's and 80's thrillers such as Fatal Attraction or Jagged Edge. I thought Amanda Siegfried was great as the wife Nina who has her ups and downs. Sydney Sweeney as Millie is not the greatest actress but seems to get a lot of exposure. Brabdon Sklenar as the husband Andrew Winchester was always creepy.

So just the one set , that large mansion in Long Island. Directed by Paul Feig and adapted from Freida McFadden's 2022 bestseller by Rebecca Sonnenshire. There is little plausability to the plot, but this "pulpy thriller" doesn't care. Surprisingly Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian gave it four stars and called it "outrageously enjoyable". Wendy Ide said it was  "plausable and preposterous". I thought it was clever when during the first part of the film you wondered for a long time who these people were. Only later to have all their back story. Not really my kind of movie, but fun in it's way. 

Fackham Hall is a comedy Downton Abbey. I thought there was far too much swearing (although perhaps there wasn't). Co-written by director Jim O'Hanlon (he should stick to the latter) and Jimmy Carr. The screenplay was packed with innuendo and a real mixed bag. The cast did not seem to buy into the script, except that is for Tomasin McKenzie as Rose Davenport. She's a fine actress who I remember vividly from One Night in Soho as well as JoJo Rabbit and Old. Even Damian Lewis unsuccessfully played it for laughs as her father. Ben Radcliffe played the joint lead as Eric and is not great even though quite personable. He has not done his future prospects any favours. The rest of the cast seemed to be unknowns and it showed. I don't think it warranted a cinematic release, but a British comedy is not to be ignored. Thank goodness for Tomasin. Some of the critics were more impressed, some not. That mixed bad again.

Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery at The Rex Berkhamsted

 

Having enjoyed the first two Knives Out movies, I had to wait until Wake Up, Dead Man arrived for it's one day showing at the Rex, Berkhamsted. As it is a Netflix production, it failed to be shown in either Odeon or Cineworld cinemas, unlike the first two. See posts of 13th December 2019 and 1st December 2022. The latest story revolves around Josh O'Connor as the assistant pastor at the isolated church of Out Lady of Perpetual Fortitde. It's the pastor there Josh Brolin who provides the body for a typical locked room mystery. There are, as in all these things, an all star cast, any one of whom could or could not be the murderer. 

This, for me, this is so much like an Agatha Christie drama. Substitute private detective Benoit Blanc (played full titlt by Daniel Craig) for any Poirot or Miss Marple story. Christie paved the way for all those detective dramas with multiple suspects. But now, most of these were made for TV, so this felt different on the big screen. For once I'm going to avoid going through the whole cast, only to say that Andrew Scott was hilarious as a fauiling writer. I found the plot was a little convoluted and the explanation was done in a flash. But this is a terrific black comedy and I did laugh a lot. There is an excellent script and sharp and clever dialogue from writer and director Rian Johnson. As Mark Kermode said in his glowing review, no-one else is making these kind of films any more.

The Weston Turville Wassail

It was on Sunday afternoon that my usual route through Weston Turville Allotments was blocked by a large gathering of people and cars. It was only after I edged my way through on the public footpath that I found a man and his dog to ask about the event. 

The Weston Turville Wassail is a popular annual village tradition celebrating the the comimg apple harvest. Dancing with music provided by Cracklewick Morris (see their facebook page). Who would have thought.

Cygnets at Weston Turville Resrvoir

 

It's not often that I can get a close up picture of the cygnets, but at the weekend they were touring the reservoir. The bright sunshine meant there were nice shadows on the water.

Two of them stayed at the far end, dipping their heads in the water.

Movies at Home - The Railway Children, The Undertaker and Sabrina

 

Here is a classic family drama from 1970. The Railway Children is based on the book by E Nesbitt and directed by Lionel Jeffries. The background to the film can be found on my post of 24th November 2025: Classic Movies on Sky Arts - Series 4 Episode 5 - The Story of the Railway Children. There is not much else to say except it is all told from the children's point of view, with our narrator being the eldest child played by Jenny Agutter. (Who I met at The Globe theatre). It was nice when at the beginning and it's Christmas, Peter gets a train for a present. I remember my own clockwork O gauge train set. 

I liked the contrast between their rich London life and the much more basic, but actually happier time in the country. The film includes all those great character actors and the exterior shots are so clear and bright. It certainly is a classic.

The Undertaker stars Paul McGann at his very best. The role suited him so well. A quiet morose bachelor, Arthur is meticulous in his work, having to cope on his own after his partner died. The film was released in 2023, but it looks like something from the sixties. It is set in Northern England sometime in that same decade. Most of the colour has been drained from the print. Nearly all of the film takes place in the shop where who should turn up but gangster Finlay Unsworth. He is played by Roger Barclay in one of the biggest casting errors I have ever seen. He would not have scared a young child. And his acting was awful. Maybe there as he was on of the producers. Fortunately there is the marvelous Tara Fitzgerald as the new assistant. She despairs when her boss agrees to arrange burials for Unsworth. And things spiral out of control. But the writing and direction by Michael Wright was top class.

The film reminded me of a similar story from the 2022 film called The Outfit that starred Mark Rylance who runs a tailor shop in Chicago. See my post 3rd March 2025.

The 1953 movie Sabrina is a Billy Wilder classic. Although I had never heard about it before it arrived on the BBC. A very clever comedy, it has an all star cast with Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Adapted from the stage play Sabrina's Fair by Samuel Taylor. There is not a lot of plot, it relies on the witty script to tell the story of the Larrabee brothers from a wealthy Long Island family and their chauffer's daughter Sabrina played by Hepburn. She is madly in love with David, the playboy of the two brothers who ignores her. Humphrey Bogart's Linus is only interested in the family business.

When Sabrina returns from two years at a finishing school in Paris, she is all grown up and suddenly the object of David's affection, although he is due to be soon married. This was all fine and quite enjoyable until the second half became quite tedious. Sabrina's relationship with Linus did not work at all. Bogart was far too old and grumpy for this role. He was obviously there for the name but was totally miscast. It need a Cary Grant type for Sabrina to change her affections. 

Some of the reviews were more positive: "fast paced, witty and engaging", "lightweight and frothy". Yes, the script was great, and I really liked Sabrina's father, the chauffer, played by John Williams, and some terrific tiny performances. The black and white cinematography by Charles Lang looked great and the dialogue first class.

My Shakespeare by Greg Doran - Parts 34 to 36

 

This is the last of the twelve posts on Greg Doran's marvelous book My Shakespeare - A Director's Journey through the First Folio. Not just a memoir but also remarkable insights into the process of staging these plays at the various theatres in Stratford. These are the final three.

34   Henry V1 Part Three (Wars of the Roses)

- 2022: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

- Broadcast to cinemas and released on DVD

In Greg's diary of 23rd April 2022: "Yesterday, I announced that I was stepping down as Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company after a decade in the job, and thirty five years after joining the company as an actor. This morning I scattered Tony's ashes in the Avon". There follows a long and poignant piece from his diary for that day.

This was the first mention of Tony's death and explains why there was the gap from June 2021 to April 2022 as mentioned before in Part 33. Greg had not directed these last two plays and that is why we only have two pages. But he's glad that they went so well under his watch. Mark Lawson in the Guardian gave the production five stars. In fact Erica Whyman had been Acting Artistic Director since Greg had taken compassionate leave to look after Tony. 

30th December 2000 - The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

35   Richard 111

- 2022: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

- Recorded live, broadcast to cinemas and released on DVD.

Greg is back in the director's chair and this will be his last play as Artistic Director. Arthur Hughes is the RSC's first disabled actor to play Richard. Greg shows him a cabin trunk where Tony kept everything including scripts of all his performances including that for Richard 111. We hear so many interesting facts about RSC productions of this play over the years. Such as when actor manager Frank Benson in 1911 made the first silent film of Richard 111 in what is now the Swan theatre. 

Greg reads Tyrant by Stephen Greenblatt that contains veiled refences to Trump and Putin. (See my review of the same book on this blog or on Goodreads). Then when the play was performed by the National Theatre of Budapest, how it had to close because of the audience's loud and long acclaim at the end; to the despair of the government.

Greg tells us that this is the longest play in the canon and that it is always cut. Greg takes out thirty percent which he hopes will come in just over two and a half hours. He describes in detail the scene that involves Arthur Hughes as Richard and Rosie Sheehy as Lady Anne (played with "ferocious fragility". And then on to other scenes described in depth and how they are worked through in rehearsal. They include when Richard is meeting Queen Elizabeth because he wants to marry her daughter, But she marries her off to Richmond instead.

Next up it's Richmond preparing for the Battle of Bosworth against the army of Richard. Greg is worried that they were in danger of over running the already long production. When he gathers the cast together before press night, he shows them a photo of himself at thirteen as Lady Anne in the Preston Catholic College production. But it's Tony who is never far away.

Note: I have seen Anthony Sher on stage three times: The Merchant of Venice at the Barbican Theatre on 28th May 1988 (see post of 21st August 2015, Greg Doran is Soliano), Travelling Light - a National Theatre production at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre (see post 30th March 2012 - gone are the days of decent plays here), and Death of a Salesman at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (see post of 4th May 2015). 

24th May 2001 - The Young Vic, London

36  Cymbeline: An Epilogue

Greg remembers when he was assistant director for Bill Alexander's 1989 RSC production that starred Harriet Walter and Nicholas Farrell at Stratford's The Other Place. And how it was so successful that it transferred from that tiny theatre to the main stage. 

Greg talks about handing over to the next Artistic Director and becoming the Artistic Director Emeritus. He leaves with some nice quotations from Washington Irving's visit to Stratford in 1815. We all have our own memories of that place.

27th July 2016 - The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Rumpus at the Reservoir

 

Yesterday on my walk past the reservoir, three more swans had arrived. The parents of the five cygnets (now fully grown) were not impressed. There was lots of flying at the newcomers who seemed to be interested in the youngsters. (I found that they do not mate until they are three or four years old and they are not yet past their first birthday.) In the photo above the cygnets are in a group on the left with four swans that include the parents on the right. No idea why they have all dipped their heads underwater. The internet is not much help. 

However, the cygnets were fine and headed for the rushes at this end of the water. It's so nice that the five keep together.

The parents were keeping a look out. It was all quiet when I returned later.