Tring Book Club- The Dig by John Preston

 

There seemed to me to be two sides to this novel. The first was the actual archaeological dig in all it's fascinating initial explorations and meticulous excavation and the second, less successful was the personal relationships between the various characters involved. I felt that the description of the dig itself to be surprisingly exciting, and the methods of exposing the ship to be exceedingly well explained. I liked the way that Brown found the hard crust in the sand where the wooden ribs of the hull had been.

However, the character driven drama is pretty average literary writing. But there are the odd moments of humour, Ellen the maid is described as "not a gossip, but a natural curiosity about people". The author seemed as if he wanted to build up a fractious relationship between the original team, that included Basil Brown and Reid Moir of Ipswich Museum, and Charles Phillips of Cambridge University who hijacks control of the dig on behalf of the British Museum.

I did think that the story told by the three narrators was clever, especially as I did feel they conveyed something of their different characters, especially in the way they wrote their story. So much so, that the narration by Peggy Piggott was superb. There is also a great feature on the National Trust website: "Digging the dirt: The True story behind The Dig" and a Netflix preview on YouTube also called "The True story behind The Dig".

Poetry from Where The Crawdads Sing

 

Scattered through the book Where The Crawdads Sing are bits of poetry that has, again, stirred my interest in this form. On the 22nd July 2019 I discussed my attempts to understand the mysteries of poetry from Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook. 

This is part of what I wrote at the time: And I could not have wished for a better introduction to the mechanics of a poem. Here we have meter and rhyme and how the poets of past wrote in a strict metrical pattern. She describes iambic pentameter as in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day". A chapter on Sound takes us to Alliteration (repeating consonants as in "live and learn")  and Assonance (repeating vowel sounds), Diphthong (a sound formed by a combination of two vowels in a single syllable in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another as in "coin" or "loud" and Onomatopoeia ("bees buzz" or "the big bellied gun that belched").

Before I get onto the poetry in the book, I will start with what I remember as a child, and that was my father and his many recitations for us boys. See blog posting 8th February 2012. Starting with Ann Jupp (Marion St John Webb), Albert and the Lion and  Up'ards (by Marriott Edgar)  and Disobedience (A A Milne). I'm not sure if  those comic monologues  by Stanley Holloway  may not be classed as poems. But The Battle of Trafalgar always went down well.

On to Where The Crawdads Sing. In the book, (Page 48) it is Scupper who tells his young son Tate "Don't go thinking poetry's just for sissies" and recites a short part from The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service. Finding the full poem, I liked:

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,

With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;

Soon after Tate finds a poem by Thomas Moore that makes him think of Kya:

They made her a grave, too cold and damp

For a soul so warm and true;

And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,

Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,

She paddles her white canoe.

Older now, on Page 114, Tate recites part of Edward Lear's The Daddy Long Legs And The Fly. I think my father preferred Lear's The Owl And The Pussycat where I remember:

They dined on mince, and slices of Quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon.

Later, Kya recites poetry on her own, John Masefield's Sea Fever that starts with that so familiar verse:

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, 

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

SO FAR SO STRAIGHTFORWARD

But on the same page 153 Kya recalls a poem by Amanda Hamilton. We are on to free verse. Well, it's only six lines, and in the context of the book, yes, I get it. Another by Amanda Hamilton is next, but we have to wait to Page 249. It starts Sunsets are never simple". Longer and again in context, but this is where I duck out. I would have much preferred some good prose.

More Amanda Hamilton on Page 276/7: The Broken Gull of Brandon Beach. Simple, but not great. And another on Page 312. Short, free and not bad. Finally, at the end of the book, again by the elusive Amanda Hamilton, the big reveal in free verse that this time seemed the  perfect place. But I wont spoil the ending by including the poem. You can find it at the link below.

So what I have I learnt about poetry that I didn't know before. Unfortunately, nothing. The familiar  rhyming poems were all part of my early life. But free verse I will still have to seek elsewhere.

Where the Crawdads Sing: Questions and Answers (Spoilers, Ending, Etc.) - The Bibliofile (the-bibliofile.com)

The Directors on Sky Arts - Series 6

 Episode 1   Spike Lee

Stephen Armstrong called him a revolutionary film maker. I thought I had not seen a single film directed by Spike Lee, but there was one later on. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 1956 but the family moved to Brooklyn when he was still quite young. He attended NY Tisch School of Arts to study film and his first effort there was co-directed with Ang Lee. While there he won a student Oscar and went on to make his first feature in 1986 called She's Got To Have It, shot in twelve days. 

This was followed by 1988's School Daze and Do The Right Thing the following year. This was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar. Mo' Better Blues came in 1990 and Jungle Fever in 1991. At last Lee had a decent budget for 1992's successful Malcolm X that Neil Norman described as a great biopic. Crooklyn in 1994 was partly autobiographical then Clockers the following year was a first thriller with Harvey Keitel as the detective. 

Get on the Bus was a small movie in 1996 followed by Summer of Sam in 1999, Lee's first non black movie with an American/Italian story about a serial killer. In 2002 came 25th Hour with Edward Norton and then the one film I have seen, the big blockbuster thriller that was Inside Man with Clive Owen and a well known cast. 

Miracle at St Anna came in 2008, a WW2 story about black soldiers. Then Chi-Raq in 2015 was an audacious Chicago story. Lee followed this with 2018's BlacKkKlansman that Stephen Armstrong called a very important movie. It won an Oscar for best screenplay having been nominated in six categories.  The latest film was the Vietnam movie Da 5 Bloods that was released in 2020. Stephen Armstrong said that his movies always had moral complexity. I will seek out BlacKkKlansman.

Episode 2  Mike Nicholls 

Mike Nicholls was "the most sophisticated and intelligent of  comedy directors according to Neil Norman. And "at his best there was no-one to touch him". His output is so prolific, the programme dashed through some of his movies, so this post seems more like a list. Nicholls was born in 1931 in Berlin., although his ancestors were Russian. The family fled to America in 1939. He attended Chicago University and joined the drama department. It was in Chicago sometime later that Nicholls joined an acting group and then formed a double act with Elaine May.

It was when they broke up that Nicholls took to directing plays and those on Broadway gained Nicholls a couple of Tony Awards. Through his career he gained six of these. His successes led him to Hollywood and the opportunity to direct Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1966's Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The following year came The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, and in only this, his second film , he won the Oscar for best director. Neil Norman told us how Nicholls came to choose the music and the specially composed "Mrs Robinson". Of all the Simon and Garfunkel songs on the soundtrack, I always loved "The Sound of Silence", not at the end, but the opening credits at the airport. 

On to 1970 and Catch 22 that was described by Neil Norman as "an enormous project" and an "extraordinary film and cast". Just how did Nicholls get hold of 17 B52 bombers? In 1971 came Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson and Anne Margaret. Then The Day of the Dolphin followed by The Fortune in 1975. Jack Nicholson again and Warren Beatty. However it was not well received and there was an eight year gap (including directing back in the theatre) before the next movie.

That was Silkwood in 1983 with Meryl Streep and this was followed by Heartburn with Streep again. In 1988 came Biloxi Blues with Mathew Broderick and in the same year Nicholls released the smash hit Working Girl with Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. It was called a great comedy drama. 1990 saw Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in Postcards from the Edge  followed by Harrison Ford in Regarding Henry. The programme missed 1993's The Remains of the Day, that superb adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's book starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thomson, but Nicholls was only a producer. Then in 1994 came a surprising change in direction with the satirical horror Wolf with Jack Nicholson again. I always though it was a very decent story. Robin Williams starred in The Birdcage in 1996 that was followed by another  success in 1998 with Primary Colours with John Travolta. I had never heard of 2000's What Planet Are You From.

But I did see 2004's Closer, that highly theatrical four hander with a star cast. In 2007 came Nicholls' final film in Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks. Another movie I really enjoyed. Nicholls left us with a wonderful set of movies, Ian Nathan called him "at heart a comedian .... a genius". Neil Norman said he was an actor's director which is so true.

Episode 3  Ron Howard 

This episode was notable for the introduction of a new presenter. Wendy Mitchell has joined Ian Nathan, Neil Norman and Stephen Armstrong. Ron Howard is another director whose films are quite familiar, as the programme said, " a great body of films". Neil Norman said that he "understands drama comes from people" and Ian Nathan added he was "one of America's premier directors".

Howard was born in 1954 in Duncan, Ohio. He came from an acting family, not stars but jobbing actors in small films and the theatre. And so from the age of five, he became a child actor on TV. He then went to Southern California University of Dramatic Arts, already experienced in his field. He was cast in the TV hit show Happy Days and played Richie Cunningham from 1974 to 1980

Ian Nathan then explained how he did a deal with Roger Corman. He would act in Eat My Dust if he could direct Grand Theft Auto. This 1977 picture was a success and Neil Norman thought he did a fantastic job at the young age of 22. However, Howard was back at Happy Days for another three years before he had another opportunity to direct, this time Night Shift in 1982. This was such a success that Howard was given the opportunity to direct  1984's Splash with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah followed by Cocoon in 1985. We were told it may be a silly story, but the mature actors gave it so much heart.

The comedy Gung-Ho was followed by the big hit  Willow in 1988 and the family comedy Parenthood in 1989. A big change of direction came in 1991 with Backdraft, the firefighting action picture. The staging of the fire, we were told by Wendy that it  was "an impressive technical achievement". Then in 1992 came Far and Away, a historical epic with Tom Cruise and Nicol Kidman, so again something different. Another switch came in 1994 with The Paper where Howard had carried out huge research to make the film authentic. Howard was even more successful with his next movie. Apollo 13 in 1995 was called "his epic" by Ian Nathan and Stephen Armstrong applauded it's "amazing realism". Then came Ransom in 1996, a film noir with Mel Gibson. This kidnap drama was another big hit. 

ED tv and The Grinch who stole Christmas were glossed over. But then in 2001, Howard gained "enormous critical success" with A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe.  This saw a best director  Oscar for Howard. It was back to the wild west for 2003's The Missing and then the director was re-united with Russell Crowe for 2005's boxing drama  The Cinderella Man. Next up was Howard's most financially successful movie with  The Da Vinci Code.in 2006. Then in 2008 came Frost/Nixon that was one of his most critically successful films. Starring the actors who played in the original stage version, Michael Sheen and Frank Langella,  

The following year, Howard directed Angels and Daemons and then in 2013 came Rush. All the contributors were impressed by this  F1 motor racing drama about the rivalry between James Hunt and Nicki Lauda. Neil Norman called it "hugely exciting". The programme then only mentioned in passing the later films that were In the Heart of the Sea, Solo, a Star Wars Story and Hillbilly Elegy and didn't even mention Inferno. However, overall, this was a huge body of work for one man. To conclude, Wendy Mitchell said he had " a lot of heart" and Stephen Armstrong added that he directed "some of the finest mainstream pictures of the time".

Episode 4  William Friedkin

Ian Nathan said this was a director who "thrives at the extremes" and Stephen Armstrong added that he was "almost an investigative film maker". Wendy Mitchell thought there was an "energy to his films" and Neil Norman thought they had "gritty authenticity". William Friedkin was born in 1935 and came from a Jewish immigrant family. He was not an academic but loved films and started work in the mail room of a TV company. He graduated to make documentaries and when he was thirty he moved to Hollywood where he got to direct an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. 

He made his first feature film in 1967 when he was sharing the same agent as Sunny and Cher who wanted to make a film about themselves with a plot and their music. Then in 1967 he made a film adapting Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party with Robert Shaw, Sidney Tafler and Patrick McGee. (I think my father knew the second of these very talented actors). The following year he directed The Night They Raided Minsky's and in 1970 came The Boys in the Band, another adaptation of a play. 

Then suddenly, out of the blue, his documentary experience brought him the opportunity to direct 1971's blockbuster The French Connection with Gene Hackman. This tribute to the dark side of New York and that unforgettable car chase (it was real) brought the Oscars for best director and best picture. This was a huge critical and commercial success after those small theatrical movies. Friedkin followed this with another huge hit in 1973's The Exorcist. Neil Norman said this "changed the face of horror films for ever". Wendy thought it was "so scary". The film brought another Osar nomination.

Then in 1977 came Sorcerer (new to me) that Stephen Armstrong said was "biblical" and "phenomenal". But it was not a success. Next came a crime comedy in 1978's The Brink's Job. And then one of his most controversial films in 1980's Cruising starring Al Pacino. But a movie about a gay serial killer was poorly received. Then The Deal of the Century in 1983 was followed by a return to success and critical acclaim with 1985's To Live and Doe in LA featuring another great car chase. 1987's Rampage had a difficult time and all through the 1990's his films were not great.

But in 2000 came Rules of Engagement with Samuel L Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones that saw Friedkin back to form. And a TV version of Twelve Angry Men was well received. In 2003 came The Hunted in 2006 Bug. The Director's next film was five years later with the dark comedy Killer Joe starring Mathew McConaughey "giving an extraordinary performance".

The presenters concluded that Friedkin was "one of Hollywood's greatest realists" (Neil Norman) and Ian Nathan said "when he's at his best he's unstoppable".

 Episode 5   Kathryn Bigelow

It was Wendy Mitchell who introduced this episode by saying Kathryn Bigelow was one of her favourite directors and a "rule breaker". Neil Norman thought she was "fearless". She was born in 1951 in San Carlos, California and quite shy as a girl. But she loved art. This led her to the San Francisco Institute to study art and then to Columbia University to study film. She started to make short films and in 1981 she made The Loveless with Willem Defoe (who co-directed) and help from the Museum of Modern Art, quite an artsy film.

It was not until 1987 that Bigelow directed Near Dark, that Wendy called a "vampire western" and Neil Norman said it was "truly bloodthirsty". Then in 1990 came the police thriller  Blue Steel with Jamie Lee Curtis and the following year her first big box office success that was Point Break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. A surfer/heist film that is now an iconic movie, using hand held cameras to great effect. In 1995 Bigelow directed one of my favourite films of the time Strange Days with Ralph Fiennes. A sci-fi film rooted in reality that Neil Norman said was "extraordinary in every respect". A high tech thriller when it was too early for that description.

I had not heard of  The Weight of Water from 2000, a much smaller film that moves back and forth from modern day to 1800. Then in 2002 came K-19: The Widow Maker with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. Another great movie with a $100 Million budget. Almost a disaster picture about a Russian submarine and it's crew. But it had a disappointing box office. So it was six hears before Kathryn directed again, but what a film to wait for. The Hurt Locker in 2008 deservedly won her the Oscar for best director, the first woman to do so. It also won the Oscar for best picture. The thriller with Jeremy Renner about bomb disposal in Iraq was actually shot in Jordan. The tension is incredible.

In 2012 came Zero Dark Thirty with Jessica Chastain which I liked more than the presenters. Neil Norman said it was a "very controversial movie" and Wendy added it was "well crafted". It did gain critical and financial success. Then in 2017 Bigelow directed Detroit about the 1967 riots which was called an "angry film". Wendy thought it was a "very important" movie, again shot like a semi-documentary with trademark hand held cameras. 

Stephen Armstrong concluded that she "tells the stories of our time" and Neil Norman said she was "fearless" and her films were entertaining and action packed. Ian Nathan thought she was a "true artist"

Episode 6   Quentin Tarantino

Stephen Armstrong introduced this episode with the words that Tarantino was "America's foremost post modern film maker" while Neil Norman said that he "brought independent film making into the mainstream". Tarantino was born in 1953 in Knoxville, Tennessee, his mother was only sixteen. His mother remarried to a musician who taught Quentin lots of contemporary stuff. Tarantino worked in a video store for five years. He became hugely knowledgeable about movies and came to the notice of director Roger Avery to work as a production assistant. Avery introduced him to producer Laurence Bender who encouraged Tarantino to start writing film scripts.

In 1992, it was Harvey Keitel who was impressed with his script for Reservoir Dogs and put up some of the money needed to film this low budget movie. It seems more like a theatrical piece, filmed almost entirely in one location and reliant on never ending dialogue. Wendy Mitchell said "he had all these films in his head " that were bursting to come out. His script for True Romance was filmed from an original draft for My Best Friend's Birthday that was never completed in 1987. Tony Scott directed True Romance with "his veneer on top".

In 1994 came Pulp Fiction which Neil Norman said was "beautifully structured" and wendy thought that it cemented his style. That great cast, the separate but interwoven stories with superb dialogue helped it win the Palme d'Or at Cannes and an Oscar for best original screenplay. (This must have been the award Tarantino loved most as a conformation of his writing skills). There was also a nomination at the Oscars for best director. 

Next came a contribution to a segment of Four Rooms and then his old script for From Dusk Till Dawn was directed by collaborator Robert Rodriguez and released in 1996. The following year Tarantino released Jackie Brown with a comeback for Pam Grier. But it was not until six years later in 2003 that Kill Bill Volume 1 was shown with Volume 2 the year after. Wendy said he was "revelling in the films he loved, even Japanese anime. Neil Norman loved the final climatic scene which was "just two people talking in a room". Death Proof in 2007 starring Kurt Russell was another collaboration with Robert Rodriquez as a pastiche of cheap grindhouse movies, complete with bits of celluloid floating around the screen. 

 Then in 2009 came Inglorious Basterds with great cast that Stephen Armstrong (and I) called a "great film". It contains one of my favourite scenes of all time set to David Bowie's Cat People. But 2012's Django Unchained was quite controversial being a period slavery fantasy. But it did have a great modern soundtrack that said it was not serious. Then The Hateful Eight in 2015 has echoes of Reservoir Dogs again very stagey and crammed with trademark Tarantino dialogue. Ian Nathan called it a "combination of Agatha Christie and Bonanza". It was shot in full blown 70mm film as a reaction against all things digital. It looked beautiful and the scenery was excellent.

Then in 2019 came my favourite Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. A recognition of the work of Sergio Leone set in 1959 Hollywood. Ian Nathan liked the "life in LA" and Neil Norman said it was his "most mature film" and "such a fantastic piece of work". It also has a wonderful soundtrack and the episode included the superb "Out of Time" by Chris Farlowe. The film has huge sections without any violence, notably when Brad Pitt visits the Spahn Ranch and Julia Butters in a long conversation with Leonardo DiCaprio. Maybe producer David Heyman (Harry Potter fame) helped, cutting down a huge script to something manageable. I always remember him saying on that first visit to Tarantino's home to read it he shooed away the director when he was already two hours through.

Wendy Mitchell concluded the was a "genuine auteur of modern film making" and Ian Nathan liked his movies so much he has written a book. Definitely one of my favourite directors, mainly because his films are packed with great dialogue that he writes himself. There are not many who can do that. It's the writing that counts for me.

Episode 7   J Lee Thomson

I didn't recognise the name of this director, though I probably should have. I probably gave no thought to who was directing in the 50's and 60's. As Stephen Armstrong said "possibly one of the most underrated directors that BRITISH cinema ever produced". Neil Norman thought he was "the most extraordinarily prolific film maker" who was certainly versatile. He was born in Bristol in 1914 to a theatrical family, so he was drawn to acting and joined Nottingham Rep and then Croydon Rep. His talent for writing plays got him a job as a screenwriter at British International Pictures that became Associated British Pictures. By 1938 he was working as a dialogue coach for Alfred Hitchcock. At ABP he was contributing writing to all sorts of films.

Then in WW2 Thomson was actually a tail gunner. The programme missed out that his play The Human Touch ran for more than 100 performances at the Savoy Theatre in 1949. So we were onto his first directing credit in 1950 that was an adaptation of his play Murder Without Crime followed by The Yellow Balloon. In 1954 he directed a young Dirk Bogarde in For Better For Worse, a romantic comedy. Then came As Long As They're Happy, An Alligator Named Daisy and The Weak And The Wicked. It was in 1956 he directed Yield To The Night that Neil Norman said that it was "the most significant film of the period" and "an absolutely extraordinary piece of work". It starred a best ever performance from Diana Dors committing a murder and won the film a nomination for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Neil Norman added that the (opening) cinematography was amazing".

In 1957 came Woman In A Dressing Gown that was called a marital drama and Stephen Armstrong said that it's "portrayal of working class was revolutionary". The following year came one of Thomson's big successes with Ice Cold In Alex with Sylvia Simms, John Mills and Anthony Quale. I agreed when it was described as "one of the great British war films". John Mills starred again in 1959's Tiger Bay with his daughter,  a very young Hayley that won the BAFTA for best film The same year came North West Frontier, an epic historical adventure. Even better was to come in 1961 with The Guns of Navarone. Neil Norman said this was his "biggest film to date, replacing the original director". It was also described as "a magnificent war film", and "highly successful". Not for just the action, but the conflicts between the various characters on the team. It became a "phenonium" and Thomson was nominated for a best director Oscar. It must have had more repeats on UK tv than any other movie.

Thomson was now regarded as a big shot in Hollywood and 1962 he directed Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear. Next came a pair of epic movies with Kings Of The Sun (?) and Taras Bulba, Thomson then made a big change in direction with 1964's What A Way To Go, a "very funny" black comedy with an all star cast led by Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. The latter starred again in John Goldfabb Please Come Home that was not successful.

So it was back to British cinema with Return From The Ashes and 1966's Eye Of The Devil, a dark gothic movie starring David Niven that Stephen Armstrong thought was a "very good film". 1969's McKenna's Gold was the last of Thomson's big Hollywood films, this time with Gregory Peck and a "really big cast". Ian Nathan loved it being "old fashioned entertainment". It cost too much but was a big hit. Peck starred for the last time with Thomson in 1969's The Chairman which Stephen Armstrong said was like an episode of Mission Impossible. 

Then, incredibly (perhaps for the money) in 1973 Thomson was engaged to direct the sequel to the highly successful Planet Of The Apes called Conquest... and also the follow-up 1973's Battle For The Planet Of The Apes. The final part of Thomson's career saw a number of his films that were not named (except 1984's The Ambassador with Robert Mitchum)  and NINE action films with Charles Bronson. It was left for Stephen Armstrong to tell us that Thomson was "a name you might not be aware of " "but whose films you do know". (That's me). And Neil Norman added "in many ways one of the most unacknowledged film makers" "who deserves to ne reassessed". 

Episode 8   Rob Reiner

Of course this episode started with a clip from This Is Spinal Tap. Neil Norman said that he was " a man of many talents" and a "dynamic and exciting director". Wendy Mitchell added that he "made a string of classic films". Rob Reiner was born in 1947 in The Bronx, New York City. His family was in showbiz and his father (Carl Reiner) was big in TV and then movies. When the family moved to LA, the house was often filled with comedians. After Rob attended UCLA he started working as a performer, in comedy on TV but his always wanting to direct was inspired by his mother.

The idea for This is Spinal Tap came from a 1978 sketch in a comedy programme called "The TV Show". Reiner worked with Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer to develop the idea of a parody rock band. They first shot a 20 minute demo for the film they wanted to make with director Reiner appearing as the narrator. Here he tells the camera that watching the band he was "knocked out by their exuberance, their raw power and their punctuality". When funding was thus secured, the movie was shot in five weeks with all those above taking roles and co-writing the script. It coined the word Rockumentary and was, and still is, highly successful. It is semi-improvised, has lots of jokes. It was Mark Kermode who said "When ever someone says Rockumentary, immediately you think is it as good as This is Spinal Tap and the answer is No".

The success of this movie led Reiner on to direct 1985's The Sure Thing, discovering a young John Cusack along the way. Ian Nathan called it a "great cult comedy". Then in 1986 came Stand by Me that Wendy said Ron Reiner "brings so much warmth to it". 1987 saw Reiner direct The Princess Bride that Neil Norman described as a film "impossible to define" and "a superbly funny film". But next came a huge success in 1989's When Harry Met Sally with Meg Ryan. Wendy called it "one of the best romantic comedies ever made". Reiner's next film went in a completely different direction. Misery from 1990 was from the book by Stephen King. Ian Nathan said "the shock and tension is startling". 

In 1992 came A Few Good Men with a young Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. Another different kind of movie that Neil Norman said "the ride was tremendously exciting". However Reiner's next film North in 1994 was a failure. So it was the next year before Reiner had more success with The American President. This had a Aaron Sorkin screenplay and starred Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in a type of rom com that inspired the writer to start The West Wing. In 1996 came Ghosts of Mississippi with Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg.  This was followed by The Story of Us in 1999 with Bruce Willis. Almost the opposite in tone  to When Harry Met Sally it was not a success. Ian Nathan called it a "depressing" film.

The programme then glossed over another two rom coms, Alex and Emma (2003) and Rumour Has It (2005) before settling on 2007's The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Neil Norman told us "the two stars are so wonderful together". The film was a huge hit. The episode seemed to run out of time as Reiner's last six films of his later career were ignored, Except for LBJ with Woody Harrelson that Wendy called "a solid bio pic". It was left to Stephen Armstrong to sum up his career with "you leave his films happier ..... time after time". Ian Nathan said he should be compared with the great directors and that "he made more favourite films than any other director". His was a huge body of work that Wendy said should "stand the test of time".

Episode 9    Stephen Frears

Neil Norman said that Stephen Frears was "a throwback to the directors who came out of Ealing Studios". Wendy Mitchell added that he was "one of the great British film makers of our time" and that he was "versatile. Frears was born in Leicester in 1941. His father was a GP and an accountant. After a independent boarding school, he found himself at Trinity College, Cambridge where he worked with the Footlights Review as a stage manager. Then working at the Royal Court Theatre before becoming assistant director on Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film If. 

His first debut feature as director came in 1971 with Albert Finney in Gumshoe. Wendy thought the film worked as Liverpool film noir. But then Frears moved to the BBC for the next 13 years working on programmes such as the successful Play For Today series. Back to feature films came in 1984 with The Hit starring Terence Stamp as a supergrass that Wendy called "a stylish crime thriller". However, the big break for Frears came with 1985's success My Beautiful Laundrette. Set in 1980's London, it made Daniel Day Lewis into a star and received Oscar and BAFTA nominations. 

This was followed by 1987's Prick Up Your Ears, a collaboration with Alan Bennett, with Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina as joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, where their relationship came to a violent end. Next came his first American feature that was 1988's Dangerous Liaisons with an all star cast. It won three of it's seven nominations at the Oscars and two of it's ten nominations at the BAFTAS. Frears returned to crime drama with 1990's The Grifters with John Cusack, Annette Benning and Angelica Houston. this earned Frears an Oscar nomination for best director, and Ian Nathan said that it was "his best film" and a "great modern noir". In 1992 Frears directed Dustin Hoffman in Accidental Hero. This was his first big budget Hollywood movie and Ian Nathan thought he was not very comfortable directing this kind of film. It was not at all successful.

We were told that the rest of the 1990's proved a challenging time for Frears, Mary Reilly in 1996, his next major film was a critical and commercial failure, unlike The Hi-Lo Country in 1998 that at least gained some critical acclaim. But then his next film was a great success. 2000's High Fidelity, again with John Cusack, was very popular. an Americanisation of the Nick Hornby novel that Wendy thought was a "note perfect adaptation". Frears' next two films were social dramas: Liam and Dirty, Pretty Things in 2002. Stephen Armstrong liked the way it portrayed London as third world city. 

In 2005 came The Queen with helen Mirren, one of Frears' big hits. Then Cheri in 2009 that I did not know. Two comedies were glossed over: Tamara Drewe (I thought it was OK) and Lay The Favourite (also unknown to me). However in 2013 came the great Philomena with Judy Dench and Steve Coogan. Wendy thought it was a "wonderful film". Next up came 2015's The Programme about Lance Armstrong and the following year Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep and High Grant. The programme did not get as far as 2017's Victoria and Abdul, again with Judy Dench. To sum up, Wendy thought that Stephen Frears was a very versatile director and Stephen Armstrong said he could "create classic cinema". 

Episode 10   John Carpenter

Stephen Armstrong introduced this episode by telling us that John Carpenter "does everything .... writes, directs, (produces), even composes the music" and that his were "ground breaking films". Ian Nathan added that he was "hugely influential on other careers". He was born in 1948 in Carthage, new York. His father was a musician and John learnt to play the violin and piano. But it was his mother who took him to the movies that inspired him to attend the University of Southern California to study film. Stephen Armstrong told us "that was all he ever wanted to do".

His first short film was The Resurrection of Broncho Billy that actually received an Oscar award for best live action short film in 1970 when Carpenter was only 22. Also while at University, he started work on his first feature Dark Star that was released in 1974. Wendy Mitchell said that this was "not the most auspicious start"..... "but impressed people what he could do on a very low budget". Next came Assault on Precinct 13 in 1976. Neil Norman said it was "an urban modern thriller" and "makes the most of very little" and that it was "enhanced by Carpenter's own score".

But then in 1978 came his first big success with Halloween and a young Jamie Lee Curtis. Wendy thought this was "one of the most successful independent movies of all time" and Stephen Armstrong added that "the opening sequence is a work of art". (Well it was ground breaking. The eerie music by Carpenter helped). That same year, Carpenters' screenplay for The Eyes of Laura Mars was also a success. In 1980, Carpenter directed The Fog, another hit, then the TV movie documentary Elvis The Movie. 

In 1981 came Carpenter's first big collaboration with Kurt Russell in Escape From New York. Neil Norman thought the action never stops, a rescue mission in a future prison that is Manhattan. Then in 1982 Carpenter released The Thing with Kurt Russell. (Did we see a clip from the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World in Halloween? We did.) Ian Nathan called this his first proper studio movie that I thought was full of claustrophobia and paranoia. Those amazingly horrible special effects by 22 year old Rob Bottin were without any CGI. Glad I didn't see it on the big screen. Carpenter then became involved with two sequels to Halloween before directing Christine in 1985 from the Stephen King story. Stephen Armstrong thought that "the effects are phenomenal". 

The following year came Oscar nominated Jeff Bridges in Starman, a romantic sci fi? In 1986 Carpenter re-united with Russell in Big Trouble in Little China, a comedy, action, sci fi, kung fu, thriller, fantasy! Then in 1987 came Prince of Darkness, a pretty crazy horror film and then 1988's They Live. The programme glossed over Memoirs of the Invisible Man and 1994's In The Mouth of Madness. His later career included the sequel Escape From LA, with again Kurt Russell, and Vampires which I thought quite a reasonable film of it's type. I had never heard of the next movies Ghosts of Mars and The Ward.

It was left to Stephen Armstrong to reiterate how John Carpenter had influenced other careers and for Ian Nathan to say how "in his early career he made some important genre films that have lasted". So many future directors owe him a lot.

Movies at Home - About Time, This Is Spinal Tap and Empire Of The Sun

 

I had seen About Time before, but as I am always a sucker for Richard Curtis films, I persuaded Alison she might like it too. However,  she was not impressed, similar to most of the critics. It must be me. Bill Nighy is great as Bill Nighy. I also made a note on this blog on 31st January 2018 about the song "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure.

There was a clip from This Is Spinal Tap in Mark Kermodes "Secrets of Cinema - Pop Movies" that I posted on 25th January 2021 under the Rockumentaries section. His recommendation made me buy a second hand DVD. However this time it was me who was not impressed. It was made on the cheap and it looked like it. Only rare moments were funny. I wish I hadn't bothered.

I had missed watching Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Empire of the Sun at the cinema where it might have been a lot better than on my TV. To me it was a rambling story, more spectacle than substance. There is very little warmth in the film and getting in everything about the occupation of China by the Japanese was all too predictable. Probably why I gave it a miss at the time. Only notable for a very young Christian Bale as the youn.g lead.

The Last Race Before Lockdown

A year ago I ran the Milton Keynes 10K that was to became the very last race before lockdown (see my post of 16th March 2020). Two days later I posted that parkrun had now been cancelled and so I was stuck on 249.

The day before the 10K, I marshalled at Wendover Woods parkrun which was Alison's 250th, so she has the nice green 250 t-shirt but I will have to wait a little longer. Saturday was a year to the day of that last parkrun. 

Viburnum Revived

 

In July last year, I mentioned that when Pat Kernan came to do some tree work, I asked him to take out the Viburnum above that had been attacked by an insect. Viburnum beetle was named as the number one pest by the RHS in 2010. I found another photo on the web that shows this.

However, Pat told me about a spray called pyrethrum and this has proved to be a success. The photos below shows lots of new, undamaged growth and lovely flowers.

I shall wait until after flowering before spraying again.

A Light in the Dark: A History of Movie Directors by David Thomson

 

Having enjoyed David Thomson's The Big Screen - The Story Of The Movies And What They Did To Us, I was looking forward to his new book about directors. I guess it was obvious he would start with To Be A Master - Fritz Lang

Of course the book concentrates on his Metropolis from 1927. We were told how the film went hugely over budget with a cost of Five Million Marks. Lang gave up writing early in his career, it was his second wife Thea Von Harbor who wrote his German films. Moving alone to the United States, he was contracted to MGM and first released Fury in 1936. Then dashing through to 1953 when The Big Heat was a big success. 

Next up was Everyone's Friend - Jean Renoir

The book has a lot to say about his La Regle du jeu released in 1939 and restored in 1958. It was originally a big commercial failure with French audiences. But Thomson wonders if this one of THE great movies? I was more interested in the fact that at the end Thomson name checks Pedro Almodóvar's Pain and Glory as a masterpiece of compassion. Not sure about that, but my top film of that year.

The award winning director In Dreams - Louis Bunuel

Thomson is obviously impressed as expected by Bunuel's Belle de Jour, That Obscure Object of Desire and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. The first (1967) won European awards, the second (1972) the Oscar for best foreign language film and the third nominated in that same category in 1977. 

Earlier he had retired from film making until nearing fifty he returned to Mexico where his Los Olvidados won the best director prize at Cannes and later a jury award there for Nazarin. His final film in Mexico was The Exterminating Angel. 

Next a director I knew well, especially from the series on Sky Arts. This was A Natural Liar - Howard Hawks

Thomson talks about the film Red River having made a big impression on an eight year old Hawks. I think I might have liked Westerns at that early age but they no longer have any interest for me. Most of his movies made big profits, he has a huge list of successes. There was a nice piece about his film Bringing Up Baby. Also see post on The Directors on Sky Arts.

I was looking forward to seeing what Thomson would write about Alfred Hitchcock.

I'm never sure about Thomson's prose. What does this mean: He was anxious to be unique and even on the spectrum. I have no idea. So much in this chapter was very familiar. However there was a nice comparison between the British and Hollywood film industries. Then Vertigo was a serious flop when it opened , but now made the 2012 "Sight and Sound" poll as best film ever made.

Next an outstanding chapter about God? - Orson Welles

Him and Hitchcock, two very big guys in both sense of the words. Neither wrote screenplays, although Welles claimed he did. Citizen Kane is described as "the best ever American Film" (the author, not me). Thomson expands "a study on the futility and the addiction of trying to be great at the expense of life". An interesting piece on The Magnificent Ambersons. Welles the actor is dismissed, except for his role as Harry Lime. 

His excursions to Europe ended with a return to direct and act in A Touch of Evil with "that serpentine opening shot in which a car goes over the border before exploding. Called a superb movie and "an effective dark thriller. I have always thought it was Welles best film, even after watching Citizen Kane. Thomson wraps up this chapter with his last neglected films including F for Fake. (Also a clip from Citizen Kane with the newspaper headline "Fraud at the Polls". I wonder who used that?)

A strange section on director Godordian - Jean Luc Godard

His productivity (15 films in eight years) is compared with Terence Mallic (10 films in 47 years). Why is Thomson comparing Godard's low budget films with David Lean's Doctor Zivago? And why a whole piece on Lean and British films in cash strapped post war Britain, interesting though it may be? The title of this chapter "Godardian" (his influence on future directors) gave the author the opportunity to discuss many of his followers. So then over eight pages before we get to "Jean Luc Goddard was born in Paris ......". And later "when Geoff Hurst scored the fourth goal at Wembley in 1966". What does that have to do with anything here? Something to do with being alive? 

Then I'm not at all interested in advice about the plot of his films. Pierrot le Fou (for instance) has a full page. Sometimes I wonder if Thomason is not too intellectual for me, especially when he describes Godardian as "also a forecast of confusion where once there seemed marvels fit for a Rousseau jungle". I have no idea.

Is The Ghost of Nick Ray a one hit wonder?

A chapter with the title The Ghost of Nick Ray. He could have been a ghost as I had never heard his name. But in 1955 he directed the iconic movie Rebel without a Cause. Prior to that his films included Flying Leathernecks in 1951 with John Wayne and Johnny Guitar in 1954 with Joan Crawford. At fifty he directed the biblical epic King of Kings in 1961. With a budget of $5 Million, it earnt $13 Million. And "Orson Welles read the gravity-heavy narration, without credit and for cash in hand".

His next film in 1963 wasn't so commercially successful. But I liked 55 Days at Peking. Although Ray had to be replaced during the shoot as he went off the rails. There was a great description of a troubled man that ends "If only Nick Ray had had some wise producer to look after him - someone like Stephen Frears". 

A Very English Professional - Stephen Frears

I think Thomson likes Stephen Frears: "His record is exceptional in it's variety and skill". Mary Reilly, Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen and A Very English Scandal have all been "talking points". The author discusses State of the Union (another TV hit) where married couple  Rosamund Pike and Chris O'Dowd meet in a pub before their latest therapy session, just ten minutes for each ten minute episode written by David Hare. I thought they were marvellous.

My Beautiful Laundrette is only mentioned in passing and Thomson chooses instead Sunset Across The Bay (A Play for Today on the BBC) as one of the best things Frears has done. He also liked 1984's The Hit which he called "very entertaining". Frears has two Oscar nominations and won three out of seventeen BAFTA nominations. A very English professional. 

The American Auteur

Here was a nice introduction about how directors became universally recognised and now reaching  "celebrity status". An interesting piece about Peter Bogdanovich  and his "remarkable debut" Targets followed by "three beauties in a row" until he went downhill. Next Thomson talks about Robert Altman and photographer Gordon Willis, before he spends some time on Francis Ford Coppola. A couple of pages about Terence Mallick (not my favourite director, although I might try his first film Badlands. I had also forgotten he directed The Thin Red Line which I enjoyed and Thomson called an "outstanding film". Before he tells us "I didn't mean to write so much about Mallick).

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas get a mention then briefly passing Roman Polanski before looking at Stanley Kubrick and The Shining. His last words here are "There is no better short description of what a director is, and no other film so demonstrates the incoming tide of Jack". This may form a question on a film studies course: "Discuss".

Onto Michael Cimino and the opposing critical and commercial outcomes of The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate. Another exam question? But then Thomson remarks that the full 219 minutes of the latter's extended version, seen on the big screen, "is a masterpiece". A short mention on Woody Allen takes us to Paul Thomas Anderson whose Casino is as good as Scorsese's Taxi Driver. (Discuss).

A Female Gaze

This is a study of women directors that starts with a criticism of the Oscars not recognising Greta Gerwig's Little Women. (I also thought it should have been up there). Thomson asks why there has been a lack of women directors until recently, so he asks the question "Can women only be in charge when they allow themselves to be seen". (Make of that what you will). Then "The history of women making films is more complex than you might think". Obviously Kathryn Bigelow is discussed, especially her The Hurt Locker. There follows lots about women and Hollywood (directors and those behind the scenes) with the fact that now a third of all Academy voters are women. A good piece about Leni Riefenstahl and others including Ana Lily Amirpour and Jane Campion.

Alone - The Nature of Minority

This chapter starts with a sweeping up of people Thomson missed, but an increasingly intellectual piece where you have to be a much bigger student of film than me to absorb even some of it. However, we then find out about Barbara Loden and her 1970 film Wanda that Thomson calls "an essential film, a great film". (She never made another!) A section about Jewishness in American Cinema followed by a bit about the first black player to win an Oscar, Hattie McDonald in Gone with the Wind. Although apparently her producer David Selznick bowed to pressure and she was not invited to the 1940 premier in Atlanta, Georgia. At the Oscars she was also "required to sit at a small table in the corner of the rom" instead on Selznick's huge table of white people. How embarrassing is that. Spike Lee is treated to a long piece, but Thomson ignores his Inside Man, that brilliant thriller. I wonder why? (See my post on Spike Lee on Sky Arts - The Directors).

The Kid From The Video Store - Quentin Tarantino

"He really is so good, and that bad". Thomson has huge mixed feeling about Tarantino, I just wonder why he has devoted a long chapter to him. And why spend four pages on Reservoir Dogs when he says "In 1992 I wanted to walk out on the picture ...... "and to reject it's vicious smugness" .... "I still feel that". The film did better in the UK than the USA, I guess because it is quite theatrical in it's setting and ceaseless outstanding dialogue. So Thomson then agrees with it's "profuse talk ..... in the opening scene was inspired and nearly delicious". He tells us dialogue was falling into misuse in 1992 "yet here was a writer with exceptional ear and rhythm". 

I think he liked Pulp Fiction ("the best thing QT has done") and the fact that it's female characters )including my favourite Maria de Medeiros) are treated "with affection". An independent film that cost $8.5 Million and earned $213 Million and counting. ( I think that Kill Bill 1 and 2, Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood are equally good.) And on the subject on the latter, why do we get nearly six pages on a film he may despise and sets out to destroy so much in it, when no other gets that devotion in the book. "The film is so spoiled, it is beyond protection". 

And how dare he explain the final scene in so much detail (again totally messing with the general ethos of the book) and why has he seen the film "several times" when he calls it a "disgrace"? But then "a marvel of entertainment"? And what would the Harry Potter producer say when he visited Tarantino's home to read the script when those two films are polar opposites, except maybe for "entertainment". I thought Tarantino's treatment of this films female characters was worth a deeper look, comparing the Margaret Qualley as Pussycat (just a vehicle for getting Cliff  to the Spahn Movie Ranch?) and the wonderful Julia Butters as Trudi Fraser (for her conversation with Rick). 

I also thought for the first time how Tarantino twisted history for the violence at the cinema in Inglorious Basterds and that final violent scene in Once Upon a Time ...... I will have to read this chapter again as I originally thought that Thomson had lost the plot. But the book does deserve a second reading.

The Last Irishman

I will not dwell on this final chapter as Martin Scorsese's film was meant for Netflix, with only a three week release in cinemas (very limited screens, David, so why did you not say that). With no nationwide release, so for me not a proper cinema movie!

The Love Department, The Ex-Wives and The Guest List

 

This is the third novel written by William Trevor, after "The Old Boys" that was excellent and "The Boarding House that was disappointing. "The Love Department" falls somewhere in between. I am working my way through his back catalogue. Typically, the book starts off with too much in the way of characters contemplating their life. Nothing much happens. "Mrs Hoop devoted much of her time to the consideration of two topics of thought".

One of the main characters Septimus Tuam - (where does Trevor find these names?) is described as "a gaunt young man with a face like the edge of a chisel and a mind that in some ways matched it". But it is Edward Blakestone-Smith that is central to the story, the most pathetic trainee private detective ever invented. However, the writer is always best with dialogue, some of the conversations have such a cutting tone.

When the book reaches half way, a very boring dinner party is suddenly pitched into farcical chaos. The book then becomes a much more interesting read as it gains huge momentum as Edward pursues his quest. I did like the mention of London Airport (the book was first published in 1966) and I can remember in that year driving my first car in the evening to one of the terminals or The Queens Building and parking right outside to have a coffee in a cafe there.

I have to agree with the review by W B Gooderham in The Guardian: "Admittedly "The Love Department" is not Trevor's finest work ...... the structure a little haphazard ...... 50 pages too long. But the story is engaging, the prose precise, the characters amusing ...... and eccentric charm." This was the reviewers nomination for a book out of print, having once not read anything by the author and picked up a second hand copy on a whim.

So many characters, not just Buffy's ex-wives and their children but ex lovers and their children, husbands of ex-wives and their children (so not actually his relatives) even sons and daughters in law, or are they already in the previous group? Who cares, Deborah Moggach keeps it brilliantly simple, the complications of the relationships are well realised and always amusing. For instance, there is one great piece about Jacquetta (Buffy's second wife?) who is such an awful person, where she considers her own personality and her situation with new husband Leon. All written in the third person. "Sometimes she did something that was just a cry for attention". "The trouble was (not working at her desk) she had too many ideas".

There is so much poignant stuff crammed into the writing, A great piece about Buffy's previous Christmases that mostly ended in rows. Mostly all Buffy's fault. "His various Christmases had come in all permutations, most of them uncomfortable and some so disastrous that he would have preferred to have spent the day in a Salvation Army hostel". Later there are very short pieces dodging between many of the characters that is very entertaining. The very final part is pretty much contrived, but how can you object to it's heart. I found this book to superior to the sequel "Heartbreak Hotel" that we read for book club.

Not my sort of book, so cannot complain to much. The short and "sharp" chapters are narrated by the alternating main characters. It is quite clever as one takes over from another in strict chronological order. There are plenty of secrets that are revealed along the way, and plot holes that are not plot holes as they are tweaked a little later. Good if you like that sort of thing. Me, I don't like books where everyone is so unpleasant to each other. And this book takes the biscuit.

I could never imagine a wedding where a "plus one" (i.e. a wife) is not put next to her husband at the ceremony or the dinner just because he is part of the wedding party! But I found the writing to be as confrontational as are the characters to each other.

SPOILER ALERT

The dead body (mentioned on the back cover) takes until page 330 of the 375 pages!

Film Studies on the TV, Web and in Books

 There are so many programmes and books recently about cinema it's hard to keep up. Here are a few:

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema

I have just updated my post on this series that screened on BBC 4 and is now on iPlayer. 

The Directors on Sky Arts

We are now on Series 7 of this brilliant programme on Sky Arts. That will be 70 episodes and hopefully more to come, See posts for each series. There is also a separate series about directors called Inside Cinema, four episodes so far. Also on Sky Arts there is also a series called Discovering Film, each episode looking at the career of one actor or actress. Ten series of ten episodes each. Might be some time before I look at these. In addition there are four episodes of the Talking Pictures series on different topics. 

A Light in the Dark by David Thomson

See post dated 8th March 2021.

The Big Screen - The Story Of  The Movies And What They Did To Us by David Thomson

See previous review on this blog dated 9th October 2014.

Moments That Made Movies by David Thomson

See post of 19th August 2022.

Have You Seen ..... by David Thomson

Yet another huge volume from David Thomson where he summarises 1000 films for our consideration. I have just started to wade through the early pages where the movies are in alphabetical order.

Inside Cinema - Shorts

Apart from a couple of one offs (Black History Month and Guilt Free Pleasures) there are so far 53 episodes of a series called Shorts on BBC iPlayer. I am through 14 so far! Not to be confused with the series Inside Cinema on Sky Arts.

Life Cinematic

Again on BBC 4 comes this series delving into the lives of directors. There are five so far that I can watch on iPlayer starting with Sam Mendes. Who needs a course in film studies when we have all this available.