(no subject)

[endlessrarities]

We should have been going to see True Grit tonight, but I was feeling a bit off-colour, so we decided to put it off until tomorrow (I hope...)  It looks like a good film, and J wants to see it.  Which might mean we have to go to the cinema AGAIN in the next couple of weeks, too, because there's The Eagle to look forward to... 

I've got mixed feelings about this one.  I really enjoyed the book as a child - it was my first introduction to historical fiction.  The reason I read it all stemmed from the BBC television production of The Eagle of the Ninth, aired way back in the 1970s.  I was only 9 or so when I saw it, but I was smitten by the delectable Anthony Higgins who played Marcus.  Perhaps it's the legacy of this programme that's left me with a latent interest in all things Classical, and an unhealthy interest in good-looking men wearing skirts and sporting crested helmets.  

Anthony Higgins went on to star in The Draughtsman's Contract - older in years, perhaps, but still delectable.  The actor who plays Marcus in the film version has a lot to live up to, and I don't really think he'll cut the mustard in comparison.

Oddly enough, a scene in the Beeb's adaptation of The Eagle of the Ninth left me for years with a complete phobia of skeletons.  I remember a scene in which the hero dreams of a legion marching past, and eventually one in the line turns around, revealing a skeletal faces beneath the helmet.  It was supposed to be an empty helmet, if I remember right, but the Beeb must have jazzed it up to make it more scary. 

It worked on me - I was traumatised.

And now I dig up skeletons, and clean them up and make them presentable for long-term storage and curation, and they don't bother me in the slightest.  How's that for a complete change of attitude??

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to Eagle, too. I certainly hope it's better than the terrible 'King Arthur' which was the last sword-and-sandal film I saw at the cinema.

Eagle of the Ninth has long been a favourite book and (to a lesser degree) Silver Lantern. I came across them when I was children's librarian for Barnsley back in the early 70s. I remember the BBC adaptation, but by that time I'd already read the book, so it wasn't my first brush with Marcus and Esca. (Called one of our dogs Esca... partly because she was an escapologist and partly because of Esca in Eagle of the Ninth.)

Note re King Arthur. It was doubly disappointing because my daughter had her first film credit on it as assistant sound editor. She sourced all the sound effects for the ice battle. It would have been so nice if it had actually been a good film. Though as a proud mum I have to say that the sounds for the ice battle were magnificent!
:-)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

We were given the DVD of King Arthur, but I've never watched it. The fact that your daughter was the assistant sound editor gives me more of an incentive to do so, just so I can give the ice battle a standing ovation.

But tonight we're going to resort to another Hammer film...

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

When we saw King Arthur at the cinema we had to wait and watch all the credits. As her name came up we stood up and applauded. Of course by that time the cinema was totally empty. If you watch it keep a beady eye open for Ghillan Bedford in the credits.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm one of those saddos that always sits in the cinema right through until the end of the credits.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Sooner or later, by law of averages, someone will have to make a really good film adaptation of a children's classic... I do hope it's 'The Eagle'.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I'd have quite enjoyed the Narnia films if they hadn't been so eerily bloodless. I might not even have noticed the lack of gore, if it hadn't been for the Metro's perceptive review which observed that the battles in Prince Caspian were like watching The Lord of the Rings recreated in Fuzzy Felt!