Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[struth]

The mini series, Porterhouse Blue, 1987.





Some of the more irreverent scenes, such as the one where Skullion races around the college quad bursting the gas-filled condoms that Zipser has released, were filmed at a mansion near Peterborough because none of the Cambridge colleges would allow them to be filmed there due to allegations of tarnishing the reputation of the university.

The title song "Dives in Omnia" ("There's Money in Everything") was sung by a-cappella group "The Flying Pickets"

[struth]

More comedy now with Jeeves and Wooster series 1. 1990(I think)






The theme called "Jeeves and Wooster" is an original piece of music in the jazz/swing style written by composer Anne Dudley for the program. Dudley uses variations of the theme as a basis for all scores and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for her work on the third series.
For this TV rendition, the character of Wooster was deliberately given quite a talent for music (of which the character in the books possesses precious little), in order to capitalize on Hugh Laurie's own musical talents.

[struth]

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, 2011.

[Barry]

More comedy now with Jeeves and Wooster series 1. 1990(I think)

I have the complete set of the series. Good at the start, but fell off IMO when they became stranded in America.

[struth]

I have the complete set of the series. Good at the start, but fell off IMO when they became stranded in America.

yeah ive the dvd boxset and have it on hdd too.

[struth]

In Which We Serve, 1942.





Noël Coward was a friend of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was Captain of the Royal Navy destroyer H.M.S. Kelly from the outbreak of World War II until the Kelly was sunk by enemy action in May 1941. Coward wrote the screenplay for this movie based on Mountbatten's experiences on H.M.S. Kelly. Coward's character in this movie, Captain E.V. Kinross R.N./Captain "D", was also based on Mountbatten's experiences.
This movie was shown to all new Royal Navy recruits after it was released to give them an idea and an impression of what life in the Navy was like.
Lord Louis Mountbatten's contribution cannot be discounted, even in the middle of a war, he was able to obtain approximately two hundred real sailors to play extras for two weeks and in the evening, after he finished his war work, watched the rushes and gave advice.

Several scenes of Torrin underway are of K-class destroyer H.M.S. Kashmir (F12). The scene of Torrin under tow includes 1940 newsreel footage of Lord Louis Mountbatten's heavily-damaged K-class destroyer H.M.S. Kelly. Both ships were sunk by German dive bombers on May 23, 1941 during operations off Crete.

[struth]

The First Great Train Robbery , 1978.





Sir Sean Connery spent several days running on top of a moving train. The train was supposed to be travelling at thirty-five miles per hour; Connery argued it was going faster. The train driver was counting telegraph poles to measure the speed. A helicopter pilot confirmed Connery's suspicion. The train was travelling at over fifty-five miles per hour.

The character of Clean Willy was played by one of Britain's premiere ballet dancers, Wayne Sleep, from The Royal Ballet Company. He did his own stunts, including scaling the Newgate prison walls, at the tremendous risk of falling and hurting himself. In a 2011 BBC radio interview, Wayne Sleep (Clean Willy) told how he was asked by Michael Crichton to climb a sixty foot wall. Sleep's response was "I'm an actor, not a stuntman." When Crichton explained that they had not been able to find a stuntman small enough (Sleep is 5'2"), Sleep made the climb anyway.

The method in which Henry Fowler's key is copied was changed for this movie. In the book, Henry Fowler contracts syphilis and, because a rumored cure is to have intercourse with a virgin, has intercourse with a twelve-year-old (presumably virgin) prostitute (in Victorian times, the age of consent for females was twelve), in the course of which his key is abstracted and copied. For comic effect and so as not to depict child sex or pornography, the plot was changed in the screenplay to have Pierce set Fowler up with Miss Miriam (disguised as a high-class prostitute), copy his key while she is disrobing him and then fake a police raid on the bordello before Fowler can even get her undressed.

[struth]

When it came to casting and shooting the ratting scene, the crew were somewhat closemouthed about discussing certain details with writer and director Michael Crichton. They presented only one dog (not several candidates) and told him that this was the dog he definitely wanted. Likewise, they didn't explain much as to how they would set up the activity in the ratting pit. Only when it came time for the shoot did Crichton realize they had acquired an actual ratting dog and had captured live sewer rats, which the dog killed by biting and snapping their necks with a vigorous shake. Crichton said that the R.S.P.C.A. did find out what was happening and confronted them about it, but no legal action resulted.
The dog used in the ratting scene was present for two scenes, one, in Ireland when the dog is picked up in front of Trent's house, and another back at Pinewood Studios for the actual ratting scene. To avoid the mandatory six month quarantine for transporting animals between the two countries, the terrier was smuggled across the Irish Sea.

[Pigmy Pony]

Grant, I suspect your write ups are often more interesting than the films they describe. Keep it up

[struth]

Dead Reckoning, 1947. Director was John Cromwell. Stars Bogey and Lizabeth Scott who was a bit of a Bacall lookalike.







In the train scene, after they discover that Drake is to receive the Medal of Honor, Murdock quips that maybe the president will let Drake "sit on top of his piano". This is a reference to a then-scandalous photo of Harry S. Truman playing piano with a leggy blonde on top that was taken at the National Press Club in 1945. The blonde was Lauren Bacall, wife of Humphrey Bogart.

By the unit insignia on the left shoulder of their uniforms, Rip and Johnny were members of the 82nd Airborne Division, the "AA" standing for the nickname "All American". The insignia on their right shoulders is for the First Allied Airborne Army, formed in August 1944 as the command organization for all Allied airborne forces in Europe.

Filming Location was "St. Petersburg, Florida, USA",(might want to change its name lol) which was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, and by Peter Demens who brought the railroad industry into the area.[9][10] A coin toss bet was held between Williams and Demens to name this new community. Demens won the bet and named the land after Saint Petersburg, Russia. Williams was then granted the right to name the first hotel built (which he named the Detroit Hotel). Both named their winnings after their personal hometowns. St Petersburg is a common destination for filming. Such films as Once Upon a Time in America, Ocean's Eleven, Cocoon and Lethal Weapon 3 were partly filmed there among others.