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[struth]

I will see out the day with Blackadder the second.





The writers realized that they had to rewrite the character of Queen Elizabeth I after they saw Miranda Richardson's wonderfully silly interpretation.

The only location shooting for this season was the courting scene in Blackadder II: Bells (1986) and the closing credit scenes; these scenes were shot over a couple of consecutive days in the gardens of Wilton House, Wiltshire. The rest of the season was shot on the filming stage, using a couple of standard sets (Blackadder's house and the Queen's court) and a couple of sets that would be built for each episode.

[struth]

Wilt, 1989. A good british cast but all were unknowns in america, where the film failed. it did well in uk tho.





Writer Tom Sharpe worked as a lecturer in history at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology from 1963 to 1972. He used this experience as the basis for his "Wilt" series.

[walpurgis]

I see the movie 'The Blue Dahlia' 1946, is on Film 4 at 12.45pm. I'm sure I must have seen it, but don't recall for sure. With Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, in a Raymond Chandler story directed by George Marshall it should be good, reviews say so. It's also got the excellent William Bendix in it. I'll give it a watch.

[struth]

I see the movie 'The Blue Dahlia' 1946, is on Film 4 at 12.45pm. I'm sure I must have seen it, but don't recall for sure. With Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, in a Raymond Chandler story directed by George Marshall it should be good, reviews say so. It's also got the excellent William Bendix in it. I'll give it a watch.

watched it a few weeks ago.. should be a write up here.. good film.

[Macca]

'Joe Kidd' (1972)

Low key 'revisionist' Western. Clint Eastwood is an ex bounty hunter hired by Robert Duvall to accompany him and his men on a mission to capture a Mexican bandit leader (John Saxon).

They don't often show this, makes a change from endless repeats of 'Magnum Force.' But there are no bad Clint Eastwood films.

On release it wasn't received well by the usual critics, although if they were still alive today it would probably be acclaimed as genius in light of the wall to wall crap Hollywood is making now.

Well worth a watch. Eastwood goes through the motions as his usual character (he was ill during filming) but Robert Duvall is really good as the ruthless land owner and John Saxon makes a better fist of playing a Mexican than Charlton Heston managed in 'Touch Of Evil.' I suppose it never occurs to them to just hire a Mexican but that's Hollywood for you.

[struth]

Yeah John Saxon was a good actor(off Italian stock), and a pupil of Stella Adler, who taught such names as Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Elaine Stritch and Kate Mulgrew.

decent film joe kidd. ive got im myself.

[walpurgis]

'Joe Kidd' (1972)

Robert Duvall is really good as the ruthless land owner and John Saxon makes a better fist of playing a Mexican than Charlton Heston managed in 'Touch Of Evil.' I suppose it never occurs to them to just hire a Mexican but that's Hollywood for you.

Pretty decent.

As you say, Robert Duvall was excellent, as were Don Stroud and James Wainwright, who was a really cool killer.

John Saxon, I found annoying as usual. You could always tell he was acting, had a big opinion of himself too I believe.

[struth]

Directed by David Lean, This Happy Breed, 1944, this episodic telling of 20 years of the working-class Gibbons family in their South London rental house from 1919 to 1939--from just after the conclusion of WWI to just before the start of WWII..

Kay Walsh was only 6 years her screen dad Robert Newton's junior, while John Mills plays Celia Johnson's future son in law but they were both same age. Newton had a fine in place for everytime he got drunk and held up shooting(him being an alcoholic) and by end of filming his £9k salary was all used up. They paid him anyway lol







The comment early in the movie about the cat and buttering its paws comes from a technique used when a cat moves houses. According to this, if the cat has butter on its paws it will stop and lick it off. As cats are very clean creatures, the butter on its paws and the bits of dirt/dust/debris that will inevitably stick to it will annoy the cat. The cat will sit down to clean itself and, in doing so, will take in its new surroundings creating a mental map of where its new home is and helping it to make the adjustment to its new surroundings.

Billy (Sir John Mills) works his way up in the Navy through the movie. When he is first seen, he is a Leading Seaman/Rate having a 3rd Class Quarters Rating in Gunnery. At Reg's (John Blythe) wedding, he is now a Petty Officer, with two stripes (chevrons) indicating 10 Years Good Conduct, and is still working in Gunnery. Finally, when he comes to tell the Gibbons (Robert Newton and Celia Johnson) he has found Queenie (Kay Walsh), he wears the thin ring which, in 1939 and until 1956, indicated the rank of Warrant Officer rather than a commissioned Sub-Lt, who would wear a thicker gold ring.

The title is taken from a monologue of John of Gaunt's in William Shakespeare's "Richard II", act II, scene 1, which is widely renowned for its stirring pro-Anglicism. It reads, in part, "This happy breed of men, this little world, / This precious stone set in the silver sea, / Which serves it in the office of a wall, / Or as a moat defensive to a house, / Against the envy of less happier lands, / This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

This is the remastered bluray.

[Macca]

Pretty decent.

As you say, Robert Duvall was excellent, as were Don Stroud and James Wainwright, who was a really cool killer.

Yes Don Stroud is always good, should have mentioned him.

[struth]

yeah don is still alive afaik. was a big surfer and comes from hawaii. was in another eastwood one about same time