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maryborrege
Reviews
Lark Rise to Candleford (2008)
Not Intended To Be The Book!
Oh, the humanity!! JUST imagine!!! A thoroughly entertaining & popular series based loosely on a book. Boo Hoo!
SO WHAT! --you prissy twits. Get over it.
Spoiler. If Lark Rise has a fault it is that many of it's most intriguing and enduring characters were tossed after only 10 episodes taking their lovely story lines with them--Lord Timothy & Lady Adaliade, Liz Smith, & Dawn French's hilarious Caroline, etc.
WHY?
By the way, nay sayers. EVEN in "real life" 19th century rural England there were reasonably happy marriages, close friendships, eccentrics, picturesque villages, and amusing stories to tell. ALL of existence wasn't unremitting tragedy, disease, and inequality. Get real. Some people were actually contented & happy some or most of the time. Just like "real life" people today in rural England.
Emma (2009)
Miscast and Deliriously Misconceived.
Awful--barely watchable.
The reason to love Austen is in the suppressed tension she creates with her wit and satire and in the unique characteristics of her players juxtaposed with the manners, protocol & sensibilities of the country gentry of the Regency period. Fidelity to character and the written word is virtually non existent in this version. The reinvented dumbed down dialogue intended to pander to contemporary sensibilities is tiresome juvenile gibberish. Save for the houses they occupy there is no effort to distinguish one class from the other. Every character appears to be the same non nondescript/ill-defined dolt. Austen's refined, high spirited, and intellectual heroine, as played by Garcia, is actually more insipid than Harriot and as common as Mrs. Elton. (27 year old Garcia's caricature is a repugnant dithering idiot deficit of the credibility to preach to anyone.) The actor who plays Knightly has the accent of a clerk and is totally lacking in the stature, refinement, and commanding air of a great gentleman of that period. No Emma/Knightly sparks whatsoever--just endless squabbling. And WHO could envy or admire Pyper's Jane Fairfax? Add to this, the most interesting sub plots & dialogue were ignored and reduced to nothing. With the exception of the veteran Gambon (miscast and understandably making himself scarce) the ensemble was without distinction, the direction/script Austen/Regency clueless.
Once the masters of period drama, this ill conceived production is becoming typical of Britian's classical literature productions in the 21st Century. A lost art.
The condensed Beckinsdale A&E version and her Mr. Knightly (Mark Strong) is by far the best, most sharply fine tuned version of Emma. The motion picture of the mid 90s is lovely and elegant to look at and is the most humorous take on Austen's beloved book providing a pleasant companion piece to Beckinsdale's superb take.
Had ONLY the Beckinsdale version been in three long episodes!
Lewis: The Point of Vanishing (2009)
More spoilers PLEASE!
Thanks for the spoiler rt61. I agree with pawebster. The "Lewis" plots and dialogue are so convoluted and the conversations so cryptic (unnecessarily) that many viewers don't know ultimately WHO DID IT or WHY. It doesn't help that the two principle actors are habitually mumbling and slurring their words. While I understood perfectly the actor who plays "Lewis" in the superior "Morse", he's virtually inaudible in this series. In period dramas Laurence Fox's diction has clarity--in "Lewis" he talks as if he's slurping soup. A Poriot-like summing up at the end of each episode clearly enunciating their words, with a coherent script, would help the viewer comprehend the solutions. It's frustrating for the viewer to sit through entire episodes and not know what the h** most of the characters are talking about.
Major Spoiler Alert Below!
Would someone please write a spoiler and explain who committed the first murder in "the Point Of Vanishing" and why. Did the mother's infatuated friend do it? Was it a case of mistaken identity? Why did the mother wait so long to take revenge against her "I-Hate-Religion!" obsessed husband? Why didn't the second murder victim arrange to meet the daughter on neutral territory, instead of risking discovery (especially by the vengeful zealot of a brother) to engage in an "explanation" gabfest on the property where a big family bash was underway? How did the mother know her daughter was going to meet the second murder victim in the maze on the night of the party? How could the mother think, at a moments notice, that she could kill her victim with a knife before her daughter met up with him, and why would she plan to kill him in the maze leaving her daughter to discover the body and perhaps take the blame? What was the nature of the relationship between the daughter and the man who crippled her? After the mother destroyed her entire family, tricked her husband into committing suicide, and snuffed out three other lives (i.e. the two murder victims and her besotted boyfriend) did her daughter forgive her?
Trio (1950)
Timeless.
Trio's vignettes were insightful and quite enjoyable. It was curious seeing so many soon to be famous actors when they were very young. The performances and attention to detail were wonderful to watch.
Observation. In film it isn't necessary that source material be in alignment with the contemporary era to be interesting or worthwhile. "Small morality" storytelling is quaint (or coy) only in the eye of the beholder--thankfully. Story content--well told--can overcome it's time, subject or place.
Ironically, there are quite a few contemporary films today that have not overcome the conventions or cutting edge mores of the present era. Inserting "small morality" content--occasionally--might provide a dimension lacking.