Film Reviews by CV

This is a great document of British history starting with the reign of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, ending with the rumblings of World War I and the death of Edward VII. Edward's long wait for kingship has been a common theme for many other royalty, including our own Charles III, and the question of monarchy, their function and relationship with political government, and the peculiarity and uniqueness of their public-private lives is a well analyzed general theme in this magnificent series of 14 episodes.

The pairing of Annette Crosbie and Robert Hardy as Victoria and Albert is amazing: at times you feel you are looking at a coloured film of the real queen and consort, so convincing is the casting. Victoria is portrayed as obstinate and relenting by turns, and Albert as a domineering and exacting parent who all but ruins the character of the young Edward. Thereafter Victoria keeps Edward hidden away at home where she can keep her eye on him as she never trusts him. Her parliamentary characters are marvellously portrayed: Disraeli and Gladstone and her relationship with each of these; frostry with the dithering Gladstone yet cordial with the unctuous Disraeli.

The aging make-up is very well done and one actor plays the same character from youth to old age (Charles Carrington.) Christopher Neames as the young Wilhelm (King of Germany) is a little overdone as an obsessive strutting Prussian. There are so many other characters well done, various European nationalities as the matching monarchs for each of the children of Queen Victoria. There is genuine pathos as certain characters die and the drama has you gripped in its dialogue. A great way to show history.

Despite Edward's various affairs, political and otherwise, he was apparently a popular monarch and genuinely aimed to do the best for all citizens of his country. He died as a result of his excesses of eating and smoking and it is claimed that if he had lived longer, his influence over the rest of his family, in particular King Wilhelm, could have prevented World War I.

Made in 1978, the quality of this series is excellent in every way not least its visual quality. I think I remember seeing this in 1986 (50 year anniversary of the abdication) on an early colour TV and now appreciate the difference in quality on disc.

Of course it's a different era and the king has to choose between duty to the country (empire, in fact) or romance which is frowned upon by both the upper class - because Mrs Simpson is American, and the lower classes, as Mrs Simpson has been divorced twice and this is not what is expected of royalty to set as an example. This drama, which it essentially is, where Edward is at variance with Stanley Baldwin and his government, is sympathetic to the heart's desire of the king and promotes him as a kind of martyr to love where he sacrifices the crown for his marriage to Mrs Simpson. Apart from his personal struggle owing to his unpopular choice of wife, other historical opinions describe Edward as a man who refused to grow up, a slave to popularity, and having an unhealthy admiration for strong man dictators of the time, Mussolini and Hitler, which would have made him unsuitable as a King and Emperor anyway.

Brilliantly cast, superbly acted and captivating dialogue: and made by ATV - who said BBC had the monopoly on quality period dramas!

These short films would make great stage drama as the scripts are compellingly written. The characters are chosen to portray a cross-section of Edwardian life and, are well cast. There are behind-closed-doors accounts of famous people, such as David Lloyd George, and the life of a relative nobody in the Music Hall theatre. I wondered why people like Emeline Pankhurst or Rudyard Kipling weren't included.

Six tales of tragedy by Thomas Hardy are presented here which are actually works of his maturity. 'The Withered Hand' is a tale of witchcraft and 'Barbara of the House of Grebe' is quite a gothic conception but the other four tales are more natural and much more convincing. Although a series in the early 70's each tale is set in a specific location and there are wonderfully atmospheric scenic outdoor shots which are important to Hardy's narrative - 'The Imaginative Woman' being a good example. Although they are tragic tales they are very enjoyable and the cathartic note is clinched by a phrase of appropriate heart-rending music at the end of each. They are no lighter or less important than the full-scale novels - just more concentrated.

Dickens comes across as sentimental and stagy in this 1959 production of his epic novel Bleak House. I have read the novel several months ago and I got the impression that this production had simplified the original complex and mysterious plot by making things a bit more plain and simple for the television audience. Some characterization is rather flat: that of Tulkinghorne lacks sinister tones, Ada is a one-dimensional doting lover, the rescued pauper girl is rather artificial and some characters are rather too fleeting like the intriguing Smallweed. Some are overdone like the silly Guppy and the rather plodding and dull police inspector Bucket. We had the subtitles on and the volume up as the dialogue was rather quiet, muffled and quickly rendered for the most part.

The film covers only Peter's last days in prison in Rome before his execution under Emperor Nero. The story is filled out with a fictional love story between the girl who visits him and a Roman guard who are both converted to Christianity. Very colourful and some prison scenes are like Rembrandt paintings with a single shaft of light illuminating the picture. However, there is some cheapness as it is obvious that all scenes in each location were filmed at once with no change in lighting or background each time. The acting of the part of Peter is superior to the too modernistic acting of the other characters though the part of Nero is interesting.

This novel is the background to the more well-known novel 'Women in Love' by D. H. Lawrence though this novel is primarily about Ursula the elder daughter growing up into a woman. The atmosphere of the film seems to be a projection of Ursula's ill-fated romantic view of the world where she is more in love with love itself than the partners (of both sexes) she encounters. One haunting scene is where a small herd of horses are disturbed by Ursula's presence in the field and others, the effect she has on her pupils when she tries a career in teaching. Personally I have never found Lawrence's dialogue quite natural when reading it but this film achieves a lot more visually and creates a clearer context as to what Lawrence was trying to say generally. This is an excellent interpretation and experience of Lawrence's style and the music, often done by fantasy-like synthesised sounds and at other times with a harp or plucked strings, adds another chilling layer to this unique film.

I rented the DVD after having read the novel last year and felt the film did it great justice. It's an understated drama where tension arises from implication and symbols pointing to things of issue. This is a very young Firth and Brannagh of 1987. Both of these characters have just endured the Great War which has left deep psychological scarring for both though they have contrasting personalities; Firth is withdrawn and laconic while Brannagh has a more easy-going air. Both have been commissioned to do archeological work on a village church in Yorkshire; one digging for a Saxon remains and the other disclosing a wall painting in the belfry. Firth as Mr Birkin encounters both church and chapel people and there are many contrasts to note in this terse simmering drama. The filming of a heat-wave in August is splendid and the actress who plays the vicar's wife steals every scene she is in. Read the short novel first if you can though I don't think anything is omitted.

The life of John Wilbye is imagined and dramatised through his own musical madrigals. He was resident composer to a wealthy family who appreciated music and particularly that of Wilbye. Not much is known about his uneventful life but a story is created by threading together the texts of his own wonderful madrigals, mainly concerning thwarted and unrequited love, and relationships are imagined and enacted with the few females he encounters in his effectively incarcerated existence. The piece is extremely well acted and the dialogue is pure Shakespearean with tantalising coded and ambiguous meanings in many speeches. My favourite characterisation was that of John Dowland, another eminent musician of the time, a lute player and composer of lute songs, who makes his mark in the drama. The whole drama is accompanied by Wilbye's melancholic yet beautiful madrigals; 'Draw on Sweet Night', the eponymous madrigal, is reckoned by many music-lovers to be the greatest small vocal piece composed by anyone - its genius is in its simplicity. This film is a most special musical and dramatic experience: watch it if you would like something like Shakespeare with music.

This is a fair dramatization of Lorna Doone made in 1976 for television. It is not so good quality technically as modern day as some of the outdoor scenes have the acoustic of a studio. The acting is lively and dedicated though there is much weeping with no tears! I had read the book earlier in the year and the actor as John Ridd was exactly as I imagined him: big, rugged and manly. I particularly liked the minor characters of Ruth and the dour old Doone was very well done. Lots was missed out of the book but it was nice to see this having read the book which is fairly long but very engaging and readable. I also had the good fortune to have had a walking holiday in this area earlier in the year and visited Oare church and "Doone Valley", in Exmoor near the Somerset border where some of the scenes of the film looked familiar.

It was good to see a film about Sweden's magnificence in the 17th century and their first female monarch, Queen Kristina, who styles herself as a virgin king. There was some depth to the dialogue especially as Kristina invites the great French philosopher Rene Descarte as personal mentor to her palace. (Unfortunately the severe climate did him in although the film may suggest an alternative theory.) Following on from the Thirty Years War it was interesting to learn about the tension between Catholicism and Lutheranism beliefs that were hot in the Swedish court and Kristina's ambivalent stance. Interesting characters but we don't see much of the Swedish landscape although some indoor scenes themselves well convey severe winter conditions. Seems to be an international cast with some dialogue in French. If you have watched films about Elizabeth I, compare Sweden's similarly styled monarch.

It seems that this film, made in 2019, was to be a centenary commemoration of the Battle of Kruty (1918) where a small force of Ukrainians put to rout a much larger force of Bolshevik Russians determined to bring the Ukraine, an independent state, into the hegemony of the new Soviet Union. How sad that history has repeated itself when we have witnessed how the present day Ukrainians managed to hold off Putin's forces in 2022, defending Kyiv. The Ukrainians must have had a thought about this possibility at the time as the leader of the Bolsheviks is played by an actor that looks like a younger Putin, himself. The film features three friends who volunteer as soldiers and their experiences are followed through the action. There is a bit of propagandizing I feel: the Bolshevik general is a mad drug-addicted "Putin" character, throwing scores of men to their death at entrenched positions, while the military regime in the Ukrainian ranks is decidedly humane and genial by contrast. Interesting but not a classic.

Filmed in Tunisia, I believe, the set and photography is quite opulent and evocative. The nativity scene negates all the Christmas card cliches of a crowded stable where here it takes place in a vast empty cave. The title of Mary alludes to two Marys, Mary mother of Jesus and Mary Magdeline, and the storyline shows their interactive and parallel lives and influence on Jesus. Very visual and emotive but too often the dialogue is a dissonance of modern and quasi-archaic diction, but still a refreshing view on the old, old story.

Tom Stoppard is a great playwright: I recently saw 'Arcadia' a few weeks ago which play was loaded with much academic research but entertaining at the same time. I watched the first two scenes of this film and gave up in disbelief. The first scene should grab the audience's attention but here a coin was tossed interminably with the call of "heads" every time. The second scene was in a different location but with the same vacuous and tedious dialogue, if it was dialogue at all. I couldn't suffer any more so I stopped the film. I cannot believe that Tom Stoppard put his name to this puerile slew of nonsense. Watch Kenneth Brannagh's 'Hamlet' and get nearly four hours of solid enjoyment instead.

I read this book some time ago in our Book Club which was not my choice. I found the book more interesting than enjoyable. It's about an odd Welsh family set at the turn of last century. A Welsh farmer marries a well-to-do woman who is educated and well-travelled and they produce two twin sons who, though relationally close to each other, do not really socialize with others outside their family very successfully. Later there is a daughter who leaves the family. The story is essentially about the growing-up of these two sons who have a telepathic relationship with each other throughout their long lives. It seemed an odd theme for a novel and stranger still for a film. But I actually found the film quite enlightening and the producer has made a remarkable adaptation of the book, especially when it is set in location in the Welsh borders featuring all the seasons and aspects of Welsh social and farming history. Also, extras show two atmospheric films in black and white about sheep farming in the earlier 20th Century.