Monday, February 27, 2006

Bravo Dickens ...

The PBS bropdcast of Bleak House concluded last night. I'm glad I saw Maxine's recommendation at Petrona last month. I thought it was a great way to spend several Sunday nights. Gillian Anderson, best known over here as Agent Scully on The X-Files -- a series I never watched -- was superbly moving as Lady Dedlock. But the character who impressed me most was John Jarndyce, excellently done by Denis Lawson. The portrayal of goodness is extremely difficult and Jarndyce is a believably good man. His freeing Esther from her pledge to marry him is an example of true love -- bene volentia, willing good for another, even at great cost to oneself.

3 comments:

  1. Yes, it was a great production. It has just been released as a DVD over here in the UK so maybe you can get that in the US also. It was shown in TV here as half-hour chunks as Andrew Davies thought this was more authentic. I prefer the "most at one go" approach.

    I love all the bits you have identified, Melville and Frank. I too have never seen the X-files or Gillian Anderson in anything, and I was impressed. Denis Lawson is good in everything he is in (in my opinion). He acts on stage a lot, but did anyone see the movie Local Hero? A film of the US-UK (Scottish, actually) cultural divide, very charming. It was one of Burt Lancaster's last roles. I would recommend it for a cold evening in -- also great music from Dire Straits in their heyday if you like that kind of thing. Denis Lawson is worth a look in that film (was the first time I had come across him).

    I also remember him years ago in a TV version of Lucky Jim, but Kingsley Amis not exactly my cup of tea, a bit dated now. (Quite enjoyed him when younger, and he wrote splendid, curmudgeonly Spectator-style columns.)

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  2. Mention of Martin Amis brings to mind some wag's description of him as being "nasty, British and short." How many people remember him as a child in the film version of A High Wind in Jamaica?
    As for Kingsley, I highly recommend his memoirs, which are hilarious -- especially his description of teaching in this country.
    But back to Dickens. I didn't realze that Denis Lawson had been in Local Hero. He was excellent as Jarndyce. I detested Smallweed (the character, not the actor, who was superb) and was ambivalent about Guppy (also very well played).
    But we have failed to mention perhaps the best performance of all: Charles Dance as Tulkinghorne. What a wonderful villain!

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  3. There was an profile of Charles Dance in The Times a week or two ago in which he said he had to beg for the part of Tulkinghorne. Can you imagine it? He was brilliant.

    Did anyone see him in his first (to my knowledge) role, "The Jewel in the Crown", a 1980s (?) UK TV series of the Paul Scott quartet. Like most films of books, the series did not quite match the books, but they came pretty close. Charles Dance was the main character, and a nation instantly fell in love with him.
    I have noticed the DVD of this series on the UK Amazon is very cheap, I can highly recommend it, but it is about as long as Bleak House or longer.

    I did enjoy Lucky Jim -- but Kingsley Amis is often thought of as a one-book person. He wrote that quite late book which rehabilitated him a bit -- was it called "Grumpy old men" or some such? I quite liked that although it was a bit cynical. However, his earlier work (I recall "Take a Girl like you") left me a bit cold.

    Quite agree abotu Martin the son. He famously spent thousands of pounds on getting cosmetic work done on his teeth. Not sure why I remember that. I read two of his books and found them so clever-clever that I stopped. A kind of snidy, nasty, superior kind of writer, I always thought. At leats his dad was funny. I imagine there is zero chance of him reading this, would not like to hurt his feelings.

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