There are tons of reviews finding the TV series Lost in Austen witty and light and fun. I wish I’d seen the same show. I championed the revisionist 1999 Mansfield Park to my friends but now I feel like a waspish Austen purist.
The story is this: Amanda Price, 21st Century devotee of Pride and Prejudice is offered the chance to enter the world of her favorite book. Chaos ensues.
SPOILERS
Proceed at your own risk.
I had a lovely birthday. Many family members came to watch DVDs with me. One young woman heroically watched all six of them.
The films were:
Roman Holiday
The Prestige
King of Kong
Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer
Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Lost in Austen
I will try to write about all of them. I’ve been working on Lost in Austen but my dislike for it is compelling to add more and more to the post.
But Halloween is on its way as I’ve mentioned before. I’ve been working on my movie list and have found a lot of interesting movies and trivia to blog about. I’m looking forward to the next month.
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I tried watching Alec Guiness in The Man in the White Suit (1951) for my science fiction movie project a few days ago. It’s much more a satire on economics than it is a science fiction film. The movie is short – about an hour and 25 minute but I didn’t make it to the end.
I replaced it with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) – which I haven’t seen but I am assured is a very good movie. I’m looking forward to it.
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Tagline: His animal instinct cannot be tamed!
Young Dr. Larry Forbes (John Shepperd) is traveling to his his fiancée’s home in France. He is delayed by bad weather and stops in an inn before he reaches the villa. He switches rooms with another drunken guest and later the guest is found murdered.
Rather than a science fiction story, this is more of a mystery. The suspects include a slow-witted assistant Noel (J. Carol Nash), an unctuous butler, and a truculent gardener Rogell (Mike Mazurki). And not least, her reticent father Dr. Renault (George Zucco).
Noel behaves in suspicious and odd ways. When the murdered guest is said to have been strangled by “fingers of steel,” Noel quickly hides his hands. (This was funny enough that we began referring to the movie as “Fingers of Steel.”) Noel is acutely sensitive to the presence of dogs but drifts off readily and has difficulty with simple conversations.
Larry would rather ignore the sinister events and focus on being reunited with fiancée Madelon (Lynne Roberts). His fiancée is a piece of work.
She states that she is kind to Noel but nothing she says or does proves this. She insists that he drive back to town to pick up something trivial that he forgot. She’s unfailingly condescending to him in her speech and body language. She even is furious with him for trying to protect himself when a stray dog savages his arm. The dog was not the bitch in the movie.
It’s pretty obvious what the titular secret is but it takes some time for anyone to figure it out. In the meantime, there are corpses piling up.
The sets were of high quality and gave me hope that the story would be a little more sophisticated that it ultimately proved to be. The finale is so abrupt that my viewing partner and I started laughing. On the other hand, it didn’t outstay its welcome. I don’t recommend it.
highlight for spoiler–Nash works hard at his characterization of the ape man, how he moves and holds his body. He is sympathetic and intriguing as a sinned against beast.–end
The featurette, with critics and film historians such as Kim Newman, was twice as entertaining as the movie.
DVD Talk review
Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy review
Pop Matters review
PWI Pop review
Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings review
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Mike Mazurki | … | Rogell |
I received a gift of an MP3 player and have been listening to podcasts while I exercise.
The first and best is Buffy Cast about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are only 13 episodes and two speakers. The presentations are thoughtful and cover topics such as Xander’s character arc the episode, “The Body.” There are several I want to listen to again. (defunct 2011)
Stars Hollow – husband and wife podcast on Gilmore Girls. I haven’t seen the episodes they discuss but they are lively and sweet and I enjoy it anyway.
Movies You Should See – a group of reviewers from the U.K. who analyze various movies new and old. I enjoy the group’s easy banter. Although they are kinder to some movies than they should be, they seldom suffer dullards and fakes. (still active 2011)
Another one on Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Buff Cast. Each Season is covered by one or two podcasts. Some of them are long, about three hours. Sometimes they devolve into recaps but they include interesting trivia. (defunct 2011)
There are others but I haven’t listened to enough to know whether I recommend them or not.
Back in 2001, I had the opportunity to read Dead until Dark the first book in the series. However, it wasn’t a paranormal romance, and I wasn’t interested at the time. But with the buzz from the True Blood series, I thought I’d give it another try. I’m glad I did since the mystery/horror elements are much more appealing than the paranormal romance this time around.
Dead Until Dark
The story: a socially isolated waitress (Sookie) at a bar in rural Louisiana encounters a vampire and goes to his rescue when he is attacked in the parking lot of the bar. This action embroils her in a supernatural murder mystery.
I love Sookie’s wry observations on her own and everyone else’s behavior. She doesn’t easily accept all the bizarre revelations about the supernatural people but she doesn’t waste time protesting her new reality either. Her tenuous place in the social structure makes it believable that she’d fall into the ‘outgroup’ of vampires and such. I hope that Harris enriches all the minor characters – the community members are all quite interesting.
Living Dead in Dallas
The story: A co-worker at the bar where Sookie works is murdered. She is hired by vampires to solve the mystery and she learns far too much about supernatural world.
I was slightly disappointed with this one. It may be that the author is moving from a single novel to a series and so has to lighten the tone a bit. I also missed Sookie’s hometown politics and interactions. Dallas was less interesting to me here. I do like how Sookie is changing due to her adventures: she’s more confident, more daring and a bit more sophisticated.
Club Dead
The story: Sookie’s having boyfriend trouble and then he goes missing. She’s got to find him and upbraid him.
I don’t like the urban setting. Moreover, this one got way too painful for me. I really hated what some of the characters in this book did. So much so that I contemplated dropping the series.
Dead to World
The story: Sookie is bitter and alone after her breakup. It never rains but it pours since her brother disappears and she has an amnesiac vampire dropped into her lap (more or less).
But I did pick up the fourth book and I’m happy for doing it. Sookie’s back at home which pleases me no end. Sookie’s becoming more resilient emotionally and mentally, and I think she’s becoming a force to be reckoned with. Normally I’d find fault that every guy she meets is instantly attracted to her. But I can buy that her psychic powers are the real lure and they are all supernatural beings. No humans for Sookie.
I have read fewer books this past month – been quite busy. Thoroughly enjoying ‘dead’ series by Charlaine Harris. The next book – Dead to the World wasn’t in my library – the librarian said it’s a very popular series right now. So, I got another book in a non-vampire mystery series. The Horus Killings was the second mystery I have read set in Egypt, and I’d like to read more. I’m rereading the Betsy-Tacy series. Pierce’s Alanna series leaves me cold and I’m not sure why.
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