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Don Basilio
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« Reply #165 on: 19:07:35, 08-08-2008 » |
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Did they do the Ents?
The Shire is not Celtic - it is a cosy H V Morton fantasy. My favourite part as I remember. Did you not get stuck up Lobelia Baggins getting her come uppance? To find the Cosmic Forces of Evil in the comedy suburbia of the Shire was very telling.
Mind you haven't read the books for ages. Only saw first film.
I would have thought Tom Bobadil was unfilmable, except as something cringe makingly twee.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #166 on: 19:20:42, 08-08-2008 » |
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Did they do the Ents?
The Shire is not Celtic - it is a cosy H V Morton fantasy. My favourite part as I remember. Did you not get stuck up Lobelia Baggins getting her come uppance? To find the Cosmic Forces of Evil in the comedy suburbia of the Shire was very telling.
There were certainly Ents:  Not quite as I had always imagined, but very effective nonetheless. I'd always seen them as more like very ancient, decaying oak trees, with branches drooping towards the ground, moving very slowly and stiffly:  (That picture was taken in the Sunart Oakwoods on the West Coast of Scotland, quite the most Fangorn-like place I've ever visited) |
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« Last Edit: 19:22:27, 08-08-2008 by perfect wagnerite »
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #167 on: 09:16:03, 09-08-2008 » |
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Like with any film producer, its how they perceived the book. The location of New Zealand, I thought was very good for LOTR. Great expanse of country, most suitable.
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #168 on: 09:38:55, 09-08-2008 » |
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But but but but but but but but but but but...
The whole way that the ents got involved in the war was ALL WRONG!
It was just WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Hooooooom.
And I don't see why they didn't stick to the plot unless it was to make them seem heroic.
I think it's important that they believe that they will survive whatever happens until they see the proof with their own eyes.
I spent the whole of the Two Towers muttering 'That doesn't happen'. It's full of silliness.
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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martle
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« Reply #169 on: 09:56:38, 09-08-2008 » |
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Hooooooom.
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Green. Always green.
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #170 on: 10:00:51, 09-08-2008 » |
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Hooooooom.
Entism. It's how the ents hoon. Wooden gates, see? Period instruments init. Pre-Suddentime. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #171 on: 10:19:45, 09-08-2008 » |
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So, hh, a misrepresentation of a similar order to Disney's Sword in the Stone, let alone (saints preserve us) their Winnie the Pooh?
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #172 on: 10:51:22, 09-08-2008 » |
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So, hh, a misrepresentation of a similar order to Disney's Sword in the Stone, let alone (saints preserve us) their Winnie the Pooh?
Or The Black Cauldron, which completely sentimentalised and Christianised Lloyd Alexander's original books and thereby the Mabinogion. Not quite as I had always imagined, but very effective nonetheless. I'd always seen them as more like very ancient, decaying oak trees, with branches drooping towards the ground, moving very slowly and stiffly:
Does anyone remember the BBC adaptation of The Children of Green Knowe? [I'm sure that it was called The House at Green Knowe... Strange.] I haven't seen it since I was a child, but I do remember it being distinctly creepy. Gave my sister nightmares (though more about the statue of St Christopher... which is possibly quite telling - the supernatural forces of Christendom become equally as threatening (and historically distant) as the natural (pagan) forces) for weeks. The ents are supposed to be threatening and sinister when the hobbits first encounter them. I don't think that this was achieved in the film AT ALL. It's also worth saying that the Bombadil episode gains more weight when it is viewed in light of the ents. It would probably have involved spreading the story out over four films rather than three (but let's face it, there wasn't exactly faithfulness to the original text when it came to the distribution of the story) but they could have created a real sense of darkness with Old Man Willow and the Barrow-wights, with the influence of Bombadil being an important pre-sentiment of the power of Galadriel. But never mind. It was not toby. For Tolkein, nature is not as straightforward and pretty as it seems to be presented in the LotR films. While it is important that the creatures of Sauron and Saruman are perversions of the natural order of things, left to its own devices, nature can be fearsome and threatening. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #173 on: 14:38:03, 09-08-2008 » |
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Thanks to one very kind member I am listening to Maxwell Davies' arrangement of Sandy Wilson's score for the Ken Russell The Boyfriend.
That's a work for which I am very fond indeed of both the film and the original. I got to know the original through one live performance and then banging out the melodies from a piano score with one finger. Fortunately I knew enough of musical notation to do so.
The musical sends up (and improves on) No! No! Nanette. The film sends up Golddiggers of 1930 something. Both are glorious.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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pim_derks
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« Reply #174 on: 14:57:48, 09-08-2008 » |
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Thanks to one very kind member I am listening to Maxwell Davies' arrangement of Sandy Wilson's score for the Ken Russell The Boyfriend. Glad to know that it arrived safely, D-B!  |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #175 on: 17:04:22, 09-08-2008 » |
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'A Canterbury Tale' sounds like one I should try and watch. I'd be very interested to know what you think of it, IGI. It really shouldn't be the sort of film that appeals to me at all. There's some Christian symbolism lurking in the background, and not always in the background, which would normally have me eying up the exit doors. But the whole thing worms its way into you in an odd and not altogether welcome way. Well, I've just watched this; it quite took me back, watching a b&w film on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The story is rather odd, but very enjoyable too; I know what you mean about the Christian symbolism as the trio receive their blessings when they reach Canterbury, but there's something rather moving about it, especially when Gibbs plays the cathedral organ. Some beautiful, panoramic shots of the Kent landscape and the whole film has a nostalgic feel. The scenes showing the bomb damage, with the signs marking where the shops once stood was poignant. At the beginning, even in the near dark, I thought I recognised the voice of Charles Hawtrey as the stationmaster, and so it proved. It must have been one of his first films. Thanks to Ted and George for the recommendation! |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #176 on: 08:13:57, 10-08-2008 » |
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Is this film still available?
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #177 on: 08:46:35, 10-08-2008 » |
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Is this film still available?
Sure is, bbm!Last night, between bouts of trying to solve martle's fiendish NMC puzzle, I watched Master and Commander, which I saw recommended by wilf over at TOP and I thoroughly enjoyed that too. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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brassbandmaestro
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« Reply #178 on: 08:49:09, 10-08-2008 » |
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At that price IGI, one has to order it right now. I always ask the mrs first, whatever the price!! I am surprised that wilf isnt a member on these boards really.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #179 on: 09:47:46, 10-08-2008 » |
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but there's something rather moving about it, especially when Gibbs plays the cathedral organ. And you shouldn't really experience a surge of tearful emotion at the redemptive power and renewed erotic promise of the act of taking a tarpaulin off a caravan should you? Gets me every time.  I'm delighted and astonished to find that other people find something in this film. I thought you had to be as peculiar, confused and emotionally mixed up as me. But then I find that with a lot of art: the realisation that other people are weird too. At the beginning, even in the near dark, I thought I recognised the voice of Charles Hawtrey as the stationmaster, and so it proved. It must have been one of his first films. And Esma Cannon puts in an appearance too. There's a Carry On film in there somewhere struggling to get out.  |
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« Last Edit: 12:38:00, 10-08-2008 by George Garnett »
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