Downton Abbey: What Did You Think of Episode 1?

Readers, I loved it. An occasionally pat line of dialogue aside, I thought it was a splendid first episode and definitely made me eager for next Sunday night. I don't understand all this talk of "jobs" and "week-ends" however.

Leave your thoughts in the comments. They will not be entailed away to the nearest male heir, I assure you.

Here are some roundups from around the web.

Downton Abbey: My Top 5 Favorite Characters from Episode 1: "Masterpiece fans are hailing Downton Abbey as the greatest thing since Bleak House (high praise, indeed!) and Amy and I are in complete agreement so far. "--from Kim at Romancing the Tome.

Downton Abbey Poll: First Episode of this PBS Masterpiece Classic, From Jane Austen Today.

Oh, and be sure to check out The Daily Beast's roundup of the best Masterpiece shows, in honor of the venerable series' 40th anniversary.

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Downton Abbey Trailer

Masterpiece is sooooo back.

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#Emma_PBS. Did You Loooove It By the End?

Dear readers, it's long over, and this is a much-belated post. But did the conclusion charm you as much as it charmed me? Were you humiliated and uncomfortable on Box Hill or did you wish Knightley had said "badly done, Emma," a little less yelling-ly? Were you totally enamored of the romantic conclusion, or did you miss seeing the scene in which Knightley and Emma sit together and read Frank Churchill's letter (so perfect, and kind of perfectly snarky for our internet age)? Were you deliriously happy that Emma got to see the sea at long last or did you worry along with Professor Dumbledore/Squire Hamley on downers Mr. Woodhouse? And did you agree with my mother when she emailed me with the following words of wisdom:

Thought Emma was FABULOUS... You could really feel the love between her and Knightley!!!!

I had my quibbles, but the whole thing won me over utterly. So much so that Simon and I bought the DVD, in fact, as a mutual Valentine's Day gift. Yay!

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Obligatory Pre-Emma Post

It's been a roller-coaster weekend for me anticipating Emma 2009, readers. Last week I began re-reading Emma and got really excited by how funny and witty and brilliant the book is and that pumped me up for tonight. Then today I read a bunch of commenters all over the internets really trashing the adaptation and my heady anticipation took a hit.

It's confusing--Sandy Welch's adaptations (North and South and 2006's Jane Eyre) are two of the best in the last five years, so she seems the obvious choice to screenwrite. Romola Garai's Gwendolyn Harleth in Daniel Deronda is like another side of Emma Woodhouse--shallow-rich 19th century woman played as tragic instead of comic. So again, good choice in casting. I thought Johnny Lee Miller was a fine choice for Knightley, and obviously Gambon as Mr. Woodhouse is less inspired than mandatory.

Still, sometimes the right ingredients don't add up to the perfect meal. So there's nothing to do but wait and see. I'm going to keep an open mind and try to enjoy the adaptation for its own sake (even as I re-read the book just so I can get angry about more discrepancies--but there's fun in that, there is!). I'll be joining the twitter conversation as this adaptation airs--hastags #Emma_pbs and #emma.

Also, I wrote a little blog post at Speakeasy about how Clueless is my favorite Emma adaptation and how hard it is to top Alicia Silverstone's charm when casting an Emma character. Head over there and check it out and prove that Austen fatigue hasn't hit the internets.

Wives and Daughters--Book and BBC

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book is like finding an undiscovered treasure. It's a slow simmering concoction of 19th-century social observation, and has none of the gritty class and labor issues Gaskell was so passionate about in books like North and South and Mary Barton. But it also lacks those stories' high-Victorian melodrama and shows an artist truly reaching the height of her powers. Don't let the basic contours of the story fool you; as the excellent, excellent Penguin Classic introduction points out, there's a ton of profound struggle beneath W+D's surface, including a playful take on fairy tales, a hero who is based on Darwin and a Darwinian theme, and a serious interrogation of the gender roles its plot seems to support. The male heroes--Roger and Mr. Gibson--are supposed to be rational men of science, but they are both frequently undone by their own prejudices and irrationalities when it comes to the fairer sex. Molly and Cynthia each in their own way end up being far wiser, less sentimental and less easily alarmed then the men around them.

Simple as she is, Molly Gibson is a heroine for the ages--honest and faithful with a hot temper that keeps her from being a Mary Sue. Her stepmother Mrs. Clare Kirpatrick-Gibson is a stepmother par excellence, so busy trying to prove that she is NOT the archetypical wicked stepmum that she doesn't notice how miserable her clumsy machinations make her clan. Her creation definitely owes a debt to the redoubtable Mrs. Bennet, but she's an awful all her own. And Cynthia K, stepsister and friend, is an excellent ingenue, a careless flirt for whom Gaskell, and we, nonetheless retain some sympathy for.

The primary tragedy of the book is its unfinished ending, which leaves one quite breathless with unsatisfied anticipation.

As for the obligatory Davies-penned BBC miniseries, it's one of the greats, without a doubt. Definitely rent it if you haven't, and even Davies' typically unsultry conclusion can't stop you from loving every minute. The cast is a veritable hotbed of "Six Degrees of Austen Adaptations" British character actors. It includes Mr. Meagles from Little Dorrit as well as a number of Cranford's spinsters!

fanpop.com- Molly and Dr. G survey the rolling hills near Hollinford and Hamley Hall.

View all my reviews >>

A chat, and the Little Dorrit theme music!

(edited and abridged)

she: did you know
that PBS is re-airing all of Cranford
in December
to prepare us for CRANFORD II: RISE OF THE SPINSTERS
and by that I mean "return to cranford."
WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?

him: omg!!
:)
i will watch some of it with you

she: PLUS they are doing an ALL NIGHT little dorrit marathon on new year's eve
all night baby.
screw going out.
right?

him: YEAH!
@#$%! DAT!
LET'S WATCH SOME ORPHANS GET ABUSED INSTEAD!

she: [snort]
[snort]
that was me doing Mr. Pancks

him: i knew!

me: you're a damn fine gent with no bigad nonsense about you

In honor of said marathon, here's a treat, at long last: the Little Dorrit theme music coutesy of an awesome youtube user named "A Victorian Lady."

Makes me get all weepy and simultaneously creeped out just listening.

Little Dorrit, Episode 5--FINALE (Guest Blog)

Here is K, of South in the Winter, with her thoughts on the final chapter:

"Hello all! I’m very excited to be blogging about the conclusion of Little Dorrit. Apologies for the delay – I don’t have cable and I trusted to the Internet gods to save me, but as I live in Canada I had some issues with the PBS website. But all is well! I’ve been marathoning this for the past two days…

So we open with Mr. Dorrit back in Venice attempting a marriage proposal. This scene makes me squirmy with discomfort, perhaps because Mrs. General is so insufferable and Mr. Dorrit is so clearly in a state of decline. Side note: who else loves to play the “hey, it’s that character actor!” game? You will note that Mrs. General also played the evil headmistress in Matilda.

The scene where he falls apart at Mrs. Merdle’s farewell ball in Italy is heartbreaking as well. Poor Mr. Dorrit. Remember the scene where Mr. Chivery offers to let him look into the street and the noise and bustle is overwhelming? I imagine that’s what the entire Italian interlude has been. The strain of keeping the past a secret and trying to live in the open after years of confinement is just too much.

And… a double character death. Oh Dickens, why must you tug at my heartstrings so? I’m a cynic, but killing the clarinet-playing uncle is too much. I’ll just weep over here in my corner.

Hee, the Sparklers are quite the comic relief, though. “And just when he was beginning to enjoy society!” Fanny never disappoints.

As Arthur visits Miss Wade, I’m forced to ask: does anyone else find this Miss Wade/Harriet storyline boring and/or just plain odd? This is the only instance of any kind of same-sex relationship in a Dickens novel – correct me if I’m wrong, of course. But I want to see some more. And I don’t mean sex scenes.

Ah, the inevitable reunion between Arthur and Amy! My eyes are watering in preparation. But actually it’s quite restrained, another accidental meeting in the street. Claire Foy is excellent, I must say. I mean, I don’t object to looking at Matthew Macfayden but Foy has a much harder role to pull off. She manages to keep Amy right on the border between "sweet" and "saintly."

And Mr. Merdle commits suicide – in what I excitedly thought was an opium den, but it turns out to be a bathhouse. Most shocking! Wouldn’t it hurt to kill yourself with a pen knife? Apparently all of England is thrown into financial ruin. There’ll be a run on rooms at the Marshalsea!

The shockwaves ripple… the Merdles are ruined, and plan a rather cowardly (but highly entertaining) back-door exit, while Arthur is nobler and heads over to Marshalsea because he’s lost all of his money by investing in Merdle. And so the tables have turned, and the financially solvent become the debtors. I would watch a spinoff of Mrs. Merdle, Fanny and Sparkler trying to survive on nothing but his Circumlocution Office salary, spite, and parrot food. Anyone else?

Arthur is thrown into a fever by his new status as inmate at Marshalsea and has strange dreams. When he wakes, Amy is there. And you know, I think Fellowette is right – it’s not quite the right ending to the longing and restrained love story we’ve been watching. When did he realize he was in love with her? I don’t remember seeing it happen. There’s too much money talk and not enough unburdening of the soul for my liking.

Rigaud makes his reappearance and generally behaves creepily. He lays into Mrs. Clennam but I can’t understand a word of what he’s saying… however, he is threateningly arching his brows and leaning in way too close. I conclude that he is blackmailing her! Interspersed with this are shots of Harriet discovering the Missing Box of Important Papers. And… then she’s gone.

Mrs. Clennam is apparently cured by the power of Rigaud’s insane French accent, because she stumbles off and runs into Amy, telling her the whole confusing story of Arthur’s real parentage. I will admit that I had to look this part up because it puzzled me. And then the Clennam house falls down around Rigaud and Flintwitch. This is one of those dramatic but highly unrealistic Dickensian moments – like the spontaneous combustion in Bleak House – that are completely spectacular. It’s also been heavily foreshadowed, what with all the dust and creaking. I love it! Flintwitch runs through the house trying to escape and Rigaud mutters French curse words as the roof collapses on him.

This is getting too long, sorry. Let’s skip the public shaming of Mr. Casby and move right to the happy ending. John stands by stoically in the yard as Amy enters the Marshalsea. (Oh John. There are plenty of other young ladies out there. Stop making me cry.) Our lovers reunite. It’s sweet, as Arthur picks her up and spins her about, but there isn’t quite enough sweeping emotion for me. In yet another plot twist, Daniel Doyce comes back from Russia having saved the business. Doyce is wearing fur, as all travellers to Russia must.

Wedding scene! Everyone is there – including, inexplicably, Harriet and the Meagles. Where’s Pet? Hopefully not languishing in Italy still. I like that Amy is wearing a purple dress - a lot of the colours thus far (around the Dorrit family in particular) have been subdued greys and violets, and her wedding dress is in the same family but a bit brighter and happier.

And the camera freezes on Little Dorrit, now all grown up, as your cynical heartless blogger wipes away a tear. Dickens and Davies are obviously out to sell a lot of Kleenex to classic novel lovers. The John storyline alone broke my heart repeatedly. I must say, despite the dropped threads of the plot (Pet, Harriet and Miss Wade) and the somewhat disappointing end to the love story, this miniseries was highly entertaining. As always with Dickens, the secondary comic characters are so important, and the casting was uniformly excellent. What did everyone else think?

Thanks so much for the opportunity, Fellowette!"

#LittleDorrit: Share your Little Dorrit thoughts on Twitter

And speaking of literary tweets... So tonight is installment 4 of 5. People are actually using the #littledorrit hashtag as evidenced above to discuss important issues like whether Amy is a Mary-Sue, how obnoxious Mr. Dorrit is getting, whether Chivery or Clenham is the most eligible lovah and most importantly HOW ON EARTH we shall pass the time between installments. My heavens!

Please join the discussion here by using this hashtag #littledorrit or just tweeting your thoughts about the show.

And as always, feel free to drop your burning comments or questions about Clenham and Doyce and the Dorrits below (in our new spanking comments form!)

Little Dorrit, Episode 3 (Guest Blog)

Guest Post by Catherine of restlessviolet.com

Installation 3 of Dickens’ workaholic machine made into a movie! I was pretty stoked from last week’s preview of this episode. Fortunes would be restored! People would get new clothes! The handsome Mr. Clennam would smile some more! Perhaps Fanny Dorrit would lose the makeup!

But alas, Installation 3 reminded me very much of my friend’s waitressing shift today. “Everyone was crabby and mean and nobody tipped well,” she reported after escaping from Red Lobster hell.

And speaking of hell, what’s with Monsieur Rigaud? (I can’t keep track of his new incognito name in this episode.) I might have taken French all through high school but when he speaks, I just strain. (“Huh?” Rewind. “Oh.”)

But moving on to the real hell… Dear Dad Dorrit got his earthly reward for suffering through debtor’s prison: money, a house and Mrs. General. He’s continuing on in a sort of King Lear stupidity (before the madness set in), dragging all assorted baggage with him which includes children, brother and Mrs. G. Last week’s ominous scene of Dad Dorrit being to afraid to stroll out of debtor’s prison when the chance was offered hinted at so much badness. He does his bad well in this episode, being generally insufferable and pompous (but more on that later).

And to counter him is his daughter. Though Amy is portrayed as our heroine, a woman without a speck of wrong in her heart, I have some major doubts about her. Andrew Davies claims he toned down the goodness of Dickens’ Victorian Amy and no doubt he did. Our post-deconstructionist ears and eyes could hardly bear it if he had not. Still, though…despite taking in account that Amy is a product of her times, I have serious doubts on Little Dorrit.

This came to light quite early in the episode. Dad casts Clennam out -- the man who went to some lengths to restore him -- and throws the most painful rant about paying him the measly 20 something pounds Clennam gave to him in the past. Clennam doesn’t want it but Dad insists on payment and receipt. Which is all so ludicrous in the face of the thousand pounds owed to Mr. Pancks for the work he did to discover the Dorrit fortune. Pancks will never see the light of that from Dad Dorrit, and Clennam will undoubtedly pay, but we’ll see less smiles from Matthew MacFayden because of it. You suck, Dad.

But yes, anyway. To continue, Clennam leaves rather insulted by Dad and Amy rushes off to try and make amends. And what happens?

“Stay here, Amy. Are you going to do as I say?”

“I will, Father, but it is hard.”

Oh Amy, how wonderful you are. You obey your narcissist father and you also throw the button away of a man you love when you think you can’t have him (cue Harriet Smith). You meet self-sacrifice with a few tears but mostly smiles.

No doubt about it, Amy is all about the duty. But this tears at me because the Victorians were all about duty and they fully embraced the frightening self-abnegation of it all.

Dickens, duty and women bring us to someone else who was on the screen a few years ago: Bleak House’s Esther Summerson. Esther’s a good girl too, and she does her duty as well. She too is surrounded by circumstances beyond her control; circumstances that control her situation in life fully. And while Esther submits with grace, she does so without seeming weak. There’s something strong in Esther and one gets the idea that despite her difficult circumstances, she deliberately thinks out her choices and resolves to do whatever she thinks as best, no matter how hard that choice is.

Amy, however…she’ll do her duty because she’s the good character. I never believe that Amy is weighing her choices; she just does the seemingly-good over and over to the point of mindlessness. Yes, father, I will obey you because I must honor you as I always honor you. I am your favorite because I rarely, if ever, cross you and always comfort you after your raging monologues that only serve to reveal your insufferable pride.

Amy Dorrit: Daughter who honors her father, or the enabler of an arrogant old man? Or are these really just the same things, one being an euphemism... As you can see, I’m full of a doubts about Little Dorrit.

With Miss Wade however, there aren’t doubts, just mysteries. She may just be the balance to Amy’s automaton “good girl” behavior. Is she a Victorian Feminist Fury or merely someone bent on making Mr. Meagles red in the face? If she gets Mr. Gowan shived in the gut by Rigaud, I may love her forever.

Finally, yes there are new dresses (thank God). And no, Fanny Dorrit doesn’t lose the makeup. Le sigh.

Little Dorrit Time. R U READY For Installment Three?

Here it comes, down the pipes. Time to get our Dickens on!

• Enchanted Serenity of Period Films has a detailed list of characters from the series and snippets of interviews with their actors.
  
• And Amy at Romancing the Tome has a list of famous celebrities who've appeared in Dickens adaptations. To that list I would add the immortal Paul Scofield in the title role of Martin Chuzzlewit back in the 90s. Good stuff.

Little Dorritt Episode Two (a live-guest-blog!)

Episode 2

Guest Blog Post by a TRUE egalitarian bookworm chick, Beth Dunn

Story of my life: I always love all the wrong people. All throughout the Harry Potter movie series, I was that creepy 30-something in the back row, moaning in erotic bliss whenever Snape oozed across the screen. Could have used an occasional shower, sure, but Christ that voice.

Trouble is, once I fall in love with one of your former characters, it is almost impossible to make me hate you even when you play a baddie. OK ESPECIALLY when you play a baddie. Because that just plays into my already well established ATTRACTION to baddies, and what you get is, well…

…me, sitting down to watch the second episode of Little Dorrit (which no I haven’t read or ever watched or anything before I am as untouched as Darcy’s precious little sister), and I am already rooting HARD for Dan Pegotty Flintwitch to pitch that cranky old lady down the stairs one of these dark, rainy nights. Just for not ever letting dreamy old Arthur ever touch her. I mean, honestly. When has young Clennam ever heard “don’t touch me” from a lady? C’MERE YOU.

And of course Andy Serkis Gollem Rigaud can roll his wicked old eyes at me anytime. LOVE him. Randy old bugger.

So yes, I suppose my other inclinations and affiliations are all as Mr. Dickens would have them be right now, as we begin episode two (which God knows was probably episode 317 back when he was serializing this stuff in teasing little thimble-sized doses in The Journals Of The Day). I’m quite in love with young Arthur Clennam, half in love with that puppy at the gate of the jail, and… I can’t stand Pet. So I’ve got that much right, at least.

But I am also secretly sort of in love with Miss Ward, who will no doubt reward me for my affection one of these days with unspeakable cruelty and wickedness.

I can only hope.

SO. Episode two. I am a big fan of the Live Blog format, so I have been typing all these prologue-y musings with the beginning of the episode on freeze frame – the new PBS intro music, really, accessorized with the lovely Colin Firth’s face beaming at me (quite insupportably) through gauzy red curtains. Let’s put him out of his adorableness and hit PLAY.

Ah! Puppy! Young John Chivery! And the elder Mr. Dorrit! Let us begin.

Have I mentioned yet that I covet those soft caps worn by doddering old gentlemen in these things? They look so COMFORTABLE. One can hardly get a good doddering on without one.

Ooh, Pet has an evil emo interloper suitor. He looks like that insufferable twit with the hair in his face from Mansfield Park. Well good. He can have her, silly little simpering thing with an overbite.

Here comes Puppy, literally cap in hand, to propose to Amy by the river.

(What was that old comic bit? Don’t go to the river!!!)

Aw crap, this proposal scene is going to hurt, isn’t it. John is such an adorable little thing, and so openhearted and kind and pure and OH GOD NO JOHN DON’T CRY.

Oh don’t cry. Oh how awful. Excuse me. I need to hit pause and sob alone for a few minutes. Crap crap crap crap crap.

Way to rip my heart out in the first bloody five minutes of the episode, assholes. Goddammit.

OK. Better stock up on tissues and settle down.

Meanwhile, back in the land of the Upper Class Twit, Young Clennam is inexplicably captivated by the kind of empty-headed blond girl-child apparently favored by gentlemen of his class. Look at him. He’s got actual stars in his eyes.

HEY ASSHOLE. Amy is over here breaking her best friend’s heart by the river, all so she can keep fingering your button. Show a little respect.

Tattycoram is the only one in the drawing room with any sense of decorum, and storms out of this putrid scene, apparently aghast at the awfulness of it all. Good instincts, kid. Very sound.

Father Dorrit is rather adorable, in his soft knit cap and his self-delusional grandstanding with his brother. But I do wish he would catch on and stop being so damn tactless with Chivery senior, while John is inside licking his wounds…

Oh god no more crying. William Dorrit’s little monologue of distress, after he sees Amy weeping with the sadness of it all, and then he realizes what a sad, selfish, tactless Dad he has been, is killing me. Crying Dads really get to me, too.

Why did I get assigned the Crying Episode? This is going to take me forever to get through, what with all the pausing and the weeping.

Thank god, now we can get back to some good old-fashioned evil-watching with Rigaud and Pegotty Flintwitch-the-Inexplicably-Other crossing paths. Hilarity can only ensue.

Oh lord, Flintwitch, don’t be drunkenly lured down dark alleys – NEAR THE RIVER NO LESS – by handsome, hairy Frenchmen who slip you roofies in your wine. RULES TO LIVE BY.

Stabby stabby stabby SPLASH. Happens every time. What an enthusiastic murderer Monsieur Rigaud is turning out to be.

What a MARVELOUS exchange between the little sharpie Fanny and the big sharpie, young Sparkler’s ma. Not much separates those two, when you get right down to it.

Oh God, Rigaud smells like my first boyfriend. YES I CAN SMELL HIM THROUGH THE TV SET. Like… unwashed denim and thrift shop leather jacket. Yum.

So Amy is going to work for shy, retiring little Flora, now. That ought to produce some heartfelt confidences.

Hey HEY and why not get started on that agenda right away?

Flora: “ILOVEARTHURCLENNAM ILOVEARTHURCLENNAM ILOVEARTHURLENNAM OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH YESIDOOOOO”

OOH Amy you industrious little fairy. Good job outta you, bearing up under that verbal flood.

AH YES and now the RIGHT man walks down the stairs by the river to talk to Little Dorrit. Well hello, Arthur. And what do you have to say for yourself?

Arthur: “I understand these matters of the heart, Amy… There’s someone I care about, very much. And I have held back from declaring my love.”

Amy: “…”

Arthur: “You don’t know her.”

OH SMACK. More crying by the river.

Arthur: “Are we still friends?”

Amy: “Yes, (SOB) we’re still friends.”

Yep. I’ve had that conversation.

Hey everybody, I know! Let’s all fight with our families and then go back to the river. And cry.

Swear to GOD Amy if you throw that button in the river I will smack you so hard

crap.

Nobody ever listens to me.

Mr. Pancks indulges in a nice bit of foreshadowing, grabbing Amy’s palm and going all gypsy on it. He is starting to really like his job, I think.

And Dickensian Italian Stereotype Mr. Cavaletto is clearly getting laid in his new digs with Mrs. Plawdish. Good for him. Good for Mrs. Plawdish. Oh wait, Mr. Plawdish is still alive. Whoops. My bad.

AAAHHHH ANDREW DAVIES I BLAME YOU for that awful shot of Mr. Doice with the steam coming out of his ears, followed by sad little spurts of water!!! You sir will have to answer for THAT in hell. (as for so much else…)

Now Clennam is making his sweet, ill-considered offer of marriage to Pet. And another proposal bites the dust. No crying in this one, though. Nope. Clennam thinks about it for a second, notices (finally) that Pet’s upper lip is always blue with frostbite from hanging a foot away from the rest of her face, and laughs with the sheer joy of escape. Dodged a bullet that time, m’boy.

He even goes so far as to wish the two lovers well. Yes, I’m sure you’ll both be very very happy, you frightful, insipid, worthless little twerps.

Good day!

Mr. Chivery and Mr. Dorrit make up and restore their friendship after Amy breaks John’s heart forever, and in return Mr. Chivery offers to mock Mr. Dorrit with a glimpse of the world he can never have again. And in a surprise move to none, Mr. Dorrit is completely institutionalized, and can’t even step outside.

Get busy living, or get busy dying. “IT’S HIM! With the CAKE!!!” Maggy knows what she likes in a man.

“Has Mr. Clennam behaved improperly towards you?”

“No, father, not at all.” THAT’S THE PROBLEM, FATHER

Aaaaaand Tattycoram is ready for her long-awaited psychotic break.

Good for her. Every teenager needs a good psychotic break now and again.

Let’s see just what sort of wickedness that Miss Wade is up to anyway.

…huh. Seems like a nice enough lady to me. I suppose I’ll find out more about her LATER.
I have to say that Mr. Pancks is rapidly becoming a crowd favorite.

He is clearly so VERY pleased with himself, so transparently not here to wish Mrs. Clennam her good health! Snort snort chuckle snort! (OH he has made me clap my hands in delight!) Uncle Ned is dead, is he? IS HE???

I smell Dickensian-deus-ex-machina!!! Wheee!

And we close with my great smelling ex-boyfriend Rigaud arriving on the very doorstep of the House of Clennam. Whomever will he penetrate murder next?

STAY TUNED

(And thank you for letting me guest-blog! What fun!)

[you're more than welcome--Fellow-ette]

Just re-watched Ep 1. of Masterpiece's "The Buccaneers"

Anyone seen it? This is my third time embarking down the 7-hour path that's this miniseries full of conniving, double-crossing, sex, scandal, and all kinds of other proto-gossip girl stuff. Based on Edith Wharton's last (and unfinished) novel, it tells the story of four "nouveau riche" American girls who find more acceptance in London than in Old New York, whose money buys them entree into a society of dissipated landed gentry still obsessed with rules of decorum but desperate for money. Really, liberally adapted (marital rape! gay subtext! syphilis!) and with a tacked-on ending, it's quite juicy, but it's tempered with a sober dose of hatred for the marriage-prison and the hypocrisy of the British landed classes as befits Wharton. Connie Booth (aka Polly from Fawlty Towers) and Mira Sorvino make appearances along with a number of BBC staples and a few American actresses including Carla Gugino, who's much more likeable here than she was as an agent/love interest for Vince in Entourage.



I know there are some Greg Wise fans out there... in this series he plays Guy Thwaite, which is a great role. Basically he gets to be Willoughby, but a good Willoughby. I'm looking forward to watching the rest soon!

Little Dorrit Episode 1

Little Dorrit: Episode 1

Guest post by two of my absolute favorite ladies in the blogosphere, Kim and Amy of Romancing the Tome.

Debt.

Can’t we all relate? It might technically be called a “prison,”but truth be told, the Marshalsea didn’t look half bad during last night’s U.S. premiere of Little Dorrit. So let’s pretend that the Dorrits’ digs didn’t exceed, in square footage, that of our own humble abodes for which we pay an arm and a leg. Let’s just pretend we wouldn’t kill for a fawning “doorman” like John Chivery to stroke our egos day-in and day-out. Instead, let’s reflect on a few of the things we learned from Installment #1 of the Charles Dickens classic:

•In the market for a new job? Take heed: If your prospective employer says, “I’m a terror when roused,” it might not be an ideal employment situation. Especially when the office resembles the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

•Travel in Victorian England was almost as inconvenient as it is today. Still, being quarantined in Marseilles beats getting stuck on the tarmac in a cramped, foul-smelling metal tube.

•When you feel tempted to bash in your sort-of sister’s skull with a lawn bowling ball or are otherwise reduced to a state of spastic rage, try counting to five-and-twenty. Or, seek solace and
counsel from a creepily sympathetic closet case.

•When you refer to your hot and gentlemanly son as a “vessel of sin,” you should understand that for some red-blooded female viewers, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Not in the least.

•Hospital food was once pretty decent, if Maggie is any arbiter. Also, when she was rolling around in Arthur’s bed eating cake, we have to admit were a little jealous. That’s our idea of a good time.

•Dads are soooooo embarrassing!

•Sometimes, a “gentleman” and a “scoundrel” are one and the same. Sadly, this is all too true.

•Amy Dorrit is not the sort of girl you could have a nice bitch fest or gossip session with, but let’s all breathe a big sigh of relief that actress Claire Foy managed to strain out some of the saccharine, at least. She’s a little unbearable in the book.

•When two clever ones tell you you’re getting married, it’s pointless to resist. Poor Affery!

•It’s okay to hate someone named “Pet,” because they probably really are kind of annoying.

• Lascivious Frenchmen? Not to be trusted — or slept with.

•The Circumlocution Office: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Was that Barney Frank and Harry Reid?

• Women in China are different “down there,” pigtails on women of a certain age are not becoming, and sometimes, misty-watercolored memories of the childhood sweetheart you were
cruelly separated from are best not revisited. Also, in interior design, a little bit of pink goes a long way.

•Stray buttons are sexy.

And finally, yes, we know the Marshalsea was really overflowing with wastewater and the smell of privies, but we are completely enraptured by this first episode in the series anyway and love the Gothic touches reminiscent of the Bleak House adaptation. As in the book, Little Dorrit has proved well worth the wait...

Thanks so much to Amy and Kim! I'll never forget that you guys linked to me when I was just starting this blog (and I begged you to.) Your wit is unparalleled. And next week, tune in to a review from the highly-esteemed BethDunn.

#LittleDorrit Hashtag for Literary TweetersI

In an effort to be whimsical, I am trying to start a Little Dorrit hashtag that we can use for the next five weeks while it's on to talk about it over the twitterwaves. It's #littledorrit.

You can start out by just searching other for Dorrit lovers here: http://tinyurl.com/cl85yf

And yes, in case, you're wondering I did absolutely love it.

The Times Hearts Little Dorrit

The Times' Alessandra Stanley spends much time, as everyone is rightly doing, pointing out the timely and remarkable parallel between Dickens' great financial swindler Mr. Merdle and the real-life Bernie Madoff. All in all she gives the new series an excellent review and notes, as I did in my review of the book, how superior the "in-between" characters in the novel are to the good and bad ones.

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Both Ms. Foy, as Amy, and Mr. Macfadyen, as Clennam, are persuasive and touching. But William Dorrit is at the core of this tale, and Mr. Courtenay does the role full justice, layering the pathos of the elderly debtor with rich swaths of self-pity and vanity.

Mr. Merdle’s fund is too good to be true, but “Little Dorrit” lives up to Dickens’s every word.

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Make sure to tune in soon for a guest-review from Romancing the Tome's Kim and Amy, and feel free to drop your initial impressions in the comments section below.

David Copperfield: What Did You Think?

So I understand from the twittersphere that there was a lot more Copperfield action on local PBS stations last night. I thoroughly enjoyed Part II, particularly that HEEP of infamy. My only quibble is that it could have gotten the full 6-7 hour treatment, and almost felt too rushed at the end.

What did those of you who saw part I online or on tv last night think? Anyone else catch the conclusion?

David Copperfield, The Review

So on Sunday night I tuned into David Copperfield (was it on in your parts? I heard from a Chicagoan tweet-buddy that it didn't air there). It was the classic opulent, true to the book, well-acted Masterpiece/BBC production. If I say that it was exactly how I expected it to be, that seems to be selling it short. But it's not. Cause for real, when you know it's a BBC job with Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Smith, Ian McKellan Imelda Staunton and more, you know you're going to get the goods.

And get them we did. I was shocked (as I often am with the Beeb but shouldn't be), by how perfectly the settings always gel with my memories of reading the books. I found Betsey Trotwood's cottage on the cliff, young Mrs. Copperfield's house at the end of the lane, and the Peggoty's ship-cabin near the pier frighteningly close to how they appeared in my imagination (I felt the same way about Wuthering Heights and Tess).

The evil characters--Murdstone + his sister, Creakle, and the oh-so-'umble Uriah Heep--sent the requisite shivers down my spine. And as for the stars, McKellen was deliciously creepy and Radcliffe absolutely adorable, but Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins really delivered the winning performances of the night as a pair of quirky and odd but genuinely good caretakers for young Davy. I liked Imelda Staunton as Mrs. Micawber, especially her repetition of "I shall NEVER desert Mr. Micawber!" but my favorite scene by far was when Maggie Smith's Betsey Trotwood told off the evil Murdstone siblings and said "if you ever trample your donkey on my lawn again, I shall knock off your bonnet." SMACK!

So in conclusion, David Copperfield= awesome book and mini-series, and Maggie Smith= top EBC goddess for life. I anticipate part 2 most eagerly.

DAVID COPPERFIELD TIME--(hopen 'fread)

OMG READERZ I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Here's some quotes to warm you up for tonight's show. From the illustrious Wikipedia, a run-down of the influence of David Copperfield:

Tolstoy regarded Dickens as the best of all English novelists, and considered Copperfield to be his finest work, ranking the "Tempest" chapter (chapter 55,LV - the story of Ham and the storm and the shipwreck) the standard by which the world's great fiction should be judged. Henry James remembered hiding under a small table as a boy to hear installments read by his mother. Dostoevsky read it enthralled in a Siberian prison camp. Franz Kafka called his first book Amerika a "sheer imitation". James Joyce paid it reverence through parody in Ulysses. Virginia Woolf, who normally had little regard for Dickens, confessed the durability of this one novel, belonging to "the memories and myths of life". It was Freud's favorite novel.

And of course, as we all know, The Catcher in the Rye's opening is an explicit rejection of the following, the most famousest opening passage of the novel itself.

I AM BORN

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

Now, bring it on, oh illustrious BBC/PBS/ Cast of Harry Potter team! And readers, feel free to drop your comments/reactions below. I eagerly await your learned opinions.

"Oliver Twist" (Masterpiece Classic) Review is up at PBS

My Oliver Twist review/bloggage is up at PBS' remotely connected blog. Please read and comment, there or here. And don't forget to tune in on Sunday Night. It's a really excellent production from the same director as Wuthering Heights (with some of the same cast members, too).

Here's a taste:

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"I'm usually a proponent of true-to the book adaptations, but "Oliver Twist" has entered the popular consciousness to such an extent that it's appropriate for new versions to take liberties. After all, if we can easily imagine an onscreen "Oliver" where the characters burst into songs describing pickpocketing, prostitution, murder, and abuse, we can surely handle a few plot elisions and shifted emphases."

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Re-Live-Blogging PBS' "Jane Austen Season" Sense and Sensibility Installment TWO

Just as the PBS showing of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece Classic tonight is a re-broadcast, so is this a re-liveblog. So warning, SPOILERS AHEAD. Read ahead at your own risk ;)
See you next week for Chazz Dickens-mania!


SO I've been thinking about the idea of the two film versions as "companion" pieces, each picking up on a different aspect of the novel. Ang/Emma's version (S&S95) riffs on Austen's satire of Marianne's out-of-whack romanticism and her infatuation with Willoughby, and also plays up on the differences between the sisters ("I compare my behavior to what it ought have been. I compare it to yours!"). Davies version picks up on the precarious situation of women in the time down to the house perched vulnerably on the edge of cliffs/crashing waves, which is obviously one of Austen's favorite themes, and it's treated particularly strongly in this novel. Even the darker hues and music fit into it...here goes.


9:01 pm-- Why is Gillian "Lily Bart" Anderson talking about Tom LeFroy? What does this fave to do with anything? Enough of this crap, bring on Elinor and Marianne!

9:04--Elinor says there must be "some explanation" for Edward's not visiting. Turns out, she's right, cause she's Elinor and she has so much sense.

9:05--Marianne recites some poem and talks like Cathy in Wuthering Heights. 'He is in me! He is with me all the time...I am Heathcliff!"

9:07--They talk about whether money can buy happiness. Elinor prosaic, Marianne poetic. Edward utterly tortured, dying to speak words unspoken, to utter sentiments un-uttered.

9:09--The famed, oft-discussed Edward WOOD-CHOPPING in the rain scene. Less sexy than sticky. No Darcy in the lake, that's for sure.

9:12--Still, it has affected Elinor; she lies sleepless and troubled.

9:13--BREAK from live-blogging while I devour my Vietnamese noodles and watch the screen uninterrupted.

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9:30--And I'm back. Just in time for the misty-morning DUEL?? Huh? Is this a fantasy scene or what? Oh, I get it. They're dueling over Eliza. That's what they did back then. [In fact, as Raquel mentioned in the last week's liveblog, Austen mentions it in an elliptical conversation as related by Brandon]

9:31--In the interim, there have been some wonderful scenes... but a lot of them are just like S&S 95. Stopcomparingstopcomparing.

9:35--Marianne: "Happy Elinor, you have no idea of what I suffer?"
Um, yes she does you selfish, overly "sensible" girl! She just has the "sense" to hide it.

9:37--Brandon tells Eliza's tale of woe to Elinor. Like I said, the theme of the social situation of women is everywhere--but doesn't the duel undercut it a bit? Precarious women, yeah, but who cares when they could be defended by manly men with their swords?

9:40--Margaret delivers an abridged version of Anne's speech at the end of "Persuasion." "Girls must sit around and wait for things to happen. Men ride about the country!"

9:41--Oh sheeet, Brandon visits Eliza's daughter and her infant. Isn't it kind of f'ed up that he's Eliza's "father" figure and she's the same age as Marianne, whom he wants to bone?

Ouch, he tells her about Willoughby's engagement.

9:43--Fanny Ferrars calls Marianne "damaged goods." John Dashwood says Marianne has "lost her bloom" and urges Elinor to "try for Colonel Brandon." Mrs. Ferrars the elder is reincarnated as Lady Catherine de Bourgh from P&P '95 and gets into a staring contest with Marianne.
In short, they suck.
But this dinner party scene is awesome. Virginia Woolf should write a stream-of-consciousness narration detailing everyone's feelings.

9:46-- Oof, oof, oof, the scenes between Elinor and Miss Steele, and Edward and Elior and Miss Steele, are so painful. And so perfect. The longing in his face, and in Elinor's, is beautifully rendered.

9:51--Anne spills the beans. The defendants stand trial at the course of the elder Mrs. Ferrars. So much glaring!

9:53--I just love this portrayal of Edward.. even more than that of H-h-hugh Grant... his pain is so apparent, and he's seen as so much more an upright man than just a doddering fool.

9:55--Elinor's big scene: "Let me assure you, I have been very unhappy."

9:56--This scene is both derivative of S&S '95 AND P&P '95, what with the silhouettes against the windows. But yes, it's really sad. Poor Elinor. Losing your man to Lucy Steele... it doesn't get worse than this.

9:59--Elinor and Marianne talk about the menz. "Perhaps they see us not as people but as playthings, Elinor," says Marianne.

10:01--Marianne fantasizes in the rain about kissing Willoughby. Brandon comes riding up to her rescue, unlike in the book--it does feel like Ang Lee's version has become dogma, like as Mags said, this film is as much a remake of that one as it is of the book.

10:03--Colonel Brandon holds Marianne's hand. Pedophile alert! Naw, jk, it's mad sexy. He's a sweet, stern not-really-old man.

10:07--Willoughby's "confession." He's just a whiny emo-schoolboy here. No Greg Wise, I repeat. And Elinor gives it to him good--no sign of the pity she feels in the novel.

10:11--Marianne talks about how Colonel Brandon is a true Romantic for keeping faith with Eliza throughout the years. "It is not what we say... but what we do." This explaines the connection between Brandon and Marianne, and why Brandon loves her instead of Elinor, who seems to be a better match.

10:12--OK Davies, why follow up that great speech with comparing women to horses who need to be tamed? Or is Elinor just being deeply ironic?


Another break while I watch the end and savor it.

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10:31--So the ending was wonderful, I even choked up a bit, but I have to wonder why again Elinor started sobbing convulsively just like Emma Thompson did. The book describes it as Elinor " burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. " Does it follow that they must be hiccoughing tears? Ah, well. Maybe it does! It does feel wonderful to see Elinor release her feelings. It's so cathartic.

But showing the evolution of the Marianne-Brandon relationship and the talk between the sisters on the beach were all well-done.

Companion pieces. I have to see the two films as companion pieces. Must stop comparing!

Well, it's been a wonderful Jane Austen season. See you next time there are six Jane Austen movies in the same year. Probably in 2012 or even sooner, sigh ;)