Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 590718 times)

nlhome · « **Reply #4360 on:** May 30, 2020, 08:02:02 PM »

How many of you have read a book,
then watched a movie that was based on that same book?

Were you disappointed?
Or elated that they hadn't made any significant changes?
Or even surprised to discover the movie was even better than the book?

We've expanded this discussion as we're all restricted to our homes with this coronavirus pandemic. If you've found good movies to watch or shows on TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime or wherever, please come share with us.

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Books Into Movies Now on DVD
Recent Movies Based on Books
Books in a Series by Their Authors
Movies Based on the Book

Join us in an ongoing discussion of this very popular subject right now.
Pull up a chair, take off your shoes, pour yourself a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and join in!

Rosemary, the Mitford series was very popular. I think it can get cloying, if that's the word I mean, if the books are read too close together. But maybe that's just me. I get a little cynical about religion, and there is quite a bit in the books. But they are definitely an uplifting read. Not near as saccharine as the movie I watched.

Today we walked down to the farm market. I didn't buy much, just eggs, a cinnamon roll to split with Tom when we had a coffee break back home, and then I needed some sympathy cards and anniversary cards. I was not looking forward to going to a store, but one of the vendors at the market had handmade cards and she helped me find ones with the simple messages I needed. So, that meant no visit to the store for those. Almost everyone at the market, except the dentist's wife, had a mask on. It was not too warm, barely got above 70 by afternoon, so masks were not uncomfortable.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4361 on:** May 31, 2020, 03:02:07 AM »

Nothing as nlhome says, saccharine about the new series shown on PBS tonight called Résistance - Talk about an edge of your seat hour - Nazi occupied 1940s France as mostly teenage university students and some professors do what they can against the Huns and the French who it appear are as bad as the Germans. Part of the program tonight had them sneaking American and British pilots, who were not rescued at Dunkirk out of France to Portugal. Yes, all done with captions but very easy to follow - have no idea who any of the actors are but it is well done - So far no clichés typical of most WWII resistance plots.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4362 on:** May 31, 2020, 06:36:19 AM »

Ginny, I only got to see about half of the first episode of The Real Marygold Hotel before I was interrupted and didn't get back to it. I wasn't all that impressed, but first episodes are often not a good judge of a series as a whole. I hope to try again this evening. I don't know any of the people, although I must have seen Miriam Margolyes in one of the few Harry Potters I watched. Margolyes struck me as rather amusing, especially when she was standing in the doorway without her pants on and remarking how she thought she ought to put them on. I am not into heat with humidity so I empathized with their having to deal with.

I even missed the capsule launch and had to find a clip that wasn't full of commentator babble and long. Finally found that LA Times broadcast the clip I wanted, the launch itself and the booster landing, without news anchors interrupting Launch Control. The station has Dragon in view. I've just put up the live feed for the docking of Dragon with the International Space Station. Docking is scheduled for about 10:30am EST (14:20 GMT).

PatH · « **Reply #4363 on:** May 31, 2020, 08:48:50 AM »

Frybabe, check out the NASA website live stream if that's not what you're watching.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4364 on:** June 01, 2020, 01:31:09 AM »

I did remember to put off mowing the lawn until after the Dragon docked with ISS today. And, I got back in just in time to see the hatch open and the guys all line up for their obligatory group photo and having to deal with big-wig speechifying. I didn't stick around for much of that.

Watched the newscast of the Philadelphia mess for a few minutes. I am absolutely amazed that so many police cars were busted into and burned with hardly a police presence in sight. One brave fire truck made it in to put one of the car fires out. Of course there was the looting. It truly mystifies me how people think any of that helps.

PatH · « **Reply #4365 on:** June 01, 2020, 11:33:38 AM »

The whole thing fascinated me. I watched the approach intermittently, checking in at intervals, the the docking, and all the fussing around fixing things up so the Dragon's crew could enter, and on through the speechifying. I loved watching how skillfully the station commander worked in zero g, and trying to figure out his tricks.

So why was I happy spending so much time watching someone connect unidentified pieces of cord and tubing? I hadn't quite realized how completely negative all my input from the outside world has been lately. And here I was watching people doing part of something that I care a lot about, that's very impressive, and extremely important eventually for mankind. And nobody was dying or killing someone, or trashing a political system, or even being rude. It was like a breath of fresh air, reminding me of our good side, and what we are capable of, and it lifted my spirits for the whole day.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4366 on:** June 01, 2020, 12:40:07 PM »

Yes, it was so hard watching people's dreams ransacked and go up in flame - the depravity of people to actually hijack the legitimate anger or those who were protesting without destroying their city. Even shutting off every link to the news It was difficult to settle down. Reading how some in the family appeared to support those engaged in their uncontrollable-caused-mayhem till I finally just called my son for a chat - he and I have much in common and I never had to say a word - he so diplomatically said he had shut off the news that was no longer impartial news and began to share so much good news about how his business was picking up beyond his dreams and then what shows he has been watching and finally told me about the CBS Sunday night movie that was starting in a short bit -

I took his tip and what a relief to finally get out of myself watching Indiana Jones - the entire premise of the Holy Grail was so perfect - we called each other a few times during the movie to remark on something we were seeing - a delight - And then PBS was running back to back Downton Abbey starting at 7: through till midnight and so when the movie was over I watched the last couple of episodes of Downton that they said was the last time PBS was going to show Downton - as perfect a series as it has been it is time

This entire weekend of mayhem reminded me of how easy it is for those intent on a mission to hijack our work and dreams to further their mission - the difference between how those who were horrified in Austin reacted on Friday compared to what happened when others not from Austin whipped up rage and chaos on Saturday and Sunday, I finally really saw how outside forces can hit a nerve that where many of us do not act out, it unsettles and the mind the battle within begins to pull at us back to positive thinking.

Not sure what makes that difference but it was on display in the movie Indiana Jones and earlier it was on display as many Black men were protecting vulnerable whites and even the police and of course on display here on Senior Learn and with others who purposefully fill their time with positive experiences. I wonder what makes the difference - because given what I have observed, even in my own family, advanced education is not the cause of making that choice and given that we here on Senior Learn are all living spread out all over the map it is not location or exposure to certain local media that makes the difference. I do see how for some, a hopeful dream for others can hijack reality as much as those on a mission to push for destruction that is the seed bed for Shock Doctrine that we saw Katrina provide in New Orleans.

Well found two videos I'm anxious to watch - mundane but necessary a video on chair fitness for seniors but the other - someplace I heard a director saying the most perfect of all scripts was Long Day's Journey into Night and so I downloaded from Amazon the movie - and intend to read the book to see how it was handled by the movie director.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4367 on:** June 02, 2020, 12:07:21 PM »

Ginny - I agree, one of the plus sides of not being able to go out and do what we usually do is how much we have discovered on TV and radio.

I have started watching A Place to Call Home - has anyone else seen it? Amazon Prime has it, I think it was originally made a few years ago. I suppose it is an upmarket soap really, but I am already quite hooked. It is about a nurse returning to Australia in 1953, after 20 years in Europe. On the voyage home she meets the affluent Blyth family, the widowed father of whom ends up finding her a job in the family's home town of Inverness. Of course the nurse, and each member of the family (which includes an old battleaxe matriarch who shares some similarities with Maggie Smith's dowager in Downton, though this is obviously more modern), has a back story and some secrets, and Inverness provides a whole host of other characters too. I don't know why I didn't watch this the first time round.

Last night we watched Have I Got News for You, which devoted an entire programme to laying ruthlessly into Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson. IMO it was all richly deserved, and Ian Hislop and Paul Merton (the resident team leaders, as it is ostensibly a panel show) are both so sharp and funny, and were on such good form. The chairman at the moment is Martin Clunes, of Doc Martin fame, and he was also very entertaining. It was followed by a lockdown edition of the Jules Holland show, and the 'guest' (remotely) was Hugh Laurie,famous actor (in comedy such as Blackadder but also in serious stuff, eg he was the ruthless billionaire in The Night Manager), musician, writer, and all round achiever. He came over as a good guy. The new format is that the guest chooses some of their favourite perfromances by other musicians they admire - Laurie chose mainly jazz musicians and singers, such as Dr John and Irma Thomas, which we enjoyed.

Time for a walk now I think!

Take care everyone,

Rosemary

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4368 on:** June 02, 2020, 04:32:35 PM »

Yes, been watching A Place to Call Home - sounds like you may be at the beginning of the series - in time you will feel differently about Elizabeth and the big issue with the nurse, Sarah is some of those years in Europe were spent in Ravensbrück, a German concentration camp. That and her being Jewish is an issue that runs through the series.

We are in our third or maybe it is the fourth year of episodes. Well done - something about it reminds me of the Thorn Birds - nothing in common with the story line but there is a flavor that to me is similar. All the characters have their catastrophic learning curve. We see the show on Saturday night at 9:

Continuing with my Christmas Tuesday I'm watching two Christmas shorts - less than an hour each - a cartoon Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and then Christmas down the Danube visiting towns on the Danube that have Christmas Markets etc.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4369 on:** June 03, 2020, 07:39:06 AM »

Barb - thanks for the info re A Place to Call Home, I look forward to all the things that are going to come out over the weeks! (And now I know why they made a thing about her not liking dogs!) I think it was shown here some years ago, so now I am watching it on Amazon Prime, it is not on a main TV channel - which at least means I won't miss anything! I have not seen The Thorn Birds, is it good?

Rosemary

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4370 on:** June 03, 2020, 09:51:23 AM »

The Thorn Birds, years and years ago, back in either the early 90s or maybe even the late 80s - also a long series - family drama from Australia - Richard Chamberlain the heart throb of the day played the conflicted priest - like this so full of drama there is something of the soap opera about it...

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4371 on:** June 03, 2020, 12:21:03 PM »

Thank you - I have heard of him.

Did you ever see Broken? It was a series a couple of years ago about a very conflicted priest in a very poor area of the UK. I only saw the first two episodes, I will have a look and see if it is on Amazon or anywhere, as I'd like to see the rest. Sean Bean and Anna Friel.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4372 on:** June 03, 2020, 02:46:53 PM »

Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer | 1983 It is available on Amazon Prime.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4373 on:** June 03, 2020, 02:47:20 PM »

That info was for The Thorn Birds.

nlhome · « **Reply #4374 on:** June 03, 2020, 07:29:21 PM »

I watched some episodes of A Place to Call Home, and I thought it was a good program. But, if it continued, I did not or could not. Things get in the way of TV, and we don't do Prime or anything like that.

Have been remembering old books and movies, things we did back in the 1960's, I supposed because of the unrest now. Today a group of high school grads set up a vigil at the Courthouse for Mr. Floyd, and that brought back memories of when I was that age. My neighbor and I walked down to show our support. Almost everyone wore masks, and it was hot.

I remember Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate from that time period, both based on novels that I did not read. Has anyone? I remember the movies vividly, partly because I saw both when my husband was home on leave from the Navy.

PatH · « **Reply #4375 on:** June 03, 2020, 09:36:17 PM »

Nlhome, I remember The Graduate very well, and like you, I didn't read the novel. I'm not sure I even knew there was a novel.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4376 on:** June 04, 2020, 07:28:55 AM »

I saw The Graduate, and afterwards did read the book, but not at the time it came out. I should really re-read the book, I think one of my daughters was reading it recently, and it's quite short. I do recall that the use of Simon & Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson was criticised as being totally inappropriate for the plot, and more to do with getting people to see the film.

Other films I recall from that era are Far From The Madding Crowd, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, All the President's Men and Annie Hall.

Someone I know was just talking online about Withnail & I, which is one of my husband's favourite films, and one that I have never seen. Apparently it is on All4 at the moment, so maybe I will finally get to watch it (though it must be said that we often don't like the same kind of stuff.)

Rosemary

Dana · « **Reply #4377 on:** June 04, 2020, 10:12:47 PM »

Started A Place Called Home the other night....it's addictive isn't it, pulls out all the stops......! I hope it goes on for a long time.....haven't checked the extent of it
It's got every cliche in the book hasn't it, but that doesn't stop it being a damn good watch, in fact I think it makes it better really. When I thought the dog might die I really felt I couldn't take it, after the horse.... I hope it backs off the animals though, suffering people is one thing, but animals I can't handle. I thought the girl was going to be injured, not the horse.....

Dana · « **Reply #4378 on:** June 04, 2020, 10:21:15 PM »

oh wow, 13 episodes in season 1, and 6 seasons!!!! Might even last out the pandemic at a judicious 1 per night or so......(unfortunately I don't think so...)

Frybabe · « **Reply #4379 on:** June 05, 2020, 06:27:39 AM »

On YouTube last night I discovered a four episode program about the Plantagenets to watch.

I remember seeing The Graduate, but did not watch any of the others mentioned, except for maybe Midnight Cowboy (but may not have seen all of it). My 1960's list of movies included 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, Planet of the Apes, The Great Escape, the Bond movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, Dr. Zhivago, A Man for All Seasons, and Becket. My absolute favorites? 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, and Dr. Strangelove.

For some reason, I noticed that I don't care to sit through very long movies any more.

PatH · « **Reply #4380 on:** June 05, 2020, 09:46:44 AM »

Frybabe, I'm with you on the choice of movie favorites. I've watched them again since, though not recently, and felt they stood the test of time. Maybe it's time to watch 2001 again.

2001: a few years ago I was at a concert (some European orchestra, I forget which) where the star piece was Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra. They preceded it with Ligeti's Atmospheres, then went straight to the Strauss with no pause. Most of the audience didn't get the joke, but for the ones who did it was stunning. (They also played the Strauss so well, with such good notes, that I felt I finally sort of understood the whole thing.)

For non-fans of science fiction, that's crucial music in the movie, and you could mentally see whole scenes.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4381 on:** June 05, 2020, 10:44:13 AM »

Yes Dana - I'm finding A Place to Call Home equally addictive. It's great to discover a new series, I don't mind if it's soapy or not!

Frybabe - I have seen Breakfast at Tiffany's and did quite enjoy it. I might also have seen Butch Cassidy but to be honest I don't think it can have made much of an impression. I too don't watch that many feature length films these days, at least partly because we rarely seem to sit down after dinner till 9.30pm or so, and then the thought of staying up till almost midnight is just too much for me!

Last night we watched another Michael Portillo programme about empire - this one was about Jamaica, the slave trade, the sugar plantations and the pirateering before that. At one point Portillo - who is a very upright, traditional Englishman - went to visit a group of Rastafarians. They all seemed completely off their heads on ganga, so it was funny to see how Portillo - the quintessential gentleman - managed to cope. The one member of this 'Rasta council' who was a sharp as a knife was the only woman. She was clearly not high on anything at all and very articulate and interesting. Otherwise it felt like more like a murky corner of Brixton market 30 years ago.

I'm still trying to catch up with The Great British Sewing Bee, but that requires David to go off and play the piano or something. Maybe I'll watch it while he's fixing the fences this weekend! I've got quite a but of 'lowbrow' TV on my waiting list....

Frybabe · « **Reply #4382 on:** June 06, 2020, 06:33:30 AM »

I didn't get around to watching the Plantagenet program yesterday, but I did watch two shorter videos, one about the origins of the Normans, and the other about Rollo. It appears that the French were even more overwhelmed by Viking invaders than the British Isles. I had not realized that Paris had been sacked twice during the Viking invasions.

ginny · « **Reply #4383 on:** June 07, 2020, 09:36:45 AM »

I loved this, Pat! 2001: a few years ago I was at a concert (some European orchestra, I forget which) where the star piece was Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra. They preceded it with Ligeti's Atmospheres, then went straight to the Strauss with no pause. Most of the audience didn't get the joke, but for the ones who did it was stunning

I had something sort of like that happen to me. Do any of you remember (Sci Fi Fans in particular) a series called Flash Gordon? Supposedly it was the oldest Sci Fi Serial, well anyway, it started in the 30's, and one of the characters was Ming the Merciless.

The Emperor Ming, here played by Charles Middleton. And boy was he stunning. I can still hear his theme song, which they played every time he appeared, and swept through his...caves? His dark entrances with his cape and his high collar and, he was, to a child, scary as all get out. Just thrilling to see. And I can still hum his theme song, and so I went to IMDb years ago to try to see what it was and apparently those old movies of the 30's weren't bothered with that, they just listed one man for the music and no mention of any composer until the recent versions have his theme by Queen, and I knew that wasn't it. So I gave up.

I was also at a concert, gosh 10 years or so ago and it was Franz Lisz, Les Préludes, and I kept thinking the music which rose and fell sounded vaguely familiar, and as it accelerated it sounded more familiar, and THEN suddenly it burst into the theme song of Ming the Merciless!!!! and I literally half jumped up and told everybody around me (who were totally irritated and kept going SHHHHHH) that it was MING! But it's MING!!!

In retrospect I doubt any of them were old enough to know who MING was. hahaha But if YOU remember Ming, click on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb2bkVQwtBs and move the little red line on the bottom dial till it says 15:19, because at 15:20 80 some years will fade away and you'll envision him again.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4384 on:** June 07, 2020, 01:59:40 PM »

ah Barenboim but even better on the same page I was able to link to Rachmaninoff's 2nd by the pianist, Anna Fedorova I had not heard her rendition And then the treat of all treats Daniil Trifonov playing Rachmoninoff's 3rd - what an unexpected treat.

ginny · « **Reply #4385 on:** June 08, 2020, 11:00:29 AM »

He's quite the pianist, I had no idea, I did not know anything about him. So it was unexpected for me, as well.

I had the strangest experience trying to watch the brand new 2020 (February and March 2020) Shakespeare and Hathaway last night.

I have finished binge watching the first two years and since the new year didn't seem to be anywhere available to me online, I found a website with a crazy name which I did save to my "favorites" but which this morning has disappeared (!?!?) but it was ODD. The quality of the movie was awful, it seemed to be put through a fuzzy brown filter, and they interrupted the broadcast every 10 minutes with a commercial. It said you could watch 2 hours a day free, but I found, having struggled through the first episode, I could not stand it any more. I did not like the first episode, either, perhaps because of the awful appearance of the film and the commercials which sometimes went on for a while, and sometimes repeated themselves over and over in the same break. I have seen the Lexus and the road too many times. I have no idea what the site was called but surely there is something better out there. In Edit: BBC America will release season 3 for sale on July 28, so then there may be better venues to see it in.

A Second Look Department:

There's a new Betty Broderick series out. I was once much taken with Betty Broderick,

I think because of the great movie (now on youtube) about her played by Meredith Baxter, who put so much passion into her part I became a believer in poor Betty. The Soccer Mom who worked to support her husband Dan through Medical School (true story) and Law School and who was humiliated and thrown aside by him for a younger woman...remember her? She's still in prison. She went all to pieces and killed him and his new wife...but somehow managed to convince the world ( and me) to the point she had a hung jury with the first trial but was convicted in the second. Anyway, I then read the book on her and felt sorry for her, so when this new series came on I watched the first one and thought oh that's not at all Betty, but they had or there is now available plenty of film OF the real Betty at the trial, and in looking at it now....perhaps this film was not shown in the past....but you can see the lies and the evasiveness and I wonder how I ever fell for any of it. I'm not saying he was a prince among men, ( at this point I don't know what he was), but certainly hell hath no fury like a woman scorned was played out in her case in spades. Truth is always stranger than fiction, isn't it, but she had me there for a while.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4386 on:** June 08, 2020, 10:01:31 PM »

PBS show tonight about Fortnum and Mason - just hearing the words conjures up the memories of walking in their front door and being assailed by the strong scents of coffee, chocolate, tea, flowers and whatever else was on that first floor - it was like walking in a magic cave of scent...

PatH · « **Reply #4387 on:** June 09, 2020, 03:39:22 PM »

Ginny, I thought I didn't remember Ming (I didn't get to see much Flash Gordon), but when the crucial theme in Les Preludes started, it really rang a bell. I didn't get the Trifonov, though (YouTube customizes what it shows), but I'm familiar with him. He's pretty amazing. The last live concert I went to before everything shut down here was Trifonov, playing an all Bach program. Rachmaninov is kind of a specialty of his, but he's darn good at Bach, too.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4388 on:** June 10, 2020, 06:42:56 AM »

Oh Fortnum & Mason! I used to love wandering around in there, all the lovely cheeses and chocolates and plenty of things I'd never even heard of in those days, let alone tasted. Selfridges' Food Hall was almost as good, I don't know if they even have one now.

Rosemary

ginny · « **Reply #4389 on:** June 10, 2020, 01:01:25 PM »

Pat, isn't that stirring? I am sure if I saw it now, that old film, I'd laugh but it's amazing how SOME of those old black and white films are quite well acted.

The only pianists I ever knew were Wanda Landowska (sp) whose Bach Inventions I used to try to copy and E. Power Biggs on the organ with Bach. Boy could HE play. They used to say he could play a scale with his feet as fast as anybody else could play one with their hands.

Today I idly wonder what they called him at home? Power? EP? Such interesting names people have.

I saw an interesting article yesterday called "What are you REALLY watching in the Pandemic?"

That made me laugh. There were confessions of the Muppets, people serial watching the Muppets, the old Sesame Street Shows. I can see that.

For my part I'm breaking new grounds watching the most amazing stuff....like Lady Colin Campbell and her Castle : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSpqFODzZl4

I think years ago I read one of her books, but had no idea who she was. She's.....something else....I've also read two interviews by her former husband Colin Campbell....I guess this lovely film is a good place to let that all rest..though she was quite outspoken, nasty, even, about Megan Markle....

If my hairdresser does not soon return to business I am in danger of resembling Lady C (hair wise) I fear.

ginny · « **Reply #4390 on:** June 11, 2020, 08:39:00 AM »

Last night I was totally engrossed in Joan Hickson's Miss Marple again, this one A Pocketful of Rye. I don't know how many times I have seen it or read the book but for some reason I got totally caught up in it and enjoyed it to the bitter end, as surprised as anybody about the ending. hahaha But I kept looking at the one character, her eyes seemed different, and I kept thinking I knew who she was, but it took IMDb to reveal her even though she had a big part, she wasn't one of the name stars back then so her name was down on the list, and guess who it was?

Selina Cadell!!! Who, you might say is Selina Cadell? Fans of Doc Martin will recognize her:

In looking at all her film credits I am amazed to see she has worked steadily for a long long time. I love Joan Hickson's gentle, steely, wise portrayal, and the respect for old age shown in the film. A calm film. I think it's one of her best. She wore her own hats, did not like the type of hat the costumers wanted her to wear. And this time you know what else struck me?

The walking!!! It seems that everybody in Britain WALKS! And it's not just the times her series was filmed in. Does elderly Miss Marple need something at the store? At the PO? She walks to it and we see her walking pretty good distances. They are all walking.

Joan Hickson was born in 1906. When she made a Pocket Full of Rye she was 79 years old. I have tried to figure out by the time it takes her, up hill and down, how far she's actually walking. And right up those long staircases, too. Not holding on the bannister.

In the past I've stayed with different friends in Britain and it seems they ALL WALK. Everywhere. After dinner, too. Walking, walking, regardless of age. When we lived in NJ my mother,, who was born in 1908, (could it be something about that era?) did the same, walked everywhere, to shopping, the bakery, the library, the PO, always walking. Thought nothing of it. I'd like to walk to a destination instead of wandering aimlessly through the fields and woods, with the attendant ticks and stinging bugs and snakes, but there's no destination except a small country store, a 7/11 type thing, on the corner about a mile from here, to walk TO, and why would I want to go there? When you walk out here kindly neighbors stop and offer you a ride. It's a different life.

I could walk to our little Post Office, but it's 90 degrees and it's 6 miles round trip, which would probably finish me off for good, with no handy benches to rest on along the way or places to sit. Is one going to catch one's breath sitting on the verge of the tarmac? And that's all there is to walk to. Walking, an entirely different culture.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4391 on:** June 11, 2020, 11:01:58 AM »

Ginny - yes, most of us do walk everywhere! Though it is increasingly difficult if you live in the country, as Miss Marple's fictional villages may still have lots of little shops, but many Scottish villages now have none, so you end up in the car driving to the nearest town. I drove a lot more when we lived in a remote part of Aberdeenshire than I do now. In cities like Edinburgh almost everyone walks everywhere or takes the bus or tram. This is largely because Edinburgh is a very walk-able city, but also because the roads are so congested and narrow, and parking is either impossible or extremely expensive. Many, many people live in tenement flats - you can buy a parking permit from the council that covers a few streets in your area, but it certainly does not guarantee a parking place - most tenements have somewhere between 9 and 12 flats, so in theory they could have 9-24 cars, yet outside there is hardly room for one car per building. So many people simply do not have cars - whereas if the same people lived in a suburb or the countryside their family would probably have 2 or 3 cars.

The tenements (apart from the very smart ones) do not have any lifts, I used to have 60 steps up to my front door - it does keep you fit, but in the end I got so fed up with carting every bit of shopping up, including things like cat litter, milk, beer bottles - all the heavy stuff.

Here on Deeside I can walk to two small grocery shops, the pharmacy, library, post office, etc in 3-4 minutes. We do need to drive to get to a big supermarket, but I only do this once a week or less. Where I live in Edinburgh I can walk to every kind of shop, we only use the car to go to places like B & Q, or if we want to get out into the countryside.

Over in Aviemore where my son lives, they can also walk into the centre in a few minutes - this includes a Tesco, an Aldi, numerous cafes, library, etc. Until the beginning of this year they lived 3 miles away, in an idyllic location on the edge of Loch Alvie, but they had to drive everywhere and could only afford one car, so they were thrilled when they were chosen for their new house, it is just so much more convenient for them. They are renting it from the Highland Housing Association but they will buy it in March 2021.

My husband always tells us that no-one walks anywhere at all in Houston, and that if you do someone will stop their car and ask you if you are OK. As you say, a different world.

Also we do not have the heat that you have down there, so it is easier to work up the energy to walk - though in the winter the ice can be a bit treacherous. I don't mind snow but ice is really scarey.

I have seen Selina Caddell in many things - she's one of those versatile actors who keep popping up all over the place. I've just found a Radio Times interview with her and Sigourney Weaver, who are apparently great friends: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-04-23/doc-martin-sigourney-weaver-selina-cadell/

Rosemary

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4392 on:** June 11, 2020, 12:23:31 PM »

I think the difference is the distance - not only distance but we are now completely caught by shopping in what used to be called Super Markets - the big grocery store that we take so for granted a small grocery would be an anomaly therefore, with a weeks worth of groceries the walk home would be impossible.

As a kid I remember more walking - when my Aunt and Uncle visited on a Sunday along with my Grandmother, after dinner there was always the walk in which the adults were discussing their views on whatever was currently in the news. Another memory, most men if not in the evening after dinner or at least on Saturday and Sunday late afternoon would take their dog for a long walk or walk down the road a couple of miles, lean over the fence and gaze at penned cattle or a field growing hay or sorghum most often taking one of the dogs with them.

All the walking seemed to gradually disappear with the advent of TV - folks wanted to be home to watch their TV programs and then later, I'm remembering by the late 70s everything had to be done in a hurry and going to the movie on the weekend was no longer a treat but a way of life. The upshot is we seldom enjoy gazing at what we have created or nature, unless a hiker but rather, we look to enjoy what others create most often by gazing at their accomplishment on some technical devise from TV to Iphone. hmm I wonder, so many want more and more - could it be because we lost the simple skill of admiring our own work accomplishments and need a destination that is the accomplishment created by others?

Come to think of it the first thing we did when company arrived, usually family but sometimes even neighbors stopping in for coffee, was to walk around the garden as oohs and awws and questions about the various plants where discussed along with how this or that grew from a snippet taken from here or there or a seed nurtured from the year before or the plans for the cucumbers that year or how tasty the tomatoes, picking one and eating it right there in the middle of the veggie patch - there was real interest, not just a polite viewing.

ginny · « **Reply #4393 on:** June 12, 2020, 08:26:08 AM »

Oh what great posts on walking and how things have changed!!! And of course you're both right. I love that come and look at the garden, Barbara, I'd forgotten that. 60 steps, Rosemary? (The word "tenement"means something different here, I think, than it must in the UK?) I was about to say to Barbara I don't know how my mother got groceries home. She was a lot younger then than I am now and perhaps if she walked up every day (and we had milk delivered, I remember that, on the doorstep) things weren't the car full they are now. I have no idea. I don't recall a cart? Memory is such a strange thing, isn't it? She must have taken a car to ...there WAS an Acme Grocery store but it was a ways out.

But no matter how old you are 60 steps with a baby carriage would pretty much kill me. Actually 60 steps might do that now. Even when younger. I remember being in Bacoli, Italy, where there are STEPS everywhere, like Athens, a city of STEPS, and where tiny old women in black sped past me going up them as if I were standing still. STEPS must be very good for one's health!

It's lovely to hear that where you are is so like the Miss Marple-ish picture one has of the UK village, Rosemary. How wonderful that seems. And thank you for the link, I did not know they were friends, either. Some of the sub links there are very interesting, too. In one, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) says he likes to live in Port Quin, which is a bay near Port Isaac on the way to Doyden House (and Castle, a folly really, where Mrs. Tishell was filmed taking the baby)...Eons ago two of my friends and I stayed in Cornwall at Doyden House, long before the series, Port Isaac (Port Wenn in the Doc Martin series) was very much like a Miss Marple type village to me, wonderful people, the best nougat I ever ate and the best fish, mussels, etc. There was no menu in the little restaurant, you waited till the catch came in. Everybody knew who you were; seems like something in a book now. I bet those little shops are sill open, the tourists must be intense now and I am happy for the little town.

But speaking of Miss Marple, I came IN to say, buoyed by At Bertram's Hotel, which I really liked seeing, not least because Christie liked to stay at Brown's Hotel and their seed cake there. And there were several subtle references to her own stays there: in one the character Miss Marple asks if it's REAL seed cake, which Christie also did, according to her autobiography, so that was fun. But what a disappointment is what Brit Box (but nobody else) calls "Season 3" of the Joan Hickson series. And there are lots of missing episodes in all the "Series" of the free Britbox offerings. So I have to go on the names of episodes. But most of the bad ones occurred in 1987 to 1991. I haven't seen the last one yet, The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side.

The first one, The 4:50 from Paddington, was marvelous, steam trains, people running along side waving goodbye as the train left, remember that? Wonderful stuff. Nostalgia. But the Caribbean Mystery was absolutely awful. Even Joan Hickson seemed to be disgusted. I couldn't finish it. Her character was quite different too, in this one.

The third one, the one with the famous actress Jean Simmons in it, I think it's called They Do It With Mirrors, was terrible. There were two sisters, one of them Jean Simmons, and one of them had married 6 times, the unbelievable amount of children of this or that marriage, were impossible to keep track of and even "Miss Marple" said she thought she would get them straight later. "Later" never came for me. It's like if I suddenly started talking to you about Mary and then she brought Bill, you know, but Ron objected, but he's as bad as Alex...I mean HUH?

And the actors of the young male 20-30 something peripheral characters all looked the SAME. You could NOT tell one from the other. You didn't know who was who.

I didn't finish it, either. I think those last ones with the exception of the 4:50 from Paddington which was good, so far are a total dud. And it's nothing to do with Joan Hickson. They lost the thread or something. Maybe the last one will redeem itself.

Now I want to go find ALL of the ones Brit Box left out as there are MANY, in hopes they are good.

And one has to ask what it says about me that I want the formula that "worked" in the first ones...hahaha

ginny · « **Reply #4394 on:** June 15, 2020, 10:38:29 AM »

I know everybody is tired of hearing me go on and on about Miss Marple, so you'll be glad to hear I've finally finished the series and this is my last post on Joan Hickson, but Nemesis was wonderful. I so enjoy the several aspects of this series, the calm in the face of danger and even death (read: coronavirus and the general iste mundus furibundus now)...the respect given or finally given to old age and its wisdom, the wonderful casts, the great acting the gentleness of the thing. Civility conquers evil, etc. I am sorry to see it go.

I haven't been reading, but this has spurred me on to finding my book of all the Miss Marple stories, there ARE more, that Agatha Christie wrote. Double and triple shelving has not helped but I know I have it and can look forward to populating the pages with Hickson's portrayal.

Acorn wrote and said they were going up a dollar on their Amazon Prime subscription to $5.99 a month. I only did a trial so I could see Doc Martin 9, the newest series and 4.99 was worth it. So I then went today to see what I would lose by cancelling. Truly I don't need 100 film services subscriptions. It seems to be absolutely full of Midsomer Murders, possibly the older ones, Murdoch, just on and on with mysteries and dramas, lots of stuff I've never heard of, too, but all drama, at least in the first 16 pages, but there are 48. Apparently everybody is not as frivolous with their taste as I am. hahaha

I think I've had enough drama for a while in life and in film but wait: there is Charles Dance in the And Then There Were None from 2015 the UK production which I've never seen, so I think I'll watch that. Many of the shows you've all mentioned here, are there, too: Vera, A Place to Call Home The Last Mile, lots more. But they also may be on Prime and Netflix and Britox. I like Britox the best of all of them, I think, the BBC thing, apparently my sense of humor is matched by some of the shows.

Also about to be released for Netflix or Prime or both is the 2019 Knives Out with Daniel Craig with an courageous Southern accent, a very clever satire and spoof of the mystery genre, a huge manor house and a bunch of people getting killed off: great cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, it's an absolute hoot.

I will have to say I did notice a series on British archaeology on Acorn I might not want to cancel before I see... I need to see what's on the rest of the 32 pages of offerings, perhaps somewhere down the line are some of the sillier ones. I'll start at page 48 this next time and work backwards.

Seen anything good lately?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4395 on:** June 15, 2020, 11:47:16 AM »

With all the books on hiking I found over the weekend a good movie of an older women - no actual age mentioned but she appears to be in her 70s - typical for the generation, she took care of her responsibilities without receiving anything in return so that it nearly stripped her completely of any self-worth. After her husband, who for 30 years was totally dependent on her care, who could not even talk died and a middle age daughter with no sensitivity or understanding, decides a nursing home is where she belongs - as she is clearing out she finds photos and a postcard from her youth when she and her also now deceased father went hiking and camping together. She finds her old camping gear and with hesitation but resolve leaves a phone message for her daughter about being gone for a few days and travels to Scotland to hike Sullivan mountain. She runs into a young man who is part owner of a camping equipment store and the movie is not only built around that relationship but her getting to the top of this very steep and challenging mountain - really good movie - she is not a professional hiker or walker but just an ordinary women who gets tired and is cranky and even at times harsh but you're behind her all the way. Movie on Amazon Prime is called Edie

Frybabe · « **Reply #4396 on:** June 16, 2020, 06:46:03 AM »

I have in my wish list for a future purchase is the complete BBC radio drama collection of M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series with Penelope Keith as lead. The one about the quiche was a free online listen last year, so I've already heard that one. It was great.

Disney's Artemis Fowl was released for streaming in the last few days. I just read a review that said Disney reinvented Artemis, apparently completely changing his personality from a sub-teen genius villain to a pint-sized James Bond type. Not only that, but it looks like the story itself is something new, not from any of the books. I only read one of the series several years ago. I don't think I will bother with the movie.

bellamarie · « **Reply #4397 on:** June 16, 2020, 08:26:36 PM »

I am at a point I have little to nothing to watch at nighttime on TV. I do not have Amazon Prime, Hulu or Roku, so must I have one of these or something comparable in order to watch this series, you all are talking about, A Place to Call Home? I Googled it and it does look like something I might enjoy, and beginning from season 1 through the rest of the seasons, like some said, could take me through this pandemic. I loved Downton Abbey, and hated they ended it. I did go see the movie which came out last year, and it only made me want more. The Dowager Countess, (Maggie Smith) just made me laugh out loud.

I noticed Barb mentioned The Thorn Birds from way back, in 1983. I absolutely loved that movie. And yes, Richard Chamberlain was a heart throb for sure. It was the first time I had ever thought about a priest breaking his vows of celibacy. I was barely in my thirties and being a Catholic, I was shocked, but that movie was so steamy, with the beautiful Rachel Ward, I think I must have watched it a dozen times.

I had friends raving about Father Brown 2013 TV series, which reminded me of Father Timothy Kavanagh in the Mitford book series. I bought the entire series of the Mitford books, and I could not get through the first book. I may give it a try somewhere down the road, but it just bored me to sleep.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4398 on:** June 17, 2020, 08:05:44 AM »

I have neither seen the movie nor read the book, The Thorn Birds. Not my cup of tea. Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series it more to my liking. Ginny mentioned it a while back so it is on my again growing list of books on my wish list.

My movie watchlist is growing again, too. I just haven't felt like watching anything lengthy this last week or so.

ginny · « **Reply #4399 on:** June 17, 2020, 09:11:40 AM »

Alas, it was not I who recommended McCullough's Caesar series, it was Dana, who, like quite a few of my students is as passionate about Colleen McCullough's series as I am Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (Joan HIckson's). And in fact there are some parallels, when you think about it.

I'm afraid I have never been able to get into the first book. And I have tried, many times.

Her scholarship is legendary and fiercely defended by her supporters but she's writing fiction and so she must make up some bits, so what she did was to take minor characters of whom almost nothing is known and populate THEM, their thoughts as she thought they might have said, etc. She brings the ancient Romans to life. This does affect perceptions, however. Some of her sources are now thought to be...possibly spurious themselves, no fault of hers, thinking of Dio and Appian, but that's relatively new scholarship. She is a wonderful writer. I loved the Thorn Birds, but that's all I've read.

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