Jane Austen has always been a popular candidate for television and film adaptation - her major novels (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion) have never been out of print and have proved to be excellent subjects for dramatisation and/or adaptation.
Granada's 1971 version of 'Persuasion' is often remembered as the one with awful costumes and big hair, but across a four hour running time it is perhaps the most faithful to the original novel. Ann Firbank may be a little long in the tooth for the character of Anne Elliott (Anne is in her twenties, Firbank was around forty), but she certainly has the right acting style; opposite her as Captain Wentworth, Bryan Marshall is very close to the naval officer presented in the books.
In 1995 a television film from the BBC became probably the best loved version. In this, Amanda Root is a quiet and pensive Anne, while Ciaran Hinds (an actor who sometimes completely misses the mark in period drama) is a note-perfect Wentworth. Clearly with a much shorter running time - around 100 minutes - it can't cover all the plotlines in the book, but it feels much more cinematic than the earlier version.
Finally, in 2007, there was another version done for television and presented on ITV, this time featuring Sally Hawkins as a rather modern Anne and Rupert Penry-Jones as a dour Wentworth. This time the running time was even shorter - around 90 minutes - and many characters didn't feel like those written by Austen at all. This was Persuasion for a younger audience who valued the modern world - not a bad thing, but very different to what had gone before. This drama will probably be remembered as the one with all the running about!
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
About ... Monty Python
Monty Python now relates to a whole industry from television and films, to books, records, stage shows, musicals, and much, much more. But back in 1969, the BBC allowed a thirteen-part comedy series on the air called 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', and the rest was history.
The Pythons themselves had appeared on television before, in series for Rediffusion - 'At Last ... The 1948 Show' had teamed John Cleese and Graham Chapman with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and 'the lovely' Aimi Macdonald; 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' teamed Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, David Jason, Denise Coffey, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (including Neil Innes, who was almost a seventh Python), and, in the second series, Terry Gilliam.
But 'the Circus', as well as being in colour, was groundbreaking - sketches don't end, material is punctuated with animation, and some great sketches and characters were born (Arthur Putey, the chartered accountant, for one). Carol Cleveland, an American who had appeared as decoration in some ITC series, joined the team and appeared in every episode alongside them, and other regulars included Ian Davidson, Connie Booth, and the Fred Tomlinson Singers.
The series ran for 45 episodes in the UK, plus another two episodes taped for Germany; the final six in 1974 were without Cleese and presented simply as 'Monty Python'. In 1971 the first Python film had been released, largely a collection of re-done sketches from the first two series linked together for the American market, and titled 'And Now For Something Completely Different'. It wasn't, really.
The big films came in 1974, 1979, and 1983. First off the mark was 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', a low-budget musical fantasy about King Arthur and his knights of Camelot searching for the Grail; this was the first time Neil Innes joined the team almost as an equal. A tie-in book presented earlier versions of the script - many, including the whole sequence about Michael Ellis, ended up in the fourth TV series. Five years later the team came together to make 'The Life of Brian', the story of a man who lived at the time of Jesus but who wasn't really the Messiah ... the furore this caused amongst religious fundamentalists certainly gave the film a lot of publicity.
In 1983 'The Meaning of Life' returned to a sketch format - albeit a much more adult one than would have been allowed on the BBC. The last time the original six really performed on screen together, it was a disappointment after the previous two - although it still has its moments. With Graham Chapman's death in 1989 the possibility of a full Python reunion was laid to rest.
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' later evolved into a musical written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, called 'Spamalot', which had profitable runs on Broadway and in the West End; while 'The Life of Brian' was turned into a comic oratorio called 'He's Not The Messiah ... He's A Very Naughty Boy'. This was performed across the world and has most recently been seen in London at the Royal Albert Hall, later broadcast on the radio in the UK.
The Pythons themselves had appeared on television before, in series for Rediffusion - 'At Last ... The 1948 Show' had teamed John Cleese and Graham Chapman with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and 'the lovely' Aimi Macdonald; 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' teamed Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, David Jason, Denise Coffey, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (including Neil Innes, who was almost a seventh Python), and, in the second series, Terry Gilliam.
But 'the Circus', as well as being in colour, was groundbreaking - sketches don't end, material is punctuated with animation, and some great sketches and characters were born (Arthur Putey, the chartered accountant, for one). Carol Cleveland, an American who had appeared as decoration in some ITC series, joined the team and appeared in every episode alongside them, and other regulars included Ian Davidson, Connie Booth, and the Fred Tomlinson Singers.
The series ran for 45 episodes in the UK, plus another two episodes taped for Germany; the final six in 1974 were without Cleese and presented simply as 'Monty Python'. In 1971 the first Python film had been released, largely a collection of re-done sketches from the first two series linked together for the American market, and titled 'And Now For Something Completely Different'. It wasn't, really.
The big films came in 1974, 1979, and 1983. First off the mark was 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', a low-budget musical fantasy about King Arthur and his knights of Camelot searching for the Grail; this was the first time Neil Innes joined the team almost as an equal. A tie-in book presented earlier versions of the script - many, including the whole sequence about Michael Ellis, ended up in the fourth TV series. Five years later the team came together to make 'The Life of Brian', the story of a man who lived at the time of Jesus but who wasn't really the Messiah ... the furore this caused amongst religious fundamentalists certainly gave the film a lot of publicity.
In 1983 'The Meaning of Life' returned to a sketch format - albeit a much more adult one than would have been allowed on the BBC. The last time the original six really performed on screen together, it was a disappointment after the previous two - although it still has its moments. With Graham Chapman's death in 1989 the possibility of a full Python reunion was laid to rest.
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' later evolved into a musical written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, called 'Spamalot', which had profitable runs on Broadway and in the West End; while 'The Life of Brian' was turned into a comic oratorio called 'He's Not The Messiah ... He's A Very Naughty Boy'. This was performed across the world and has most recently been seen in London at the Royal Albert Hall, later broadcast on the radio in the UK.
Armchair Theatre: Thames/Network DVD
Released by Network DVD as 'volume one' in the series of 'Armchair Theatre', this two-disc set brings together eight plays which were produced by Thames Television and shown on ITV between 1970 and 1973. 'Armchair Theatre' itself had a distinguished history back to the mid-1950s when the plays were produced by ABC - their raison d'etre was the presentation of modern drama, rather than classic adaptations, for a peak-time audience.
The plays featured are:
The plays featured are:
- Say Goodnight to Your Grandma (1970, written by Colin Welland, starring Colin Welland, Susan Jameson, Mona Bruce)
- Office Party (1971, written by Fay Weldon, starring Peter Barkworth, Angharad Rees, Ray Brooks, Peter Denyer)
- Brown Skin Gal, Stay Home and Mind Bay-Bee (1971, written by Robert Holles, starring Billie Whitelaw and Donal McCann)
- Detective Waiting (1971, written by Bryan Pringle, starring Richard Beckinsale and Barry Linehan)
- Will Amelia Quint Continue Writing 'A Gnome Called Shorthouse'? (1971, written by Roy Clarke, starring Beryl Reid, Richard Vernon and Sheila Steafel)
- The Folk Singer (1972, written by Dominic Behan, starring Tom Bell)
- A Bit of a Lift (1973, written by Donald Churchill, starring Ronald Fraser, Ann Beach and Donald Churchill)
- Red Riding Hood (1973, written by John Peacock, starring Rita Tushingham and Keith Barron)
The casts alone make this a must-buy, but for a collection of eight top-classic dramas which run around an hour each, for a price of just over a tenner, you get extraordinary good value. The prints are generally fine - Office Party suffers from a bit of screen noise but nothing that would have been a problem at the time. All the programmes are in colour and are presented with their 'end of act one' adcaps and Thames animated ident at the start - always a nice touch with Network releases.
Looking at the individual plays, there isn't one dud in the set - and the variation in subject matter ensures that it doesn't feel like 'more of the same'. 'Office Party' feels like a one-act stage play, while 'Detective Waiting' with outdoor locations, is more like the pilot to a series. Perhaps the most successful of all, mainly for its quietly confident acting, is 'Brown Skin Gal ...'; it is always a pleasure to see Billie Whitelaw and, together with a new face to me, the late Donal McCann, she doesn't disappoint. The oddest of the eight is 'The Folk Singer', a musical fable of Ireland - but even that intrigues enough to keep you watching.
Anna Karenina: BBC, 1977
One of five Kareninas I have on DVD, this miniseries with Nicola Pagett was made by the BBC and shown on television in 1977. In ten episodes of around fifty minutes each (some more, some less - in those days you could take the right amount of time to tell a tale), the classic Tolstoy novel about a Russian noblewoman who has married for convenience, and then finds love, shines from the screen.
Pagett was best known at this time for playing Elizabeth Bellamy, the daughter of the house in 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Elizabeth had married for love and then found convenience as a way out, which makes Pagett's appearance in 'Anna Karenina' somehow ironic. As Karenina, she veers from being a society flirt to a desperate outcast, juggling her love for her young son Seriozha (Paul Spurrier) and her passion for her new lover Vronsky (Stuart Wilson).
The longer running time than film versions of the same story allows the relationships outside of the main love triangle to be developed, mainly the partnership of Kitty (Caroline Langrishe) and Levin (Robert Swann). We also see the contrasts in society attitudes when the transgressions of Karenina's brother, Stiva (Davyd Harries), when he has an affair, are accepted - no such luxury for a woman.
The suicide scene at the end could look ridiculous in the wrong hands but here it is done with the right touch; also correct is the portrayal of Karenin as a complex man, not just a cold and unfeeling monster. While we have pity for Anna and her situation, and even now and then for Vronsky, who could only be described as selfish and rather naive, we also understand Karenin - and I think that is important.
Pagett was best known at this time for playing Elizabeth Bellamy, the daughter of the house in 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Elizabeth had married for love and then found convenience as a way out, which makes Pagett's appearance in 'Anna Karenina' somehow ironic. As Karenina, she veers from being a society flirt to a desperate outcast, juggling her love for her young son Seriozha (Paul Spurrier) and her passion for her new lover Vronsky (Stuart Wilson).
The longer running time than film versions of the same story allows the relationships outside of the main love triangle to be developed, mainly the partnership of Kitty (Caroline Langrishe) and Levin (Robert Swann). We also see the contrasts in society attitudes when the transgressions of Karenina's brother, Stiva (Davyd Harries), when he has an affair, are accepted - no such luxury for a woman.
The suicide scene at the end could look ridiculous in the wrong hands but here it is done with the right touch; also correct is the portrayal of Karenin as a complex man, not just a cold and unfeeling monster. While we have pity for Anna and her situation, and even now and then for Vronsky, who could only be described as selfish and rather naive, we also understand Karenin - and I think that is important.
Abigail's Party: BBC
Mike Leigh's play introduces us to Beverley, frightfully middle-class, mad about Demis Roussos and a terrible flirt; her hen-pecked estate agent husband Laurence, who would rather live in classical quiet; and their neighbours, Angela, a mousy nurse, and Tony, a dour man who seems receptive to Beverley's charms; and Sue, mother of the never-seen Abigail, who is round at Beverley and Laurence's because her daughter is having a party.
What starts as a friendly soiree quickly declines into a free-for-all where music and alcohol combine to loosen inhibitions and start tempers fraying - and eventually reaches a point where, instead of simply being horrified (in a pleasureable way) by the terrible music, the cheese fondue, the awful fashions - we are shocked out of our complacency as viewers. The ending is as bleak as any kitchen-sink drama you'll see.
The series Play for Today, of which Abigail's Party was just one entry in many that year, is slowly being forgotten because of a lack of home videos or television repeats. Therefore the entries everyone remembers (because of familiarity) might not necessarily be the best. Having said this, Abigail's Party launched both Mike Leigh as a writer/director (albeit one who favoured improvision) and his then-wife Alison Steadman as a performer on television. The fact that both are still contributing to that medium has to say something about the quality of the material on which they first collaborated.
What starts as a friendly soiree quickly declines into a free-for-all where music and alcohol combine to loosen inhibitions and start tempers fraying - and eventually reaches a point where, instead of simply being horrified (in a pleasureable way) by the terrible music, the cheese fondue, the awful fashions - we are shocked out of our complacency as viewers. The ending is as bleak as any kitchen-sink drama you'll see.
The series Play for Today, of which Abigail's Party was just one entry in many that year, is slowly being forgotten because of a lack of home videos or television repeats. Therefore the entries everyone remembers (because of familiarity) might not necessarily be the best. Having said this, Abigail's Party launched both Mike Leigh as a writer/director (albeit one who favoured improvision) and his then-wife Alison Steadman as a performer on television. The fact that both are still contributing to that medium has to say something about the quality of the material on which they first collaborated.
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