Revisiting "Brideshead" -- Anyone wanna come along?

Still Learning · **Posted:** Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:43 pm

I'm also getting a better sense of the Anthony Blanche character in the book.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:48 pm

The book is wonderful in many ways, but Waugh's sucky preachiness made me so angry with the ending, starting with the Dad, but especially Sebastian, and by the time I got to Charles' end bit I wanted to fling the thing.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:55 pm

I'm doing a bit of Waughgoogling and I guess he wasn't the nicest man ever. But here's some interesting trivia:

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/inde ... oxford-spy

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:15 pm

He started out one of the Bright Young Things, but his religion, of course, got in the way. It was as if he shifted gears. Of course, the perfect companion to Waugh is Anthony Powell, who I also recommend if you have lots of time on your hands.

condom · **Joined:** Thu May 07, 2009 12:59 pm **Posts:** 1967

Disc 1 and 2 have arrived. Assuming they are not damaged I shall begin soon.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:47 am

Oh yea! Someone else to join us. :)

Still Learning · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:18 am

Those are the two I just sent back and you're faster than I am.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:45 pm

Et in Arcadia ego pages 122 and 123 Everyman's Library 1993:

Lady Marchmain was not diffuse, but she took hold of her subject in a feminine, flirtatious way, circling, approaching, retreating, feinting; she hovered over it like a butterfly; she played 'grandmother's steps' with it, getting nearer the point imperceptibly while one's back was turned, standing rooted when she was observed.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:28 pm

On a brighter note -- An update on Aloysius. Seems he was only playing dead.

condom · **Joined:** Thu May 07, 2009 12:59 pm **Posts:** 1967

So I watched the first episode. A couple of issues I had. Soldiers in WWII would probably not be worried about mustard gas, per the Geneva Protocols, and more importantly Sargent's painting Gassed. The black car at the end is supposed to be a Delahaye, it's possible, but doubtful.

I almost think this would be a better read than film as far as the use of language is concerned. Threatening to spank the stuffed animal, ha.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:40 pm

They weren't worried, it was part of their "training" by their oveager commander.

Don't know about the car thing. I hate cars.

I love Aloysius, and I love the scene with the barber and Sebastain and Anthony, where Sebastian is wearing the false beard. And the clothes. And the locations.

The book is very good given the sheer stupidity of the author's way of thinking.

condom · **Joined:** Thu May 07, 2009 12:59 pm **Posts:** 1967

I got that it was training, thought it wasn't congruent.

I'm not a car fan either, beyond their aesthetics or engineering.

The barber had a dignity not often seen today.

Stupidity is as good as any springboard towards enlightenment.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:30 pm

condom wrote:

I got that it was training, thought it wasn't congruent.

I'm not a car fan either, beyond their aesthetics or engineering.

The barber had a dignity not often seen today.

Stupidity is as good as any springboard towards enlightenment.

It was more pointless training, which the Brits got plenty of post-Dunkirk and pre-invasion. Many things today could do with more dignity.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:52 am

Which Brideshead character would you say you were most like, Irene, if you had to choose one?

You go first. :)

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:42 am

Still Learning wrote:

Which Brideshead character would you say you were most like, Irene, if you had to choose one?

You go first. :)

Sebastian. I'm hardly equipped to deal with the outside world or the people in it, so when I do it requires great effort and a certain recovery time. I'm much happier left alone or with just one good friend taking pleasure in small joys most people seem to overlook. And, you know, :martini:

and I have had much bad luck in love, and I never got on well with my family back when most of it was still living, and there is a streak of melancholy in my soul, for want of a better word, a mile wide. The Child is my Aloysius, appealing to the nobler angels of my consciousness and keeping me from becoming overly bitter, resentful, dypsomaniacal, or taking up with crippled Germans in Morocco. And I have a brilliant fashion sense. :)

I see you as Cordelia, how do you see yourself?

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:08 am

Irene, you are priceless. I had already completely chosen Cordelia - without the vocation. Now we need a Charles. I have an Antoine in mind, but you're a mind reader so I don't have to tell you who it is.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:12 am

I'm on the cruise ship and Charles has just shaved his beard and sent roses to Julia. I don't think I like Julia as much as Charles does.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:28 am

I just now read this:

Quote:

Brideshead's original director Derek Granger approached Bull for a suitable bear and praised Aloysius' professionalism.

"He was never late on set, he never bumped into other actors and was never drunk," Granger recalled.

Aloysius sat quietly on Euphemia Ladd's grocery shelf for forty years until (out of the fullness of her heart) she gifted him to Peter Bull - and now a man named Ian Pout is taking care of him. All bears should be so lucky.

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:27 am

He's such a dignified bear.

We are back in London. Anthony has taken Charles to a gay bar. Sebastian has disappeared. I never liked that beard anyway, and I feel sorry for Julia. The ship, btw, is the QE2, and isn't she a dream?

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:38 am

No way! That's the QE2? I love knowing that.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:40 am

Quote:

Quick was born in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of a dentist's four children. She was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. While at Oxford, she was the first woman president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

She was greatly aided by her English teacher, Miss Davis, at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, who encouraged her to pursue acting. She became a member of an amateur dramatic society in Crayford, Kent whilst at school as well as appearing in many school productions. She was feted as one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of her generation and in 1984 a magazine ran a cover of her with the caption "Is this the most beautiful woman in the world?"

Quick is best known for her role as Julia Flyte in the television production of Brideshead Revisited. Her former longtime partner is actor Bill Nighy and they have one daughter, the actress Mary Nighy (born 1984). They have recently separated. The couple met in 1981 when co-starring in a play at the National Theatre in London. She was previously married to the actor Kenneth Cranham for a short time and had a relationship with Albert Finney which lasted seven years.

Quick spent seven years researching a book about her paternal family's life in India which has now been published (2009) by Virago with the title "A Tug on the Thread: From the British Raj to the British Stage". In it she reveals that she is of mixed race (Anglo-Indian) descent. Her great-grandfather served 23 years in the army in India before becoming a policeman and her great-grandmother had to flee from the Indian Mutiny after her father was killed.

wikiquick

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:42 am

Irene Wilde wrote:

He's such a dignified bear.

We are back in London. Anthony has taken Charles to a gay bar. Sebastian has disappeared. I never liked that beard anyway, and I feel sorry for Julia. The ship, btw, is the QE2, and isn't she a dream?

Did you know that Irons filmed The French Lieutenant's Woman during the same period of time he was doing this series?

Irene Wilde · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 1:34 pm

Yes, Brideshead was a marathon of filming with a huge gap at one point, which is how Irons ended up on two projects at once. There is Youtube somewhere of filming the last shot, much champagne did flow. There is also Youtube of Irons' bday during filming.

Still Learning · **Posted:** Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:59 pm

Here's a youtube for you, Revi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ouafJ0xLY

:mrgreen:

Revised · **Joined:** Tue May 05, 2009 3:37 pm **Posts:** 2583

Still Learning wrote:

Here's a youtube for you, Revi!

Aww, thanks! Anthony Andrews was so young there. What year was the film made?

Revisiting "Brideshead" -- Anyone wanna come along?

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