The London Lounge

As the rain beats down on a dark Sunday afternoon; draw the curtains, dim the lights, stoke the log fire in the winter, pull out a bottle and a glass or two, fill your biggest cadger's pipe and lie on the deepest sofa...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y5fybV7vW4

No matter how many times I watch it, I always get a thrill from Sir Percy´s evocative reciting of Richard II before facing the fire squad and then reappearing as a "ghost" to collect his hat.

And there was me thinking Debbie does Dallas would be the ideal film!

hectorm wrote:No matter how many times I watch it, I always get a thrill from Sir Percy´s evocative reciting of Richard II before facing the fire squad and then reappearing as a "ghost" to collect his hat.

''Such a cursed good hat''

This Happy Breed -A superb cast, led by Robert Newton and Celia Johnson, from a play by Noel Coward, directed by David Lean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRcdqqja ... =endscreen

Just watched it tonight. Truly delightful. Thank you, Nicholas for posting it.
I loved it when -at the "talking" movies for the very first time- the British confess that they can´t understand one word of what the American say in "Broadway Melody"

hectorm wrote:Just watched it tonight. Truly delightful. Thank you, Nicholas for posting it.
I loved it when -at the "talking" movies for the very first time- the British confess that they can´t understand one word of what the American say in "Broadway Melody"

Hector - I am pleased that you liked it.

Cavalcade was another one but it is not in full on youtube. A critical success, it was a box-office failure but formed the template for later series such as Upstairs Downstairs and probably Downton Abbey. Robert Newton was also in Cavalcade but as the Butler to Clive Brooke. Newton is largely remembered now for his Long John Silver (Ar! Ar! Ar! Jim Lad!) in Disney's Treasure Island - but he was an amazingly good actor.

He also played Dr Arnold in the 1951 film of John Brown's Schooldays.

culverwood wrote:He also played Dr Arnold in the 1951 film of John Brown's Schooldays.

His was a life soon burned out and he was dead by the age of 51. Other memorable performances include Jamaica Inn (1939); Gaslight (1940); Oliver Twist (1948); Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).
NJS

NJS, I have always been a great fan of Cavalcade. Thanks for the reminder. Must see it again. It won the Academy Award for best picture in 1933, but I almost never hear it mentioned these days, in spite of being, as you say, the template for Upstairs, Downstairs.

The Servant (1963). Losey's classic with Dirk Bogarde and James Fox.

Another good one is The Browning Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miFhcnV2NkY

NJS

Saw quite a good revival of this play at the Pinter in London last summer, on a double bill with a purpose-written complement called South Downs by David Hare. Nicholas Farrell played the lead in The Browning Version; I suspect Redgrave made a superior Crocker-Harris. Thanks again!

couch wrote:Saw quite a good revival of this play at the Pinter in London last summer, on a double bill with a purpose-written complement called South Downs by David Hare. Nicholas Farrell played the lead in The Browning Version; I suspect Redgrave made a superior Crocker-Harris. Thanks again!

Couch - amongst others, Albert Finney and Ian Holm also played the part in later films but I think that, if you see the Redgrave performance first, then he defines the part; especially opposite Jean Kent at her chilling best.
NJS

A Dickesian, seasonal offering, starring Alastair Sim:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3QQq7vxqX8