War and Peace 1977 BBC Movie

Story by:  Leo Tolstoy
Movie by BBC 1972
Rated 5++++++
15 hours long

I watched this on U-Tube and I finished it this morning.  I meant to watch it in slow stages but by episode 8 the story had such a grip on my attention that I just had to finish.

I am so grateful to my Friend Connie for mentioning the W&P movies in Bookflurries.  It just never occurred to me before that there was a movie.  How stupid is that?

It really bothered me that I hadn't been able to finish the book.  It went beyond W&P its self and into a more personal feeling of failure.  Now I can comfort myself by thinking the medium was to blame not the story.  I can see now how being in Pierre's stream of consiousness would chase me right out of the book.  I loved him as a character, and Anthony Hopkins did a wonderful job of playing him, but any more of his philosophizing than was in the movie would have put me to sleep. All of the casting in this movie was just brilliant.

Anyway, thanks for the nudge Connie.  It felt good to finally check W&P off  my to-do list.

War and Peace: Tolstoy novel to be adapted for BBC One

• War and Peace is a television dramatization of the Leo Tolstoy novel of War and Peace. This 20 episode series began on 28 September 1972. The BBC dramatisation of Tolstoy's epic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as the soul-searching Pierre Bezukhov, Morag Hood is the impulsive and beautiful Natasha Rostova, Alan Dobie is the dour, heroic Andrei Bolkonsky and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for Pierre and the Rostov and Bolkonsky families.

Castle The Complete First Season

Rated 5 Stars
This series was a little hard for me to get into right at first because I had to get over the Mal thing. I also had some problems with the part of Kate. I took a great effort suspend my disbelief that a woman detective, working in an all male environment came to work every day in high heels, too tight pants, and shirts unbuttoned half way to her navel.

Also Castle always looks like he needs a shave. I understand that they (the shows producers or whoever it is that makes these decisions) are probably going for a rugged sexy look that they hope is a turn on for the young (and maybe not so young) ladies watching. I finally accepted that this series was being marketed too a much younger audience than me so got over it.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

One of the best shows to emerge midway through the 2008-2009 TV season, Castle has a cast and a sense of humor that set it apart from the normal police procedural. Nathan Fillion plays Rick Castle, a bestselling author of pulpy crime novels who's called in to assist the New York police when a serial killer begins committing copycat murders based on situations in his books. Castle helps crack the case, then decides to kill off his longtime character and create a new one, named "Nikki Heat," and research her by shadowing Det. Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). Much to her irritation, he pulls strings with the mayor's office to embed himself in the department, and helps her solve a wide range of whodunits, including a woman drowned in a bath tub full of motor oil, another frozen and suspended at a construction site, and a corpse stuck in a clothes dryer. To alleviate the grim proceedings, Fillion is in his element as the wisecracking Castle, while adding another ray of sunshine is Castle's impossibly likeable teenage daughter, Alexis (Molly Quinn), who lives with Castle and his mom (Susan Sullivan), a former Broadway star. Castle's circle of poker buddies includes veteran TV writer-producer Stephen J. Cannell and author James Patterson playing themselves. Like many (or most) he-and-she cop shows, there's an element of "Will they or won't they…?", but the beautiful Katic keeps Castle at bay by radiating cool. Clearly she's a woman who wants to separate herself from her emotionally draining and predominantly male job, so it makes it all the more enjoyable when she momentarily steps out of that mode, such as an impromptu appearance at his book signing. Much to the relief of Fillion fans who feared their man was a show killer after the aborted runs of such shows as Firefly and Drive, Castle was renewed for a second, full season.

 

The Scarlett Pimpernell (1934)

Rated 5+ Stars

Out of the many versions of this movie this is my very favorite one.  Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard are perfect for the roles of Marguarete St. Just (Lady Blakney) and Sir Percy Blackney.

Technically the quality of this DVD is very poor.  The sound track hisses all the way through and the film (black and white of course) fades in and out.  However the acting is so superb that I felt like I got more than my $10 worth, which is what I paid for it on amazon.