Reviews

I can't believe it took me so long to watch this beautifully shot, beautifully acted, and beautifully written biting comedy. Alec Guinness's Ealing Films are an international cinematic treasure.

This one is about a scientist, Guinness, who invents a supposedly indestructible dirt repelling fabric. He makes one suit out of it and convinces one textile manufacturer to produce a line of clothes using his new invention. Trouble arises however when everyone but Guinness figures out that if you made indestructible dirt repelling clothes then you'd run labor out of work and management would go bankrupt because after everyone had one suit of clothes they'd never need another.

It's almost quaint to see how they portrayed union labor so sympathetically in this film. It's a good snapshot of where the labor movement was in post war Britain but it's almost too hard to believe that workers ever had that much power over big business. It's also hard to believe that there was so much textile work in England.

This film is very good and it's a beautiful black and white film to boot. The whites really pop out, especially Guinness's white suit. A scene that really stands out for me is the one where the mill owner's daughter negotiates her price to seduce Guinness out of taking his invention public, she and the other mill owners quickly figure out that they may be asking her to talk to Guinness but what they're really asking is for her to whore her self out so they can keep their positions of power and dominance. It's a powerful scene. Another great scene is the one where the mill owners and the union's works committee have finally caught Guinness after chasing him through the streets. He stands before them like a lamb being taken to the slaughter and when they discover his fabric isn't what he claimed, their laughter is like knives in to his psyche. It's brilliant I tell you.

This film should be required viewing for anyone who claims to like films as an art form.

These two films are the prequel to the hit series Doc Martin. They tell the story of how the good doctor came to Cornwall and how he became accepted. These films are very different from the Doc Martin series that came after them. In these the character of Doc Martin is likeable and very easy going, there none of the uptight arrogance that comes later. In fact, these films are very sweet and they read very much like a Cornish Northern Exposure. And that's not a bad thing but the producers rightly figured out that if they kept Doc Martin a nice easy going guy then there would not be much room for character development and if they'd kept him sweet and likeable, these two films probably would have been it for the series. Wisely, they chose to make him gruff, distant, and barely likable so that they have plenty of space to explore him and his interactions with the quirky citizens of his small adopted coastal Cornwall village.

I liked these movies but I like what came after them a whole lot more.

DVD reviews

Martin Clunes plays a brilliant socially inept surgeon who has developed a minor phobia about blood so he leaves his successful surgery career behind in order to become the GP of a tiny town in Cornwall. It's a classic 'fish out of water' premise that's done incredibly well. Clunes is fine in his role as Doc Martin and Caroline Catz is not only easy on the eyes, she's super great in her role as the teacher who is also Clunes reluctant love interest.

Caroline Catz, my new imaginary British celebrity girlfriend. Hubba hubba!

The thing I love about this show is that it makes no attempts to make Clunes's character lovable. He is what he is, and what he is is an irascible cranky doctor who has been thrust into a small town full of oddballs and eccentrics. I just finished watching the first series and I can't wait to see it over again. I'm also looking forward to seeing the rest of the series of this fine comedy.

Oh by the way, if you're watching this show on a local PBS station, you're missing part of it because most PBS stations cut this show down to fit in a 30 minute time slot.

Years ago, in the dark ages before I had cable, I saw part of an episode of The Flame Trees of Thika on PBS. I didn't see any of the other episodes but that one part of the one I saw stayed with me. I was mesmerized by it and when I finally this that it was out on DVD I wanted to buy it but I didn't want to pay$30 for it. Then the other day before Giftmas I saw that my local super corporate book mega store had it in sale for half off so I bought it for Sparky. And I have to say that after finally watching the whole thing, I loved it.

It's based on the Elspeth Huxley book of the same name and it's about a Edwardian family's life in Kenya right before World War 1 breaks out. Yes, it's racist at times, the British were horrid racists and classist, but it's a good story full of fine performances by everyone involved. Holly Aird, who plays young Elspeth, is one of the most expressive actors I have ever seen and it doesn't hurt that was as cute as a button when they made this series. Hayley Mills is adorable in this production as well.

I recommend this series because it's a good look at what life was like in colonial Kenya under the British. And it's a good look at the cost of empire to a world super power.


I haven't finished watching the third and final series of Clatterford (if one more person tells me that the name of this show when it airs in Britain is Jam and Jerusalem, I'm going to punch them in the face) but I've seen enough to tell you that I love it and it's possibly the best one yet, with the exception of Maggie Steed's hair do.

Nobody does 'small towns full of eccentrics' shows better than the British and this one if one of the best. Jennifer Saunders is brilliant in this edition of this series, as are Sue Johnston, Dawn French, Pauline McLynn, Suzy Aitchinson, Salima Saxton, and David Mitchell. I'm sad to see that this is the final series of this show because I like these characters so much and because this is the type of show you'd never ever see on youth and tit obsessed American television. Oh well, at least we can watch it over and over since we have all three DVDs.