1. I admit it. I tend to idealize. But, when photographs from Lake Michigan start flying into my phone and I see gorgeous weather, family members relaxing, and bountiful snacks, and, then, when Debbie sums up pictures she sent with the word "perfect", I think my sense that all those gathered at Brian's lake house are having an ideal weekend together is accurate!
Likewise, Christy posted pictures of herself and Cosette, Taylor, Bucky, Carol, Zoe, and Paul at the theater in Wallace and everyone looked so happy that I had to believe they had an ideal evening together, too.
2. Here at home, I didn't rely on seeing pictures of other family members' happy times to be happy myself. I returned, after a lengthy hiatus, to movie watching today.
I did a Bing search for independent movies of the 1970s, thinking the result would be movies like The King of Marvin Gardens or The Last Picture Show, that kind of thing, but the list I read (it was one of several possibilities) included a movie I'd never seen, that I didn't know was independently produced, and whose stellar cast piqued my interest.
So I watched the 1974 Sidney Lumet directed Agatha Christie mystery, Murder on the Orient Express.
I got a huge kick out of this movie for at least two reasons.
First, I loved watching this cast work together. Who was in it? I won't list everyone, but the cast included Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Ingrid Bergman, Wendy Hiller, Martin Balsam, Sean Connery, and one of my very favorites, Rachel Roberts. (Her presence in the movie made me want to rewatch two of her performances that are most memorable to me: her work with Albert Finney in Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings and her mighty turn in Picnic at Hanging Rock.)
Second, the storyline was audacious, and I completely believed in it every step of the way. No suspension of disbelief for this guy. I just believed and my belief rewarded me with fun, pleasure, and admiration. Maybe what I admired most was that these stellar actors all played characters who were themselves playing characters they invented. (I won't disclose why.) Characters playing characters is one of my favorite challenges to watch actors pull off in plays and movies -- it's like Doublemint gum: it doubles my pleasure and doubles my fun.
3. After I made myself a delicious vegetable stir fry for dinner, I decided to find out after many months if a DVD set I purchased on Etsy was any good.
I had my doubts about this purchase when I made it, but I decided you win some, you lose all the rest, and I bought three disks that I thought would have on them the entire season of the 1979 BBC drama Telford's Change, a multi-episode series that aired on BBC on Sunday evenings. My first wife and I were traveling in England from January to early April of 1979 and, on Sundays, we made sure before we rented a room that the accommodations included a TV lounge so that we could watch the next episode and, lo and behold, whether we were in Cornwall, Wales, London, or anywhere else, we succeeded in seeing Telford's Change to its conclusion.
I've never found a streaming service that carried this program, so when I saw that this DVD set was for sale, knowing that it had been recorded off of a television (I guess), I decided to buy it.
Upon inspection tonight, I discovered that all the episodes were not on these three disks.
Crucially, the first episode was missing.
Ha! Lose all the rest.
I tossed my purchase in the dustbin.
But, my failed online purchase story has a happy ending.
Since I had last checked, someone posted the entire series on YouTube and when I cast Episode 1 on the Vizio, the sound and picture were superior to the crummy DVDs I bought.
So I'll watch the series this way and all will be right with the world.
Hey, Kenton -- you have asked me in the past if I ever found Telford's Change online.
Now I have and here's the link: TELFORD'S CHANGE 1
Ads included.
I'll let you know if I find problems in this YouTube recording of the program.
No comments:
Post a Comment