Dirk Bogarde

[TimR]

.....
As a quick defense of Charlotte Rampling, whom you say "never could act very well." it's true that in the beginning some of her performances were wanting, but she has grown as an actress in her 47 years in films. Her performance in UNDER THE SAND was nuanced, multi-layered, and affecting for a good many of the viewers who saw it.

Best wishes,

Barbara

Alright, fair enough - I will take another look at Charlotte Rampling's career. She was fascinating to me in my teenage years and I saw Zardoz, which was quite a bad film, just to look at her. I didn't care if she could act or not.

As for the film - no generalizations. My comments were extremely specific. But I always enjoy your posts, and have no wish to do battle without reason. After all it is a film forum and we are here to enjoy it.

[theuofc]

Alright, fair enough - I will take another look at Charlotte Rampling's career. She was fascinating to me in my teenage years and I saw Zardoz, which was quite a bad film, just to look at her. I didn't care if she could act or not.

As for the film - no generalizations. My comments were extremely specific. But I always enjoy your posts, and have no wish to do battle without reason. After all it is a film forum and we are here to enjoy it.

Thanks, Tim. As we see, we are on opposite sides re: THE NIGHT PORTER. But, there are so many other topics we can agree on. And I heartily agree, we should be here to enjoy it.

All best wishes,

Barbara

[Maureen Whittaker]

Dear Tim and Barbara
May I add another point to a very interesting discussion, taken from Dirk's letters in EVER DIRK to Bee Gilbert in 1974, where he explains more about the trials over the film.

We are just back, almost intact, from Parige after a three day stint there for 'Night Porter'. A rather exhausting trip as I had eight to ten sessions with the Press every day, plus the Telly and Radio, and all in Frog. Trying....but they were dreadfully polite and kind and terribly interested. Unlike our lot, who only want to know who you are fucking, if you are, and wheather it is true that you really make your own lampshades and breed tropical fish....in Paris one had to compare Molier and Albee....Renoir and Hockney, Guilt with Innocense.... lust with love....Losey with Visconti or Clayton and that sort of thing. Stimulating and interesting for both questioner and Victim. All a bit Cahi(e)rs du Cinema...but what's wrong with that? Better than Roderick Mann in the Express...which is generally about our level in England. The film itself seems to have shocked, as we had hoped, and moved and excited, also as we had hoped. People are either smashed completely or sent mad with rage....anti-Jewish (we did'nt know!) or pro-Fascist...(I had a faint feeling that I knew THAT one.) And because the film was made by a Communist everyone got very Political. No one found it vulgar or obscene...like the Italians who have swiftly banned it because of a scene with Charlotte ontop of me, intead of the tother way round!
....Nothing happens that does'nt happen between an ordinary man and woman in love...and who enjoy sex...but there you go....
EVER DIRK page 91

I hope you don't mind me quoting him, Barbara, but I always feel he explains things so well and for me this collection of letters is a necessity.

[theuofc]

Dear Tim and Barbara
May I add another point to a very interesting discussion, taken from Dirk's letters in EVER DIRK to Bee Gilbert in 1974, where he explains more about the trials over the film.

We are just back, almost intact, from Parige after a three day stint there for 'Night Porter'. A rather exhausting trip as I had eight to ten sessions with the Press every day, plus the Telly and Radio, and all in Frog. Trying....but they were dreadfully polite and kind and terribly interested. Unlike our lot, who only want to know who you are fucking, if you are, and wheather it is true that you really make your own lampshades and breed tropical fish....in Paris one had to compare Molier and Albee....Renoir and Hockney, Guilt with Innocense.... lust with love....Losey with Visconti or Clayton and that sort of thing. Stimulating and interesting for both questioner and Victim. All a bit Cahi(e)rs du Cinema...but what's wrong with that? Better than Roderick Mann in the Express...which is generally about our level in England. The film itself seems to have shocked, as we had hoped, and moved and excited, also as we had hoped. People are either smashed completely or sent mad with rage....anti-Jewish (we did'nt know!) or pro-Fascist...(I had a faint feeling that I knew THAT one.) And because the film was made by a Communist everyone got very Political. No one found it vulgar or obscene...like the Italians who have swiftly banned it because of a scene with Charlotte ontop of me, intead of the tother way round!
....Nothing happens that does'nt happen between an ordinary man and woman in love...and who enjoy sex...but there you go....
EVER DIRK page 91

I hope you don't mind me quoting him, Barbara, but I always feel he explains things so well and for me this collection of letters is a necessity.

Hi, Maureen,

Tim and I have agreed to disagree. I leave it to you, if you wish, to pick up the battle.

Barbara

[Maureen Whittaker]

Hi, Maureen,

Tim and I have agreed to disagree. I leave it to you, if you wish, to pick up the battle.

Barbara

Unfortunately, I don't think I am equipped or qualified to debate this one. In Tim's favour I can say I also was shocked when I first saw the film, but put that down to my prim and proper upbringing as well as to my lack of knowledge about the war years and what went on in the concentration camps. Now I have seen the film many times and have a very different opinion about it. I CAN see the love story and therefore understand why Lucia leaves her husband. What is more difficult to excuse is the predatory behaviour in the camps; but that was undoubtedly the truth and deserved to be documented.
I can only urge Tim to watch it again and see if his first impression was justified.

[Maureen Whittaker]

I am sorry to report that there are no Dirk movies on UK TV this week (or last). I need to write again, obviously.

[Maureen Whittaker]

The next film is much less controversial and some questioned why Dirk had reverted to an espionage thriller in a smooth and chilling part of Alan Curtis a member of Western Intelligence Liaison. The roles of the other protagonsits are not explained in the masterly opening sequence other than naming them as Melissa Lascade, Scott E. Allison, Charles Lord and Katina Peterson.













I apologise for the quality of the prints but this is a copy and worthy of reissue in my humble opinion.

[CLARA]

THANK YOU Maureen, even if the print is not too good, its great to see pictures of this movie who are very rarely shown. Saw this movie in a cinema near my house when it was issued, and then once on Youtube. Should be great if we could have a good DVD of it.

[Elaine]

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Permission to Kill. Although the Critics panned this film, wondering why Dirk featured in it. He needed the money of course. I feel it was a good spy thriller of it's time.

[Maureen Whittaker]

... Although the Critics panned this film, wondering why Dirk featured in it. He needed the money of course. I feel it was a good spy thriller of it's time.

Maybe they were too harsh Elaine, because there are some excellent contrasts between the expert manipulator who 'never misses a trick' to the happy family man, shown only briefly in a telephone conversation, but a convincing cameo nevertheless.

Using the boy Francois as an insurance for Katina's continued involvement.



Using both Katina and Francois as an encouragement not to go back.



A phone call home, presumably representing British farmers.



Moments like these bring this film out of the mundane spy thriller.

[Maureen Whittaker]

Dear Claire, Thank you for your kind words. I am so envious of your local cinemateque. It seems to have featured all the best films and puts our local cinemas to shame. No wonder you got to see all his films and they obviously remained firmly in your memory. But then Dirk was rather special wasn't he!!

[Elaine]

Hi Mo,
Permission to Kill.
I think people who are in the same position that Dirk's character had in the film, have to have that ruthless side to their personalties that helps them do the job, keeping them and their operatives safe and the country they represent out of trouble. Dirk showed through his telephone conversations with his wife and family the human side most of us would want him to have, and this was the redeeming feature to the film for me.

I totally agree with the sentiment

[CLARA]

Dear Claire, Thank you for your kind words. I am so envious of your local cinemateque. It seems to have featured all the best films and puts our local cinemas to shame. No wonder you got to see all his films and they obviously remained firmly in your memory. But then Dirk was rather special wasn't he!!

Dear Maureen, Dirk's movies were ALL issued in cinema theatres in Brussels. As I was a great fan of him since childhood I managed to see them as soon as they were issued. So I saw almost all of them from the late fifties until the last one in 1990. He was very well known in Belgium and we were so lucky to have the copies in their original version (I hate dubbed versions).
It's only later that I was able to see the earlier ones from the late forties and early fifties, during a special homage at our cinematek.
So even before the emergence of DVD's I had seen almost all his movies.

[Maureen Whittaker]

.....
So even before the emergence of DVD's I had seen almost all his movies.

Are there any of his films you have not seen, Claire? (I am leaving out Dancing with Crime, as we have already said here.)

[Maureen Whittaker]

An alternative title and DVD cover for A PERMISSION TO KILL is THE EXECUTIONER



Taken from the imdb.com website.

[Maureen Whittaker]

May I share an upload from Youtube of an interview with Dirk in 1975 as a promotion for PERMISSION TO KILL. A great deal of the material is familiar to us but it does have some original comment on the film and overall it is so good to see him in this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx6D5...yer_detailpage

Uploaded by Colin Grimshaw on Oct 11, 2011
In 1975 Dirk Bogarde (28 March 1921 -- 8 May 1999) came back to London to promote a new film, Permission to Kill. In the interview he discusses not only that film, but many others he made during his long career in the acting industry. In 1992 he was knighted and thereafter was Sir Dirk Bogarde. The interviewer is Mark Caldwell and film clips were officially provided by both EMI and Columbia-Warner.
This interview is one of several that have never been seen on broadcast TV. Before the recording he walked around every person in the studio and shook their hands, what a nice thing to do!
The programme runs for 18mins and was made in black and white.

[Elaine]

I wish I had access to these utube video's, every time i try to watch them from here all I get is " an error has occurred " Most frustrating.

[Maureen Whittaker]

I wish I had access to these utube video's, every time i try to watch them from here all I get is " an error has occurred " Most frustrating.

It took me a while to get the link set up and I still don't know how to share the clip via the official Share method. But this works fine for me. I am beginning to wonder if there is some kind of glitch on your computer system, Elaine, which is not allowing Youtube or Photobucket to work.

Maybe some tech support is needed.

[CLARA]

Are there any of his films you have not seen, Claire? (I am leaving out Dancing with Crime, as we have already said here.)

Dear Maureen,

Thanks to some people on this thread and to Youtube, I have now seen almost all his movies. The one I never was able to see are BLACKMAILED, DEAR MR. PROHACK and the two he made for television MAY WE BORROW YOUR HUSBAND and THE VISION.
There is no other actor from which I have seen so much movies. But of course there is only one Dirk and he is the only one I have followed for such a long time even so long after his death.

[Elaine]

Hi Claire,

Blackmailed isn't availabe, but if you search enough on Amazon America you can usually find a vhs tape of "The Vision" and I will send you a pm about "May We Borrow Your Husband" and how to obtain it and Dear Mr Prohack.