Ralph Vaughan Williams

[Gibbie]

Thanks, Marky B! Now, I have to plan to do the walk sometime. Not sure about next trip, which may be in October?

If I take the walk it will be due to your recommendation!

Thanks,
Gibbie

[Marky B]

I am starting the walk on 27 September with three mates and finishing on 9 October in RHB.
I think you'll find it easier than doing the C2C in the USA!
Ta Ta
Marky B

[Gibbie]

[Hackett]

Get a life you sad lot. All this talk about walking, you ought to get out more [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>JIM: THERE WE GO AGAIN MARKY B - ALTHOUGH I CAN'T ROAM THE COUNTRYSIDE LIKE I USED TO, I ONLY HAVE TO BE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AND VAUHGAN WILLIAMS COMES IMMEDIATELY TO MIND. IT SUMS UP ALL THAT IS FINE IN THIS OLD LAND OF OURS! OK, I KNOW BRITAIN'S NOT LIKE THAT ANYMORE, BUT IN MY HEAD, IT IS!!! THAT'S WHY I'M ADDICTED TO OUR OLD FILMS. A BIT LIKE WISHING THAT SOME THINGS WERE STILL THE SAME - BUT, ONLY SOME THINGS! I SUPPOSE IT'S A BIT LKE BURYING YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND, BUT WHAT THE HELL!! [ [/b]

I feel that you and I might well be soul-mates Jim! In fact, the music of Delius or Bax is more likely to begin mental-playback in my head when enjoying a countryside outing. Nevertheless I rate RVW rather more highly than Peter Warlock did who said that his music reminded him of a cow looking over a gate.
Perhaps RVW's most important film score was for "Scott of the Antarctic" (1948). The music was later re-worked into the composer's 7th symphony "Sinfonia Antartica".

[Jim]

YOU COULD BE RIGHT ALBABSON! NOT LONG AGO I BOUGHT A BOXED SET OF RVW SYMPHONIES 1 - 9! DECCA, "THE BRITISH MUSIC COLLECTION" . A COUPLE OF THE SYMPHONIES DON'T REMIND ME OF ANYTHING AT ALL, IN FACT I CAN'T HONESTLY SAY THAT I LIKE THEM!

BUT DEFINITELY, SOME OF HIS MUSIC REMINDS OF BRIT WAR FILMS. ALTHOUGH HIS 'PASTORAL SYMPH' WAS WRITTEN WITH WWI FRANCE IN MIND!!

CHANGE OF TUNE - JUST WATCHED 'THE SPY IN BLACK' - VAL HOBSON (COR) AND CONRAD VIEGHT (VEIGHT?). ALL GOOD OLD STIFF UPPER LIP STUFF! AH! THEY DON''T MAKE 'EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE.

GOING TO WATCH 'THE CURSE OF THE DEMON' TONIGHT, WITH A GLASS OF THE FALLING DOWN WATER, (OR TWO)!

[Steve Crook]

</div><div class='quotemain'>JIM: [snip] CHANGE OF TUNE - JUST WATCHED 'THE SPY IN BLACK' - VAL HOBSON (COR) AND CONRAD VIEGHT (VEIGHT?). ALL GOOD OLD STIFF UPPER LIP STUFF! AH! THEY DON''T MAKE 'EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE. [/b]

Follow it up with Contraband (1940). Also with Val Hobson (Cor indeed) and Conrad Veight although in Contraband, Conrad is a goodie.

The Spy in Black was the first collaboration between Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger who went on to make a few fairly decent films over the next few decades.

Their film Forty-Ninth Parallel (1941) was RVW's first introduction to composing music for films.

Steve

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>JIM: YOU COULD BE RIGHT ALBABSON! NOT LONG AGO I BOUGHT A BOXED SET OF RVW SYMPHONIES 1 - 9! DECCA, "THE BRITISH MUSIC COLLECTION" . A COUPLE OF THE SYMPHONIES DON'T REMIND ME OF ANYTHING AT ALL, IN FACT I CAN'T HONESTLY SAY THAT I LIKE THEM! BUT DEFINITELY, SOME OF HIS MUSIC REMINDS OF BRIT WAR FILMS. ALTHOUGH HIS 'PASTORAL SYMPH' WAS WRITTEN WITH WWI FRANCE IN MIND!! CHANGE OF TUNE - JUST WATCHED 'THE SPY IN BLACK' - VAL HOBSON (COR) AND CONRAD VIEGHT (VEIGHT?). ALL GOOD OLD STIFF UPPER LIP STUFF! AH! THEY DON''T MAKE 'EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE. GOING TO WATCH 'THE CURSE OF THE DEMON' TONIGHT, WITH A GLASS OF THE FALLING DOWN WATER, (OR TWO)! [/b]

Do you mean "Night of the Demon", Jim? If so, I'm beginning to think you might well be a twin I never knew I had as I watched that only a few days ago! Like "The Spy in Black" (which I also watched) you could well say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore!"

[Jim]

I'd better reply to one in upper and lower case and not in caps, as I read somewhere on this webby that it ain't right! Sorry!

Well albabson, you never know who you are related to sometimes! Anyway I think our more knowledgeable colleagues will say that 'Curse of the Demon' and 'Night of the Demon' are one and the same - just changed titles for the U.S. market.

I sometimes wonder if we are not quite normal, us lot lot on Britmovie! The rest of Britain is watching 'normal' TV and we are watching films from yonks ago! No! we're normal, it's the rest that are not normal, but what is 'normal'? I'll stop now, before I dig myself in too deep.

I noticed 'Foggy Dewhurst' in the NOTD/COTD (Brian Wilde), just before he went out of the window; what became of him? He suddenly dropped out 'Last of the Summer Wine'. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

[Steve Crook]

</div><div class='quotemain'>JIM: I'd better reply to one in upper and lower case and not in caps, as I read somewhere on this webby that it ain't right! Sorry! [/b]

It's just that ALL CAPS are better reserved to add emphasis, it's like you're shouting all the time :)

Steve

[Marky B]

I believe Brian Wilde is still alive. He left the series to look after his sick wife.
If he is still with us,he will be eighty this year.
Ta Ta
Marky B

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>JIM: I'd better reply to one in upper and lower case and not in caps, as I read somewhere on this webby that it ain't right! Sorry! Well albabson, you never know who you are related to sometimes! Anyway I think our more knowledgeable colleagues will say that 'Curse of the Demon' and 'Night of the Demon' are one and the same - just changed titles for the U.S. market. I sometimes wonder if we are not quite normal, us lot lot on Britmovie! The rest of Britain is watching 'normal' TV and we are watching films from yonks ago! No! we're normal, it's the rest that are not normal, but what is 'normal'? I'll stop now, before I dig myself in too deep. I noticed 'Foggy Dewhurst' in the NOTD/COTD (Brian Wilde), just before he went out of the window; what became of him? He suddenly dropped out 'Last of the Summer Wine'. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img] [/b]

Blimey, that makes three titles for the same film then, as I believe it's also known as "Casting the Runes". It's a damn good film whatever it's called.
Personally, I watch old films rather than modern ones because I like a plot that I can follow, intelligible dialogue (rather than badly recorded mumbling) and a script that isn't peppered with obscenities in every line. Call me old-fashioned!

[Steve Crook]

</div><div class='quotemain'>AlBabson: [snip] Blimey, that makes three titles for the same film then, as I believe it's also known as "Casting the Runes". It's a damn good film whatever it's called. [/b]

Casting the Runes seems to be a TV version based on the same M.R. James story.

The 1957 film was originally called Night of the Demon. It was recut for release in America and called Curse of the Demon although the version on US TV and available on video & DVD there is now usually the original British version.

The film was based on the M.R. James story "Casting the Runes" and in 1968 that title was used for a version made for ITV.

Steve

[Steve Crook]

</div><div class='quotemain'>AlBabson: [snip] Personally, I watch old films rather than modern ones because I like a plot that I can follow, intelligible dialogue (rather than badly recorded mumbling) and a script that isn't peppered with obscenities in every line. Call me old-fashioned! [/b]

You're not alone there AlBabson.

I prefer the older films because they more usually had a real story. They also had properly developed characters that you could take an interest in.

Nowadays they usually have The Hero, The Villain and The Hero's girlfriend as the only characters that are even partially developed. The rest are just cardborad cut-outs to be shot or blown up.

They put in all the fancy CGI effects in the hope that we won't notice that there isn't a decent story or any decent characters - but I notice!

It's not an absolute in either direction though. There were some rubbish films made in the old days and a few good ones sneak through nowadays - despite the best intentions of the accountants and other people in charge in Hollywoodland.

Steve

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>SteveCrook It's not an absolute in either direction though. There were some rubbish films made in the old days and a few good ones sneak through nowadays - despite the best intentions of the accountants and other people in charge in Hollywoodland. Steve [/QB][/b]

What I notice, though, in even the most rubbishy of the old "B" movies (except, of course, where a print has deteriorated badly) is that every word of dialogue is perfectly audible. I find that I am unable to follow many of today's films completely(not that I bother very often!) because the actors are often inarticulate, the dialogue has not been recorded clearly or it's down to a combination of the two.Does this bother others?