batman

That would be late 60s rainy, gloomy Norfolk. Norfolk's much nicer than the 'flash forwards' suggest.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

Wee Sonny MacGregor

The biography of the author of The Go-Between - L P Hartley - is worth tracking down. It's called "Foreign Country" and is written by Adrian Wright. Hartley was certainly a rum un. He was educated at Harrow and Oxford but a family investment in a brickworks at Whittlesey meant that Hartley never had to work. His cousin had a note written by Hartley in 1909 to his mother when he was 13 and spending the weekend at the home of a friend at Bradenham House, a mansion near Thetford in Norfolk. Part of it read "On Saturday we had a ball. Very grand indeed. at least not very. We always have late dinner here. There is going to be a cricket match today, the hall against the village. I am going to socre." Hartley found the note years later and it provided the inspiration for The Go-Between.

TomDaws

Filmed in around 1970, but what I meant was the story at that point is set in the 50s. Sorry - should have been clearer.

batman

My godmother is in some of carriage driving scenes (she and her husband were top carriage drivers). We watched a bit of the filming in and around Norwich.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

TomDaws

Did you know that Richard Gibson, who played young Leo's friend, went on to appear as Herr Flick in 'Allo 'Allo ? I was at drama school with him. I gather he's now a journalist.

moonfleet

I think you can't compare, in matter of taste, a film adapted from a novel and the novel. Because, by definition (... lots of "tion" in this speach !) the writer is an artist, the director is an artist (in best cases), so each one can hold his own universe. Fidelity is most in "spirit" than in facts...
John Huston "trancended" the Kipling story for "The Man Who...", if I remember, the"Francs-Maçons" background wasn't in the book.
From few pages, Huston has done a movie masterpiece .
Nabokov did the screenplay of"Lolita", but said he didn't agree with Kubrick's final result...but the film got "another dimension", because for example, there are James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers in it (...don't explain)
I don't remember if the "ping-pong" scene is in the book, but it's one of my favorite ever, with a mythical Mason/ Sellers encounter !!
A great laugh every time.
M.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

sippog

I met him just after the filming when we were staying in the same digs in Windsor. He told me the young lead actor in THE GO BETWEEN was not allowed to actually witness the scene in the barn because he was under age. Instead he had to look at mark. He thought it was unfair. Apparently everyone - Julie Christie, Alan Bates included - thought that was unfair too: "Why can't Dominic watch the f***ing scene?"

moonfleet

...Because if he had watching it, he would'nt have done the rest of the movie !
M.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

southwold55

I think this film is almost my favourite film ever .It is the sort of film you can watch over and over and always notice something new in the characters ,the acting or the scenery .

Dominic Guard is wonderful as the boy Leo and Julie Christie and Alan Bates perfect as the ill-fated lovers .

The parts of the story told from Leos point of view when he is older capture that era many years later so well .

The musical score by Michael Legrand and the photography are also wonderful.