thisbluespirit | Fall of Eagles picspam

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Fall of Eagles picspam

... And talking of old screencaps and things, I've had this lurking on my LJ since February. Which illustrates that hopefully Tumblr will be better for sharing random old pics, I think. Not that I won't still do picspams of ~~David Collings~~ things here when I feel like it, of course.

Anyway, it was lurking, because I kept meaning to add some more, but I think I may as well post it rather than wait till it's even more out of date.

(I have a sort of backlog of things to work through here; I may post again before the day is out.)

Picspam from the BBC's 1974 historical epic about the fall of three European monarchies from 1848-1918. The cast list is every bit as epic as the premise, but included in this picspam: Diane Keen, Gemma Jones, Denis Lill, Curt Jurgens, Charles Kay, Jan Francis, David Collings, Patrick Stewart & more.

FALL OF EAGLES (1974)
Any comments refer to how this is played out as a drama rather than as actual historical events. I have not read up to check, although I'd be optimistic about it being fairly accurate overall.

Also, the source material is badly in need of restoring, so forgive my caps being shaky in some places - I've done my best. (BBC, so much pretty, so badly degraded.)

Episode 1: Death Waltz
(1848-1860s, Austria-Hungary)

Location filming, interesting angles...

Diane Keen, in a gorgeous blue early 1850s ball gown.

As well as having a narrator (used more in some episodes than others), the series made a lot of use of contemporary material to bridge scenes and portray battles and big events.

A fairy-tale wedding goes almost immediately wrong:

Donald Gee as Elisabeth's mentor and former tutor, who happens to be a Hungarian patriot. The guy next to him is making a brave stab at being the person with the most epic fake hair in episode 1.

The rigid autocracy is nearly enough to kill an idealistic girl...

...but she rallies.

(Pretty dress.)

Episode 2: The English Princess
(1868-1880s, Prussia)
Gemma Jones was amazing, and also simultaneously looked both lovely and as if she really was Queen Victoria's daughter. Thus I may screencap her a lot, but she is the central character in this episode anyway.

Gemma Jones, as Princess Vicky.

Did I mention the pretty?

Denis Lill as the Crown Prince Fritz. (His hair is definitely fake.)

Their wedding is contrasted with Elisabeth and Franz's from Ep1 - Fritz and Vicky are much more a meeting of equals.

(Dress pic.)

Curt Jurgens as Bismarck.

Vicky is punished by not being allowed to go to her father's funeral.

You can see how I could tell the hair was fake? Now there's more of it. Later on there will be even more. (Denis Lill wins Most Epic Fake Hair Award for this serial.)

Okay, and Prussian cabinet meetings? The thing to do, especially if you are v important and powerful, is to cry (this happens more than once in eps 2 & 3):

Bismarck not only cries; he then follows it up with trying to throw himself out the window.

Then the Kaiser cries because his Chancellor cried and tried to throw himself out the window. Fritz doesn't cry and have tantrums; thus he will never get to be a proper Prussian monarch.

All Vicky's efforts result in the two of them becoming virtual prisoners in their home, with their eldest son spending most of his time with his grandfather and Bismarck.

Episode Five: The Last Tsar
Charles Kay as Nicholas was really the main person in this, but that doesn't stop me paying more attention to certain other people who happened to be in it. It is now 1894, in Russia.

"Stuff is wrong in Russia! Nothing moves! Nothing changes!... You're not listening to me, are you?" (David Collings and Freddie Jones as Milyukov and Witte.)

Witte is not bothered. Milyukov is.

There is someone new in town.

He is here to eat pancakes and criticise other people's efforts. Sort of. (It is Patrick Stewart, as Lenin, but you could see that, I'm sure.) With Lynn Farleigh.

Meanwhile, some people are having fun. (Or actually not; I couldn't cap it but there was a contemporary montage-nightmare concerning Nicholas's grandfather's death.)

But then he is permitted to marry Alex...

And therefore must give up pretty ballerinas.

Said pretty ballerina, played by Jan Francis.

"There is STILL stuff wrong with Russia!"

"And, have you seen this? There's this mysterious new radical writer in town."

*worries artistically*

Meanwhile, somebody else is also busy...

Witte is convinced enough to try and tell the new Tsar there must be change or there will be revolution. Nicholas refuses to listen.

Nicholas's fiancee Alex (Gail Hunnicutt) confides in her sister (Isla Blair).

And I really did mean to post more - particularly Barry Foster as the Kaiser (his Mills & Boon moment with Tsar in Ep7 is quite something), the amazing end sequence of ep 12, where Lenin returns from exile (aka Everybody Wants to Hug Patrick Stewart), surprise Christopher Timothy, Michael Gough and probably other things. At least I gave you Colin Baker elsewhere. I'll put them on Tumblr. ;-p

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Epic!!

:-)

I love the pretty costumes! Also the other pretty.

Thank you! It really was very well done - I just really wish they;d done some restoration work on it as well.

* Oh BBC. Such wonderful costumes, such terrible beards. ;-)

* Patrick Stewart with hair perplexes me greatly. I keep thinking he looks kind of like somebody else, only I suspect the person he reminds me of is his own proper bald self. O_O

* Those 1890s dresses at the end look more than a little like 1980s dresses. So much so that I'm now confused as to what the actual differences in style are... *wanders off to research*

To be fair, few people do fake beards and moustaches well.

He has much less hair in following eps. I just never got round to adding those pics.

Well, long skirts, tight waists, corsets and a bit of a bustle at the back. But, yeah, now you mention it. (And this was made in 1974 so it's not current fashion creeping in - just a source of inspiration for the 80s, I suppose. Those puffed sleeves!)

Then the Kaiser cries because his Chancellor cried and tried to throw himself out the window. Fritz doesn't cry and have tantrums; thus he will never get to be a proper Prussian monarch.

This made me snigger appreciatively, I don't mind telling you. ;D I'll just reiterate earlier remarks about needing to see this at some point. And you're right - Mr Collings does worry artistically. :)

Thank you. :-) It was intended to amuse the reader who bothered to wade through the post. The whole thing was intended to be longer and wittier, but never mind...

More than long and witty enough to be going on with, I thought.

And I thought I knew him from somewhere - Kaiser Wilhelm I is the (non-Doctorly) Time Lord bloke out of The Twin Dilemma, isn't he?

It's Maurice Denham. I realise now that the other unfinished thing about it was a couple of actors still needed labelling, as it were. And, yes, I think he was in The Twin Dilemma.

I've just started watching this, and found myself thinking, "who can I squee about it with? lost_spook, that's who!" And I was right.

I'm still on my mission to comprehend the Great War, which will undoubtedly take longer than the war itself, but to see all the dreadful inevitabilities falling into place for over half a century is an education. I feel so sorry for all those people who were locked into events, and the most competent of them also the most powerless. I've just watched the "dropping the pilot" episode, and I didn't even like Bismarck, but by gosh I felt sorry for him.

And the actor looks more like Bismarck than Bismarck himself.

Restricting myself to one ep a day, so as not to swamp my brain, but I think I'm going to enjoy it (for a given value of "enjoy".)

Haha, yes, I found it a long while ago and couldn't resist the premise and cast. It was an odd one, because some of the time it was very good and then in between there were some rather painfully dull eps.

But as a means of bringing a large sweep of history into a connected drama, it's an excellent start and, yes, very well cast, and some wonderfully directed episodes (especially the two Lenin eps. The ending of the second Lenin is filmic, and heart-breakingly ironic).

(But right at the end when it wasn't so good, the joy of it is, that at that very moment, Colin Baker appeared and wandered about being as enjoyably OTT as ever.)

I've just watched the first Lenin ep and yes, it's very good. Alas, I know too little about acting to know why I like it better than, for instance, the first ep of all. But it's got more energy about it. (Unlike Tsarevitch Nicky, who is a wuss.)

There are a few potted palms that get a serious workout in this series and which probably deserve a place in the credits.

I'll try not to swamp you with comments - but this is a dashed good piece of TV.

I'll try not to swamp you with comments - but this is a dashed good piece of TV.

You know I don't mind in the least being swamped with comments about obscure old TV I've watched! It has been a while since this one, so I might get a bit vague, but I'll enjoy it anyway. SO SWAMP ME. ;-p

(I do think, though, that, sadly, it's at this point it starts to fall off. But you may not agree - we shall see! I believe eps 8 and 12 were also excellent, if I recall nos correctly.)

I think some of the Russian eps were directed by someone esp. famous, whose name I have entirely forgotten (so not THAT famous, lol). A really good/energetic director tells instantly in old telly land! Mind, I think they also did the first of Gemma Jones's two, but then that one stood out to me out of the first four as well.

Or maybe it's just Patrick Stewart and his pancake eating, who knows? (And David Collings and Freddie Jones among others).

There are a few potted palms that get a serious workout in this series and which probably deserve a place in the credits.

So much so that I grinned and nodded instantly! The potted plants probably feel they are the true stars.

Edited 2017-01-10 12:30 (UTC)

Well, I've got another few eps in, and am still enjoying it a lot! I like the contrast between the glittering courts and the nitty-gritty of the burgeoning Revolution. Would prefer to live in the Russian court, myself, but there you go... the switch to the grim reality of the workers' home was a real wake-up.

Dear lord, Willy is such an embarrassment – how does he manage to get everything so thoroughly wrong? And Nicky isn't much better, bit of a vacuum really, I thought he was a more compassionate figure than that (though not necessarily more decisive.) It's ironic that it's dull, dutiful old George V who survived, and whose dynasty is still reigning a century later. Or maybe not so ironic; “break but bend not” isn't all that good a motto when there are huge storms in the offing.

The Mayerling ep was unremittingly grim. What a bloody shame for poor Maria Versera; she was just a means to an end. It's probably just as well Rudolf never got to reign. One ana't help but feel sorry for all these people caught in impossible grandeur – but most of them could have done a better job of it.

The Revolution episodes: Patrick Stewart as Lenin is head and shoulders above the rest. If Lenin was anything like as forceful IRL, and I don't doubt they did their research very thoroughly, well, no wonder the revolution was such a seismic force. I enjoyed the “Absolute Beginners” ep in which he out-manoeuvred everyone else in the course of a few meetings. From the few rbushes with politics that I've had before running for the hills, that's exactly what it's like. And such a joy to see Paul Eddington there as chairman! One of Jim Hacker's ancestors, obviously.

Also the potted palms made a brief appearance in my latest ep, “Dearest Nicky” and I greeted them like old friends.

Of course, I'm still watching this series from the historical point of view, not the theatrical – but there's plenty to go at, either way!

Tomorrow: onwards!

Good! It was a long time ago I watched it. I've probably got far more used to beige TV now!

Barry Foster was having far too much fun as the Kaiser throughout. It was definitely one of the high points, as was Patrick Stewart as Lenin.

LOL, I think Jim Hacker would have a fit to know he might be related to a Communist. Whatever you do, don't tell Humphrey!

You'll be exchanging greetings cards with the potted plants soon...

Well, I've just finished the final episode and it wasn't so much the fall of an eagle as the fall of a parrot. Bathos in the extreme; fancy having to depose your Emperor because he's too lacking in dignity to go of his own accord! His people deserved better of him.

I liked Colin Baker as Little Willy, a part he was surely born to play – and even he seemed to have a firmer grip on reality than his father.

Going further back: in episdoe 8 there was an authentic Midsomer Murders moment: “Were you responsible for the murder of the Grand Duke?” And it got the same result as the incisive questioning in MM.

I liked Bertie a lot more than I thought I would; he at least was trying to do his duty. I would've liked to see more of him than we did, but not an eagle, I suppose, and didn't fall. Here and there in that ep I got a bit confused as to which power bloc we were supposed to be seeing, especially in that episode; one over-decorated uniform looks much like another after a while, and we could have done with a name-drop, or a map or two, to help out.

In the next episode, I couldn't help but slash the two aides-de-camp...

Rasputin was authentically scary. How could anyone bear to be in the same room as him, let alone everything else?

But yes, the final episode summed it all up, really – not with a bang but a whimper, and they caught that perfectly.

I have to say that I'm beginning to understand why you like 70s TV. It's much less frenetic than the modern stuff, isn't it? Easier to follow, and there's often more substance to it as well. It's quite a restful experience watching it.

You'll be exchanging greetings cards with the potted plants soon...

Ahaha. NO. Because in episode 8, they were in the HQ of the secret police - and then ten minutes later, they were in the Tsar's conservatory, hidden among more potted plants!!! They're obviously playing a deep game, and are not to be trusted. >:-[

I liked Colin Baker as Little Willy, a part he was surely born to play – and even he seemed to have a firmer grip on reality than his father.

Ahahaha. Oh, Colin. Yes.

I can't remember a lot of these episodes so well, apart from the Russian ones, the one with Colin Baker, and that there was one (maybe on a boat??) about the Austrian Emperor that was so beige even I backed out of it. (But then I was far less practiced and this stuff then, and much more ill!)

I do remember that David Collings reappeared and had been aged up and gave a speech looking like a white mouse. James Herriot was in it?

I'm a bit weirded out that I would have sworn blind Rasputin wasn't even in it, so, uh, yes, very scary! Very memorable! *coughs* (I was taken with the episode about the secret police guy that had Kenneth Colley in - ep8?)

I do remember Lenin's return to Russia, though, because it was beautifully shot and amazing and they left it to the audience to insert all the bitterness and irony.

(Clearly I need to rewatch this. I mean, this time round I've seen absolutely everyone in about ten more things since.)

ecause in episode 8, they were in the HQ of the secret police - and then ten minutes later, they were in the Tsar's conservatory, hidden among more potted plants!!!

LOL. Clearly they have an agenda!

I have to say that I'm beginning to understand why you like 70s TV. It's much less frenetic than the modern stuff, isn't it? Easier to follow, and there's often more substance to it as well. It's quite a restful experience watching it.

*nods* I think so - for me, anyway! It's less important except when I'm lower, but still - I used to consider acquiring more of it basically getting medicine, since there isn't anything else they can prescribe really.

(And, hey, if you need recs for restful but not boring beige TV, you know where to come! Although I recommend adopting a character actor and following him or her about; it lends a sort of purpose and added entertainment value to the exercise!)

ETA: I watched it back when I was starting to vid, and did at least make this.

Edited 2017-01-22 20:50 (UTC)

I watched your vid, and you've really caught the theme, including the whole “death waltz” thing. I'd forgotten that was the first ep's title, but it's bang on the nail. Must've taken you forever to put those clips together and it's a grand sweep of sheer bloody incompetence (on the part of the characters, not you!)

Also, for some reason I picked up on Jan Francis, good grief, I remember her in Just Good Friends. Though I'm not usually any good at all at faces, so following a particular actor probably isn't going to work for me. Remembering plants is apparently no problem, rather like cats.

I re-watched the “return to Russia” segment, in analytical mode than than for the story this time around, and yes, that's irony upon irony, isn't it, right down to the black, red and white colour palette. I felt so sorry for all those hopeful people; always did, in fact, including at the height of the Cold War when it was all so very frightening. They got just a couple of years of proto-democracy and then, bam.

And Lenin did all that while he was still in his forties. Or before. Good grief.

Must've taken you forever to put those clips together and it's a grand sweep of sheer bloody incompetence

Thanks! I did it when I was just about halfway through, so I didn't use all the source material, and it wasn't too difficult. It was a sort of practice for using the new ripping software I'd just got! BUt I think it was at the point where I was beginning to get the hang of it at last and the show has some excellent crossfades that begged to be put in a vid.

Remembering plants is apparently no problem, rather like cats.

Hmm, I don't think pot plants have IMBD entries, though. Cats might! ;-p (Do you have problems with sound? I do, a lot, especially when I was first ill this time round. But every once in a while, I'd come across a 'good' sound that would help things slot together in my head - sometimes music (like the incidental music for Downton and OUaT), sometimes a singer (Hayley Westenra), and in the case that set me on this awful beige path, a voice. David Collings's voice was a magic ingredient that made a TV show (or audio) suddenly fall into a place where I could understand it, maybe even enjoy it. Hence the following about.

(I was going to say, but what about Alfie? But remembered that of course, you only watched Enemy at the Door where he had grown a beard to protect humanity from the awesome of his face.)

nd yes, that's irony upon irony, isn't it, right down to the black, red and white colour palette

*nods* I can't imagine a modern show not needing to state that aloud (just in case we thought they were being pro-communist otherwise), but it hurts so much more when they just leave it to the audience here. :-/

Do you have problems with sound?
It isn't sound specifically so much as input of all kinds. It just gets too much to process. But I know what you mean about specific actors being easy to understand; I listen to Juliet Stephenson’s readings of Jane Austen when I can’t cope with anything else, and they’re a godsend. (OMG why did Austen not write more novels?)

black, red and white colour palette

*nods* I can't imagine a modern show not needing to state that aloud (just in case we thought they were being pro-communist otherwise), but it hurts so much more when they just leave it to the audience here. :-/

I suppose that might be a generational thing; plenty of people back in the Seventies could remember all that actually happening and there has been so much more stuff that has come along since then that has had to be assimilated and taught…. Why did I not have the wit to ask them about it while I could?

/feels stupid

>I was going to say, but what about Alfie? But remembered that of course, you only watched Enemy at the Door where he had grown a beard to protect humanity from the awesome of his face<

Eh heh, beard or no, I wouldn’t have recognised him in another role unless I knew about it beforehand. I had problems distinguishing Kluge and Friedel for the first couple of episode, and even then it was more by characterisation than by features!

There’s an outside chance I might get to Wiesbaden next year; a friend and I are ruminating a trip through northern France and Germany. Wiesbaden is on the list for a couple of reasons, including because it’s where the Red Baron is buried; it would be great if we actually got there. (Said friend said she read through several of the “Enemy at the Door fics” on the AO3 and was complimentary. ABO dynamics are not her thing as far as I know so that means means she liked yours too!)

It isn't sound specifically so much as input of all kinds. It just gets too much to process.

*nods* I just get a bit hung up on the sound input, because... I open my window for a bit and the extra noise just gobbles up all my energy, and when I was worse it just used to kind of all hurt, and I hated it. But yeah.

Has Juliet Stevenson read anything else nice, even if not quite as good as Austen (because what is)?

Said friend said she read through several of the “Enemy at the Door fics” on the AO3 and was complimentary. ABO dynamics are not her thing as far as I know so that means means she liked yours too!

Heh, thanks! And going to Wiesbaden would be great. I hear it's very pretty all along the Rhine. You will have to post about it or something if you do, though, for me. At least share a pic! :-)

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Fall of Eagles picspam

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