I'm sure I put a more interesting post down here somewhere...

[thisbluespirit]

I'd like to write an interesting post, but I can't think of anything interesting to write about, which does scupper that plan somewhat.

So:

I started watching the BBC Shakespeare Coriolanus and it had Joss Ackland in and naturally instead I thought about the episode with the two generals in from Enemy at the Door and writing fic and then thought, how dodgy will they be? (very), but then that it would fit the hc_bingo square "atonement" giving me a bingo! (I mean, it is too late for it to count, but it's still silly to have four in a row and then never do the fifth, even in amnesty.) So obviously bingo squares win out over sense and things.

I was going to ask for sensible suggestions for what to call a WWII German aristocratic general (he doesn't have a first name, and I can't get through the fic without giving him one), but if you Google top German names for the 1890s, the internet will provide. (This is why authors have no excuse for the whole Carolyn business. Srsly. GOOGLE before you casually Carolyn your Regency romance.)

I can't do polls over here, but in Random Name Choices, for [Blank] von Wittke, I am considering:

*Paul
*Emil
*Erich
*Bernhard
*Bruno

(I think in the usual way EatD is so layered and details can be teased out on rewatching, so it almost feels as if I ought to be able to find his real name, but other than by somehow obtaining a script, this is not true. But it still feels wrong, so help me with random selection! /totally logical)

(hyarrowen, if you see this, there is no infidelity I promise, but yet some very slight shippage! At least in my notebook, that is, or actually, that bit might not even be in the notebook. So, actually, there is no shippage as usual... I should go type my dodgy WWII fic about DOOMED generals who understand they kind of deserve to be DOOMED, instead of waffling.)


I haven't watched enough of Coriolanus yet to comment on that although it seems at this stage to be a very strong entry (but I won't commit to anything until I'm at least halfway through). It stars Alan Howard, Irene Worth, Joss Ackland and Mike Gwilym. So far Joss Ackland wants Alan Howard to take up public life, but Alan Howard would so much rather be having semi-naked bloody wrestling matches with Mike Gwilym. A valid life choice, I suppose, although Mike Gwilym seems less keen.

Comments

[executrix]

1. Emil.
2. I really did not like the BBC Coriolanus, although in general I think they squandered a lot of opportunities in that series. (I did like the B7 Measure for Measure even absent its B7-ness.)

[thisbluespirit]

I think people are very divided about the BBC Shakespeare! I rather loved M4M too, and hated All's Well - so at least if I can enjoy Coriolanus, I'll be giving Elijah Moshinsky his due!

And thanks for the vote. If nobody else votes, the power will be all yours!!! :-D

[executrix]

Whereas I think the BBC All's Well did a decent job. (I may also be one of the few people in the world to have seen The Unfortunate Comedy TWICE in theaters and once in RSC live broadcast.)

[thisbluespirit]

It won a BAFTA, so you're not alone, but I watched M4M and it together and loved M4M and then hated All's Well with a passion. They were so mean to Peter Jeffrey!!

And I like lots of the Shakespeare you're not supposed to like, so fair enough. (I mean, we're not supposed to like M4M either, are we, even when it has Servalan in!)

[executrix]

There was an anthology of essays called Bad Shakespeare which I read once but couldn't find again and would love to add to my collection!

M4M is a hugely popular play that gets produced all the time, so I think we *are* supposed to like it. But nowadays we're not supposed to think the Duke is a godlike figure.

[thisbluespirit]

But he moves in mysterious ways!

[rydra_wong]

There was an anthology of essays called Bad Shakespeare which I read once but couldn't find again and would love to add to my collection!

Cheapest copy I've found so far:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22689429716

[executrix]

Thank you! $25 is beyond my open-to-buy right now. If only it were on the Better World Books 20% off $25 sale!

[rydra_wong]

M4M is a hugely popular play that gets produced all the time

But it used not to be! Wasn't staged at all for ages, didn't get rediscovered until the mid-20th C. Now I think it benefits from being conspicuously Ambiguous and thus useful for curriculums.

[executrix]

Robertson Davies said that the Victorians liked their Shakespeare sweet and hot and we like ours sour and cold, hence frequent stagings of problem plays.

[persiflage_1]

Personally, I vote for Bruno.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you!

(I suppose if it's all a tie, I shall have to pick one of the favoured few out of a hat! Or give him all of them, he is an aristocratic sort, after all...)

[persiflage_1]

That works - aristos often have absurdly long names...

[thisbluespirit]

:-D

... soooo in a completely unrelated and unexpected> twist of fate... how do you feel about beta-ing a ~3600 word depressing dodgy story about two WWII generals who are probably going to commit suicide after I'm done with them? (I mean, I say that flippantly, but it is true, so feel free to bail!)

[persiflage_1]

LOL Sure, why not.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! I sent it over earlier, but obviously it is not anything there is a hurry for, other than my sanity. ;-D

(There is still snow here!)

[persiflage_1]

Woo to real actual snow, and not the mythical kind!

I got the fic - I also got the amended version overnight. Will get to it today.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, good! I kept changing things even after that as well, though less. :lol: (I keep finding New Facts, it's terrible.)

The snow is still here, but less nice and new. When is it spring again?? ;-)

[persiflage_1]

LOL 'tis sent back, in case you haven't caught up with your emails yet.

Today - well, March 1 is the meteorological first day of Spring but wtf do meteorologists know?

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! Your timing, unlike the weather, is perfect!

[persiflage_1]

You're most welcome!

[paranoidangel]

I got distracted on the Wikipedia lists because both of my German grandparents' (born around 1920) names are on those lists.

I like the way Erich von Wittke sounds.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm just realising I didn't put a plan in place for 'what if nobody votes for the same name?' This could be an oversight.... (I suppose I just pick one out of the ones that got votes, maybe from a hat.)

(Emil Bruno Erich von Wittke! He's very aristocratic, he probably has a bunch of names.)

I'm glad to hear the lists are reasonably authentic, then, at least.

[shannonsequitur]

I never would have considered Wikipedia as a source for WHEN foreign names were popular, so thanks for that, it was very Relevant To My Half-Baked Screenplay Idea. (Looks like one of my characters is getting a name change. AGAIN.)

As for your name list, I'm inclined toward Erich for some reason.

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, it wouldn't have been my first port of call, but it actually seemed one of the more reliable of the initial search results I got.

Erich seems to be in the lead!

[swordznsorcery]

Erich. Totally Erich.

Doesn't the Beeb's "Coriolanus" also have Valentine Dyall in it? How could you list all those others, and not mention the Black Guardian?! You have failed in your Who-ery. :p

[thisbluespirit]

Erich is now in the lead!

And if the BBC's Coriolanus has Valentine Dyall in, I haven't seen him yet, and besides I just listed the main stars, which are the only actors the cover tells me. Until I get to the end (possibly two more days away at the rate I'm going), they're just various slightly familiar blokes in beards mainly. No Dyall yet!

[swordznsorcery]

...slightly familiar blokes in beards...

Period BBC casting in a nutshell. :D

[thisbluespirit]

Sometimes it's togas!

BUt Valentine Dyall just turned up at the beginning of Part II, so I have now seen him.

[swordznsorcery]

Did he have a dead blackbird on his head?

[thisbluespirit]

I think that's only for special occasions.

[justice_turtle]

Sometimes it’s togas AND beards! :D Not often, though.

I like the “all the names” plan...

[thisbluespirit]

No, the Romans are usually clean-shaven, that's the thing! In this case they're doing Shakespeare Roman Jacobean, which Elijah Mishinsky (the director of at least three installments) was REALLY into. (I'm finding it works better for me here than with the others.)

As long as you don't get the disturbing variant of character actors in saunas, which old time BBC is way more fond of than it ought to be!

He's just about confirmed as Erich from this post, but secretly he will definitely be ALL the names. ALL OF THEM.

[justice_turtle]

Perhaps beardy Romans are a Hollywood thing, or perhaps I’m just confused by the number of Neroes with neckbeards one sees when one has watched as many movies about early Christianity as I have. ^_^

[thisbluespirit]

I think it depends on the Roman era in question, really. There are definitely some beardy points, I think. (I'm not an expert on Rome, either!) But these are beardy Shakespeare Jacobean Romans!

[hyarrowen]

Pure chance that I saw this, I've just moved house and everything is chaos! But I'd plump for Paul, on the basis of "road to Damascus" moments.

Oddly enough among the few DVDs I've unpacked are "Enemy at the Door", which I'll have to re-watch! And also "Coriolanus" though mine is the 2010 version, which is very gory.

I hope the fic goes well! I have no doubts that you can do justice to their rather fraught relationship.

[thisbluespirit]

It looks like he's going to be Erich, which was one of my first thoughts, but it was a toss up between a vote and calling him Paul, so I'm sure Paul is one of his names! (Aristocrats always have plenty to choose from).

I hope the fic goes well! I have no doubts that you can do justice to their rather fraught relationship.

Thank you, although to be honest I am probably just being FRaser from Dad's Army at length: DOOMED, DOOMED, DOOMED!!

ETA: I fully support hiding from the unpacking in Guernsey and Shakespeare. I hope the chaos is conquered soon and good luck with the new place!

[hyarrowen]

Erich it is! And yes, definitely doomed, on all sorts of levels.

The new place is looking good, thank-you, though I miss my half-acre :( though not the neighbour that went with it. Currently I'm being driven nuts by cicadas. Go and stridulate somewhere else, bugs!

[thisbluespirit]

We're having a polar vortex and it's currently snowing! I can't send it your way, unfortunately, as that would probably give the bugs pause!

(And, for the current moment, sticking! I live in a valley by the sea, so snow is something that hangs about in the air/melts quickly, or is a mystical substance seen on the hills.)

[vilakins]

Emil or Erich.

[thisbluespirit]

Erich has won at this point, so yes Erich it is!

[a_phoenixdragon]

I love reading your posts. :)

Hi, hon!

*Drive by hugs*

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks!

[beccadg]

I was going to say Emil, because I liked an "E" name, and it doesn't make me think of Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto as much as Erich does, but having seen the talk of giving him all the names I vote for ALL TEH NAMEZ!!

[thisbluespirit]

Haha, whatever he is, he will definitely be secretly all the names! I think Erich is still just about in the lead, though, but mostly he'll just be von Wittke. :-)

[jhall1]

Not Bruno, as that sounds like a bear. And Emil sounds a bit wishy-washy. (Apologies to any Emils who might be reading this.) I would be happy with any of the other three, but would probably rank them Erich, Bernhard, Paul. I suppose it would depend a bit on whether he is thoroughly evil or is a decent chap along the lines of Rommel (who was an Erwin, of course, which probably rules that name out).

Added later: And I chose Erich before having read the other comments. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Yeah, it's definitely Erich now!

He is probably a decent chap, as he at least hates Hitler and the Nazis and is trying to bring them down. He's just not having much luck and is probably going to die very soon.

(Enemy at the Door doesn't really do evil, it does human beings.)

[jhall1]

Your description reminds me very much of Rommel, at least as portrayed by James Mason in the excellent 1951 film "The Desert Fox". Though it seems that Rommel may not have been quite the good guy that he was shown as being in the film:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Desert_Fox:_The_Story_of_Rommel#Role_in_Rommel_myth

[thisbluespirit]

How many of the military elite would qualify as 'good guys' is very dubious, even the ones that were definitely involved in the plots against him! But while von Wittke doesn't seem to be based on anyone in particular, he's more in line with General Beck, who he is working with, having been involved with resistance against Hitler since at least 1938.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Beck