The Borgias (BBC 1981)
18 Jun 2018 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespirit[In the interests of actually posting about things I watch, have this one I wrote in January! One day I may be up to date...]
I wanted to see The Borgias (BBC 1981) because it was what Alfred Burke did next after Enemy at the Door (and also had Simon Lack's final TV appearance - he died shortly afterwards). Also because the BBC went all out for it with location filming and getting Adolfo Celi as Rodrigo Borgia, but then it flopped completely, going up against Brideshead Revisited on ITV and was hastily pushed away into a late spot, so reviews were divided as to whether it was terrible or had just been unlucky.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of it: I don't think it's terrible - what it is, despite the location filming, is essentially standard old-school BBC historical drama, which had the misfortune of going up against something in (what was then) the more modern format. But it's also not that brilliant, either, although I think that because I really got rather fed up with Oliver Cotton's Cesare. It wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't anything like as strong as Adolfo Celi, Anne-Louise Lambert, or Alfred Burke and yet he had the lion's share of the screen time, which made it an annoying experience. If you liked Oliver Cotton and his terrible wig/hair (? hard to be sure), it would be much better. Highlights included Peter Benson (the BBC's Henry VI) being ridiculously good in a tiny role (as ever) and Sam Dastor (the BBC 1979's Casca) turning up as Machiavelli, which was brilliant.
Also, to keep on the BBC Shakespeare theme, I now know where they got that wig they put on Tessa Peake in Two Gentleman of Verona. It's Anne-Louise Lambert's Lucrezia Borgia wig, I'll stake my life on it. The BBC couldn't run to two such long blonde crimped 15th C Italian wigs. It's just that it suits Anne-Louise Lambert and is fine in the more naturalistic lighting of The Borgias; it's appalling on Tessa Peake-Jones in the BBC Shakespeare's brightly-lit theatrical sets. (See: terrible fake hair I'm still not over.)
Anne-Louise Lambert as Lucrezia Borgia.
Tessa Peake-Jones as Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
So, it's interesting, some good performances, presumably not bad on the historical accuracy front and Alfred Burke wound up pope (what else do you do with a man with the face of a saint, a librarian or a confidence trickster, after all? For the sake of humanity, he still had his beard). Not enough Alfred Burke, though. And far, far too much Oliver Cotton/his terrible hair.
Bonus, though: gif of Alfred Burke reacting to the news that his wine has been poisoned. The universe just continually lets one down, really.
I wanted to see The Borgias (BBC 1981) because it was what Alfred Burke did next after Enemy at the Door (and also had Simon Lack's final TV appearance - he died shortly afterwards). Also because the BBC went all out for it with location filming and getting Adolfo Celi as Rodrigo Borgia, but then it flopped completely, going up against Brideshead Revisited on ITV and was hastily pushed away into a late spot, so reviews were divided as to whether it was terrible or had just been unlucky.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of it: I don't think it's terrible - what it is, despite the location filming, is essentially standard old-school BBC historical drama, which had the misfortune of going up against something in (what was then) the more modern format. But it's also not that brilliant, either, although I think that because I really got rather fed up with Oliver Cotton's Cesare. It wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't anything like as strong as Adolfo Celi, Anne-Louise Lambert, or Alfred Burke and yet he had the lion's share of the screen time, which made it an annoying experience. If you liked Oliver Cotton and his terrible wig/hair (? hard to be sure), it would be much better. Highlights included Peter Benson (the BBC's Henry VI) being ridiculously good in a tiny role (as ever) and Sam Dastor (the BBC 1979's Casca) turning up as Machiavelli, which was brilliant.
Also, to keep on the BBC Shakespeare theme, I now know where they got that wig they put on Tessa Peake in Two Gentleman of Verona. It's Anne-Louise Lambert's Lucrezia Borgia wig, I'll stake my life on it. The BBC couldn't run to two such long blonde crimped 15th C Italian wigs. It's just that it suits Anne-Louise Lambert and is fine in the more naturalistic lighting of The Borgias; it's appalling on Tessa Peake-Jones in the BBC Shakespeare's brightly-lit theatrical sets. (See: terrible fake hair I'm still not over.)
Anne-Louise Lambert as Lucrezia Borgia.
Tessa Peake-Jones as Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
So, it's interesting, some good performances, presumably not bad on the historical accuracy front and Alfred Burke wound up pope (what else do you do with a man with the face of a saint, a librarian or a confidence trickster, after all? For the sake of humanity, he still had his beard). Not enough Alfred Burke, though. And far, far too much Oliver Cotton/his terrible hair.
Bonus, though: gif of Alfred Burke reacting to the news that his wine has been poisoned. The universe just continually lets one down, really.
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2018 10:47 am (UTC)(Before I gave up and went looking for a filmography, the best guess I'd come up with was to wonder if he'd been a Borusa, which inasmuchas Borusa has been a manipulative politician with a superior air isn't that far off Feldkommandant Freidel, really.)
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Date: 18 Jun 2018 12:12 pm (UTC)if he'd been a Borusa, which inasmuchas Borusa has been a manipulative politician with a superior air isn't that far off Feldkommandant Freidel, really
There probably is an alternate universe somewhere where he was an incarnation of Borusa, you're right.
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Date: 18 Jun 2018 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2018 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2018 02:27 pm (UTC)The wig does look better in its natural setting! I'm re-watching the BBC's 1966 adaptation of The Three Musketeers and it's bad wigs and facial hair all round. Quite how James Maxwell isn't in it I don't know. Also I'm finding it hard not to sing 'Poker face' at Richard Pasco as Richelieu.
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Date: 18 Jun 2018 04:56 pm (UTC)If it weren't for Alfred Burke, I think I'd have preferred only 90 mins where the hair was invisible!
I'm re-watching the BBC's 1966 adaptation of The Three Musketeers and it's bad wigs and facial hair all round. Quite how James Maxwell isn't in it I don't know. Also I'm finding it hard not to sing 'Poker face' at Richard Pasco as Richelieu.
Aw, cool. You should sing it at Mr Pasco anyway. i'm sure he would understand. And James Maxwell was very busy in 1966, being in things that got burninated instead.
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Date: 18 Jun 2018 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2018 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2018 11:10 pm (UTC)There seems to have been some idea that Oliver Cotton was going to be a big TV name. I'm sure I read that somewhere. He had good theatre credentials, and probably knew a fair few directors. He did do quite a bit of telly in the end, but mostly just guest appearances, so presumably he decided to stay predominantly in the theatre. Maybe it was "The Borgias" that put him off! Shame they were making you look at him instead of Alfred Burke though, even if they were trying to cultivate him. He hasn't got nearly as interesting a face.
That poisoning gif is perfect, btw! Shame about the hat, but at least it's not a dodgy wig.
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Date: 19 Jun 2018 08:25 am (UTC)I should think, given how hard it flopped, that it might have just killed his chances, probably all shot down by that horrible wig. Or hairstyle. But he hasn't got nearly as interesting a face as Alfred Burke, it's true, nor was he as good as the other main actors in the thing, so it was frustrating. (Go away, Oliver!)
That poisoning gif is perfect, btw! Shame about the hat, but at least it's not a dodgy wig.
Cardinals do have to have them, though.
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Date: 18 Jun 2018 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jun 2018 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jun 2018 12:37 pm (UTC)Poor Alfred Burke too.
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Date: 19 Jun 2018 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Jun 2018 04:11 pm (UTC)“I am appearing in a stage play in post-war Munich, and my wigs are still better than that”: https://goo.gl/images/zo4Z4c
“I am Master Geppetto, a character who canonically wears a terrible wig, and my wig is still better than that”: https://goo.gl/images/obB9tD
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Date: 20 Jun 2018 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 Jun 2018 02:05 pm (UTC)kerk
no subject
Date: 19 Jun 2018 04:29 pm (UTC)(With the caveat that I can't get out very often and I'm not sure how long it'll be before I make it to the Post Office next - at least 2 weeks, and probably more likely 3 or 4 or even more - it depends where else I need to go, and which end of town!)