Beyond the Roundels

sovay asked me some more film meme questions when I complained about the questions in the other film meme making me talk about my A-Level film watching. I have managed to post my answers to these in less than a month after being asked them, so go me. And thank you sovay! <3

1. A film you watched for a favorite actor (of any gender) which you would not have sought out otherwise?

I wasn't really watching film for a long while, because I couldn't, so only my faves forced me back to it, and made it possible again, so it would be true to say nearly everything I've watched since about 2011. But here is one for each of my faves that have sufficient films in their cv to make it worth nominating one:

a. Dean Spanley (2008), because it's so obscure, and even if I'd stumbled over it in some other context, the very quality of the cast would only have been a warning sign, because it'd have to be terrible to still not ever have pinged my radar, or, afaict, anyone else's that I knew. But the Jeremy Northam tumblrs were enthusiastic, as were the 2-3 others who had actually seen it, so I sought it out, and I'm so glad I was finally able to snag a DVD because they were right - it's an oddity, but it's also a gem.

b. Girl On Approval (1962), which is a lesser New Wave/Kitchen Sink installment that starred Rachel Roberts with my man James Maxwell in the supporting role as her husband. I have a fascination with New Wave, brought on my Media Studies tutor who haunted the other post - we watched Look Back In Anger, Man at the Top & Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (& I also, long before, watched half of A Taste of Honey in my first year at secondary school. Only half was because that was when I first had ME/CFS). This gave me a deep, enduring and entirely grudging fascination with this brand of TV/Film, but also an appreciation of Rachel Roberts, who is amazing.

This is written by a female writer, about two main female characters, and it was the first UK attempt at a realistic film about fostering/social care etc, and I find it fascinating and well done, and worth a look if you have a similar interest in these kinds of films, social history of the era, or Rachel Roberts. (I can also attest it is well worth it for some of the earliest surviving non-fake-hair-assaulted James Maxwell, even if he is not in Rachel Roberts's league.)

c. If I had ever looked at The Lady Vanishes (1938) properly, I would no doubt have always have been taken with the summary, but I'd not got on with old films before then, so it was only watching Margaret Lockwood in 1970s TV, loving her in that and looking her up, that made me actually try it. It was a complete delight, and I've really enjoyed trying lots of 1930s & early 40s films I've watched off the back of that since, whether with or without Margaret Lockwood. I've still got a mixed track record with all-time Hollywood classics, but at least I know there are some things out there I do like!


2. A film you wish had been made with one of your favorites?

I'm not sure whether this is a role swap - this film would have been better with James Maxwell in it! - or a non-existent film they should have made with a favourite actor. I shall answer with something that is simultaneously both, in a way.

BBC Radio's 1991 'Christmas at the Wells' season of Victorian plays was great, but of all radio things I've listened to, the one that most made me pine for a live-action version was their London Assurance with Jeremy Northam as Dazzle. Someone should instantly have grabbed all the cast that could reprise their roles in visual format, or at least Jeremy Northam, and made them do it in a film, or a one-off TV thing. There is no film version of London Assurance, so it'd have been a general service to humanity anyway. I need to relisten to this, because I was new to it, but Dazzle wanders through it, idly bluffing and obliviously causing plot to ensue for everyone else, and I really really wanted to see him. It's set in the 18th C, so there would also have been excellent costumes. I am glad we had the radio, though.

(I loved The Schoolmistress even more but while I would enjoy a live-action version of that, too, it couldn't have Jeremy Northam as he was too old to play a 17 yr old even in 1991, except on radio, lol. Besides, it worked perfectly in that format, so I can just relisten to it anytime I wanted and be quite happy. Although it's such fun, someone should give it a go sometime. The world is always in need of an extra cheerful thing.)


3. A film it surprises people that you love?

See my below answer about me maybe not being the person to judge this - I feel most films I love are obviously films I would love, but then I would. I suppose, to go back to my previous film meme post, people are understandably surprised when I tell them that Schindler's List is probably my favourite film. (I prevaricate unless I feel like explaining my whole totalitarian regimes history story yet again, which I don't always.)

People do get surprised sometimes about that anybody likes the Star Wars Prequel trilogy best, I suppose; and I do! (I'm not alone by any means. ;-p)


4. A film you feel it should be completely obvious that you love?

All my films I love seem pretty obvious choices - to me, at least! But I read the description of The Lady Vanishes (1938) and went "that sounds like almost everything I like in one film" and it really was. The Winslow Boy (1999) was so obviously catered to me that I've been nearly watching it for years and it was first on my list of Jeremy Northam films to get, even if dodgy DVDs delayed it. Gosford Park was super-inevitable in so many ways. Watching The Mummy (1999) in a cinema in Aberystwyth (with wet feet, because I forgot you don't mess with the sea in Aber) was insta-love for multiple reasons, chief of which was A Librarian Heroine. *heart eyes*

idk, all my likes seem painfully obvious to me, but no doubt I'm more inexplicable to other people. Well. Occasionally, perhaps?

Have YOU been shocked by me liking a film??? Do I need to explain myself? I expect I will be very happy to do so.


5. A film you wish had been a television show?

A lot of book adaptations really need a TV serial format to do the book justice. I've been blanking on a particular example for 2-3 weeks now, though. But it'll definitely be some frustratingly over-lite classic lit book adaptation that missed something vital. I think lots of us round here know that feeling!

Part the Second! Yuletide truly is a bottomless marvel. I have never yet read through everything I wanted to in any year, or caught up on past years. (I should also note that I've been rather arbitrary in what I read for fandoms with several works, so these recs are not to say that the other works are not worth checking out!)


( 16 recs in 12th Century RPF, Anne of Green Gables, Bletchley Circle, The Goblin Emperor, Howl's Moving Castle, I Capture the Castle, Jeeves & Wooster, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Last Tango in Halifax, Lion in Winter, The Mummy, Sarah Jane Adventures )

The first two results of the conversational crossover meme. (And years may have passed since the last time I did it, but I still fail on the 'no explanations' part, but I refuse to be sorry for that!)


For swordznsorcery: Evy Carnahan meeting Dayna Mellanby. (Blake's 7/The Mummy):

( Entombed )

And for liadtbunny: Georgina Jones meeting Vila. (Adam Adamant Lives!/Blake's 7).


( Wrong Number )

Still attempting to make it through this year's collection! Have my next installment of recs:

( 17 recs in HIGNFY/HIst RPF, Adam Adamant Lives, Cadfael, Shakespeare, Diana Wynne Jones, The Hour, Libraries, Life, Malory Towers, Miss Marple, The Mummy, Northanger Abbey, and Sapphire & Steel )

So there's not much going on, and I couldn't resist retrying the meme using last names. Some couples stayed together despite the odds: Evie Eliott & Eowyn, Frobisher & Gandalf, Maddy & Maid Marian, and Servalan & Seven. The results were mostly much scarier than last time, but it did throw up some things that were amusing - and one or two I want badly now:

( More mayhem and scary pairings )

My entry for every20in20, Round 13 Horror/Action/Adventure Movies. I claimed The Mummy (2001).

Teaser:


( The Mummy - every20in20 Round 13 entries )

The usual rules apply: want, take, have, credit. No hotlinking. Comments are ♥ Screencaps my own & all textures are from said screencaps. (I thought it'd be fun.)

Written for belantana for the crossover meme. (The prompt being Evie from The Mummy meeting someone from The West Wing. I don't propose for the others to be this long, but belantana kind of challenged me to introduce her to the show, which is new to me, too. I couldn't include Toby or Leo, but they get refs.)

Story: The Usual Insanity
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2578
Characters/Pairings: Evelyn O'Connell, Sam Seaborn. Also Donna Moss, Josh Lyman, CJ Cregg, President Bartlett.
Warnings: Late S1, None. (The only thing that could even count as a spoiler refers to something in the first 20 mins of the series.)

Summary: There’s a crazy, beautiful librarian (or, possibly a ghost), in Sam’s office. With an urn. Nobody else is surprised.

( And about the urn )