Favourite Character No 2

Perhaps I was cheating a little bit by having two bites of the cherry in the Analogue Painting Challenge's Favourite Character round, but as well as the Margaret Rutherford character, I wanted to include this one because it represents The Wife's favourite film.

Now a lot of Casablanca is really hokey - I can do without the whole Bogart-and-Bergman-in-Paris bit, which contains the line "Is that the sound of canon-fire, or is it the beating of my heart?" (which never appears on the list of great quotes from the film, go figure!) - but one thing that redeems it is the figure of Capt Renault.

Renault, the Chief of Police, is completely amoral.  He is a collaborator with the German non-occupation, he is cynical and he is corrupt.  He extorts sexual favours from refugees trying to get exit visas (unless Rick provides them with the bribe).  Yet in the end he turns out good...

The Wit and Wisdom of Louis Renault

Almost every line delivered with a cocked eyebrow and wry smile...

Captain Renault: Oh no, Emil, please. A bottle of your best champagne, and put it on my bill.

Emil: Very well, sir.

Victor Laszlo: Captain, please...

Captain Renault: Oh, please, monsieur. It is a little game we play. They put it on the bill, I tear up the bill. It is very convenient.

Captain Renault: Rick, there are many exit visas sold in this café, but we know that *you've* never sold one. That is the reason we permit you to remain open.

Rick: Oh? I thought it was because I let you win at roulette.

Captain Renault: That is *another* reason.

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money, getting a very dirty look from Rick]

Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.

[aloud]

Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

Captain Renault: By the way, last night you evinced an interest in Señor Ugarte.

Victor Laszlo: Yes.

Captain Renault: I believe you have a message for him?

Victor Laszlo: Nothing important, but may I speak to him now?

Major Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Señor Ugarte is dead.

Ilsa: Oh.

Captain Renault: I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

Captain Renault: [after Rick pulls a gun on him] Have you lost your mind?

Rick: I have. Sit down!

Captain Renault: Put that gun down!

Rick: I don't want to shoot you, but I will if you take one more step!

Captain Renault: Under the circumstances I will sit down.

...

Rick: And remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart.

Captain Renault: That is my *least* vulnerable spot.

And of course, the clincher...

Major Strasser has been shot... round up the usual suspects.

Favourite Character No 1

Many of you will know that this weekend saw the Favourite Character bonus round in the Analogue Painting Challenge.  The entries are now up on the website and I encourage you to go and have a look at them, read the interesting rationales behind their inclusion and vote for your own favourites.  There's a lovely variety there.

I chose to submit a figure representing the well-known and popular character actress Dame Margaret Rutherford.  She was a real 'character' and had a remarkable life, starting with her father being a certified madman (in the sense of being sent to Broadmoor for bludgeoning his father to death with a chamber-pot!) and ending in a ménage à trois with her husband and a man forty years her junior.  Despite personal tragedies, she was a noted comic on stage and screen - her best known film roles were in Ealing Comedies and as a Miss Marple in light-hearted interpretations of Agatha Christie's character.  My own personal favourite is Grand Duchess Gloriana in The Mouse on the Moon (1963).

There are at least two figures representing her, one by Black Cat Bases (which I am still waiting for, though I ordered and paid for it last June) and another by Artizan Designs.  This is the latter (the dog, I think is one of Black Cat's).

In my submission to Curt I said that the figure represented Rutherford in character as Miss Marple.  On reflection, I think it may be the diplomatist Prof Hatton-Jones from Passport to Pimlico (1949).  However, as the clip below shows, she wore much the same costume in all her films!

Prof Hatton-Jones

For your pleasure I attach the opening sequence to Murder at the Gallop (1963), which gives you a flavour of the Marple films.  

Buster Keaton - Documentarian?

The other week (Valentine's Day actually) The Wife and I watched Buster Keaton's 1926 film The General.  As many of you know, this is frequently cited as one of the best films of all time: I've seen clips of the set-pieces, but never sat down and watched the whole thing.

One of my more annoying habits is that after watching a film or tv programme, I go onto the 'net to find out more about it.  I was surprised to learn two things about the film.  The second is quite interesting, so stick with me...

The story is a relatively simple one:-

Johnnie, our hero is a railroad engineer in pre-Civil War Georgia.  He has two loves - his engine, 'The General', and a fetching air-head.  When news of the outbreak of war comes, Johnnie contrives (though a number of amusing antics) to get to the head of the queue to enlist.  He is turned down on the basis that he's more use to the South as an engineer than as a soldier (though the recruiting officer doesn't tell him or anyone else this).  Despite getting back into the queue a few times more, Johnnie remains a civilian.  The air-head and her family refuse to have anything to do with him until he's in uniform.

The war progresses, and the Yankees come up with a plan to steal a train and then take it north, destroying bridges. etc, on the way.  Having cut the route for the relief of besieged Chattanooga, they will then meet up with the Union Army with a trainload of supplies.

The train they take is the General - grabbing it while the crew and passengers are on a scheduled fag-break.  Unfortunately, the air-head has gone back to get the lighter she left in the baggage car and thus is also captured.  Johnnie sets out in pursuit, first on foot, then in a hand-cart and eventually in another train.

He arrives in the Yankee camp, rescues the air-head (he doesn't tell her that he didn't know that she was there) and takes the General back.  Eventually, he warns the Rebs of the approaching forces, wrecks the supply train and wins the day.  He is commissioned and gets his girl.

One of the most expensive effects ever...

If you want to see it, here it is courtesy of YouTube -

So far, so good...

So on looking up the film, I found that the acclaim it is held in was not felt at the time.  It was a minor flop at the box-office - one critic said is wasn't funny enough to be a comedy or thrilling enough to be an action movie (I must agree that he has a point).  It cost Keaton his independence as a film-maker, and he never recovered financially.

The second, more interesting thing, is that the whole thing is based on a true story and follows it quite closely!  This may not be news to those of you who know about the American Civil War, but it was to me.

Andrew's Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) took place in 1862.  Most of the events depicted in the film happened, even the chase by the engineer on foot, then hand-cart then train.  Fortunately, the air-head seems to have been a Hollywood embellishment.  The raiders failed to inflict any major damage.  The were captured, executed as unlawful combatants and (most) awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

The real engineer was William Alan Fuller.  For his exploits he was indeed commissioned, into a newly formed railway militia.  He died, a Georgia hero, in 1905.

The General survives and is preserved at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia (the site of her capture).