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Gielgud!

Sep. 5th, 2004 09:55 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
The BBC gave us an unscheduled half hour of Gielgud.

The main programme- a live broadcast- was running late, so they gave us clips of Gielgud at the BBC- and what a rich archive it is; everything from wartime radio skits with Edith Evans to a 1980's Prospero.

Sweetest of all is his Mock Turtle in Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland. Why hasn't Miller made more films? I reckon he could have been one of the greats.

Gielgud is my favourite actor. Sometimes I deplore the floweriness, the fruitiness- the fact that he always acts a man who's acting, but in spite of this (we all hate the thing we love) he's the only actor I'd go out of my way to watch- regardless of the quality of the play/film.

Dear Sir John.

The thing that made me really sit up was a snatch from a TV film I remember from my teens- The Mayfly and the Frog- with himself as a randy tycoon opposite a very young Felicity Kendall. I reckoned the Beeb would have wiped the tape (they wiped so much in the early years) but apparently not. I want to see it again. I want to see it all the way through. The BBC has a duty to issue it as a DVD.

Date: 2004-09-05 02:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beentothemoon.livejournal.com
are you insinuating that has-been Geilgud's performance as the Mock Turtle surpasses even that of Ringo Starr, whose turn as the tortise is considered by many 20-something Americans who watched a lot of early 80's "Family TV" to be the definitive portrayal? I am aghast, sir aghast!

Date: 2004-09-05 04:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com
Er, um, well....

Date: 2004-09-05 11:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morrison-maiden.livejournal.com
He was wonderful. I'm embarassed to say that I've only seen him in the film Arthur...lol

Date: 2004-09-05 11:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com
You know I've never seen Arthur- only clips from it. He made too few Hollywood films.

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