50 years ago today, exactly one league game was played in Scotland, but to make up for it, there were multiple cup competitions going on. Which future star player was describes as a 'will-o'-the-wisp', and just who was Jumbo?
#SpringCup50
... because it's shot in tight close-up, giving the tavern a feel of your local pub, and the battlefield a sense of real and immediate danger. No weak performances, and delightful to see the much put-upon Richard Bucket, aka Clive Swift holding his own as the elder Percy, Earl of Worcester.
#BBCTelevision #Shakespeare move into the second season with #HenryIV part 1. Featuring the same cast as #RichardII plus Anthony Quayle's fulsome and seemingly about to keel over from high blood pressure Falstaff. Very much in the house style, it works 1/2
letterboxd.com/film/henry-i...
The resurgence of Dundee United is somewhat overshadowed by Celtic's links with the East German marvel which was the Trabant. Also , a peer of the realm fell in the gutter. Only in your handy guide to 1976 at Bairns o' the Revolution:
open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...
The challenge is, as always, still available for anyone who wants to join in - 52 films from the Criterion Collection to be watched by the end of the year:
letterboxd.com/benvsthemovi...
Some of the acting is of its time to be sure, but Travolta is believably on edge through the whole thing, and carries the whole thing with some style. The cinematography is striking in its use of overhead shots, and one scene in particular stands out for the way the camera spins dizzily around 2/3
#CriterionChallenge 10 was to watch a randomly generated spine number. 562 came up, which is Brian de Palma's 1981 paranoid thriller Blow Out. One of those films I probably watched while at university, although I only vaguely remember it; it was genuinely gripping.
letterboxd.com/film/blow-out/
Huge news! archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/new...
We're about to replace Pacific Standard Time with a new time zone all of our own called, er, #PacificTime. This will bring clarity and simplicity to everyone in BC, especially those who have no idea how to change time zones on all their devices.
OK, it’s not quite #Sundance, but our own #SaltSpring Film Festival is packed with great films and thought-provoking experiences. Only time for a half day this year; we’ll plan better for next year.
Non-zero chance that song and band were AI generated.
Here's the twist: they don't exist
Fifty years ago this weekend, two teams were out in front in the Scottish Premier Division. Bet you can't guess which two.
OK, bet you can. Also featuring the division which ended with a bunch of games left over. You couldn't make it up, unlike this headline
open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...
...oddly inactive for large parts. It might have been more honest to call it 'The Tragedie of Cardinal Wolsey', although he dies offstage. Anyway, I shan't be in a hurry to revisit despite its sumptuous visuals and splendid cast, including this week's 'hey!' moment, Roger Lloyd-Pack as 2nd Gentleman
It is, of course, not entirely by #Shakespeare (and there are parts where you can plainly tell), and it is to a certain extent Tudor propaganda - or, perhaps more fairly, Royal propaganda. The christening of Elizabeth at the end is the most egregious example, but it makes its title character...
#BBCTelevisionShakespeare part 6 is #HenryVIII which is the first I did not know at all (this is not strictly true, because I must have sat through it on first broadcast, but it did not live long in the memory). It's..uneven, let's say, but there are reasons for that
letterboxd.com/film/henry-v...
As always, your invitation to the challenge is here: 52 films, one from each entry in the list, watch them by December 31st; otherwise, no rules.
letterboxd.com/benvsthemovi...
Latest #CriterionChallenge was 1990s. To avoid rewatches and also cross one off my other list, I chose #KiyoshiKurosawa's extraordinary, unsettling and 'Se7en'-inflected 'Cure'. Might be the best film I've watched this year; it's certainly still firmly in my head
letterboxd.com/film/cure/
A grim battle of tactics, a surprise friendly, a very expensive new computer, and an expensive night out. In 1976 prices, of course:
open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...
2/2 I do know that the live acapella recording of 'Road to Aberdeen' on one of her compilations features yours truly and party (silently) in the audience. The three live albums I'm definitely in the audience of? Saxon, Blackfoot and Nanci Griffith...
Saw her two or three times in the nineties - once at the Royal Albert Hall with Emmylou Harris guesting; she was always a dazzling performer and had that huge room in the palm of her hand from first minute to last. I think it was one of her shows which had Lucinda Williams as support 1/2
#NowPlaying #NanciGriffith It’s clearly Live Album Monday; this is a recently acquired vinyl version of an album I’ve owned in multiple formats over the years. Proof, if needed, that great live performances aren’t just about power chords and wig-out solos
#NowPlaying #LiveAtLeeds Really? I thought they were from London. Original and best - although I have another live album on the way which is totally different but I may just love it more
Solid cast, solidly performed, with only minor quibbles - the garden scene did feature a spectacularly badly tuned lute which distracted the hell out of me, and the ending was a clear case of "don't mess it up, please don't... oh, she goes off with him. Ah well."
Fifth #BBCTelevisionShakespeare was #MeasureForMeasure, that strangely modern story of patriarchy and hypocrisy. Hard to take some of the costumes in a post-Blackadder world, but it mostly worked, as long as you are OK with the convolutions and unconvincing reveal.
letterboxd.com/film/measure...
Desperate Dan invades the Sunday Post; #PartickThistle win the league, and players will have to learn to spell their own names. Just another week in the revolutionary world of the Scottish Premier Division in 1976:
open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...
Not as feisty as VAR made it seem. I could make a case that none of the red cards were actually that bad, especially given the conditions, but I’ll take it in the context of how abject we’ve been all season
Well that was a pleasant surprise #ABEMOT
A crazy night of goals, although not for Scotland, good news for #Alloa and rather too much about southern Africa, considering it's 1976.
On the positive side, earthquakes and trousers!
open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...
As before, the challenge for anyone who wants to take part. Go at your own pace, but to complete it, watch 52 films by the end of December:
letterboxd.com/benvsthemovi...
#CriterionChallenge 8 was 1930s. So, time to catch up with a classic I've never seen before, shockingly. What genre is it? Yes.
Delightful and everything everyone says it is, the whole thing passed in the blink of an eye. Sublimely English while being universal.
letterboxd.com/film/the-lad...
2/2 No stunt casting, although Charles Gray does hint at Blofeld in his Caesar. Keith Michell is too old to be Mark Anthony - I do hope he's not repeating the role opposite Cleopatra when we get there.
Only minor cast member of note: Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Damien in Omen2, as Brutus' servant Lucius
