Not another kidnap[ing show, I thought. (MISSING, Season 1, was already harrowing.) Anyway, becuz it's French, I stayed on. Just finished Episode 2; and it does get better. The plot if more complicated and layered.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Camille
(1984 TV Movie)
Good telling of the Dumas classic
16 May 2021
I've really enjoyed this Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation. The cast is excellent (OK, Ben Kingsley as the older M Duval may seem a but young); but otherwise a young Colin Firth and a luminous Greta Scacchi look and play the lovers very well. Production values are great since it was shot entirely in France. And most important of all, Marguerite's consumption was underplayed -- NOT bathetic; so it plays very well. The script is also excellent. All in all, I enjoyed it more than the very ARTIFICICAL Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor version.
Mary Queen of Scots
(2018)
The 1971 version was MUCH BETTER!
16 January 2019
Soarise Ronan is NO Vanessa Redgrave and Margot Robbie is NO Glenda Jackson. This is such a weak, denatured telling compared to the more glorious 1971 version; and yes, admittedly it was based on Maxwell Anderson's play. But it was precisely Anderson's language that gave the 1st go-around such dramatic fireworks. This one is a lame, telegrapher version that tailors the story to the camera; and similarly, panders to PC-ness by casting so many minorities in the Scot and English courts. REALLY? It is so distracting and a travesty on history and does a disservice to the paying movie-goer by feeding into that "casting diversity" BUT WHOLLY FALSE Representation, of historical fact. The hairdos of the 2 queens are quite silly and again, dressing all the men in BLACK and just giving color to the queens' costumes betrays such self-conscious techniques that they are all doing these FOR THE CAMERA, not in the interests of historical accuracy. Quite disappointing.
Good to see veteran character actors in there
14 January 2019
I really liked this episode. The year is 1848. Victoria is pregnant w/ child #6 (Helena); Laurence Fox appears as the Foreign Secretary, the pompous Lord Palmerston, who ruffles the royal feathers mightily. Veteran character actor Vincent Regan takes over as French king Louis Philippe who, a French king once again usurped by his people, tries hard with a not very convincing French accent. Where is his wife, Queen Amalie of Naples? A painting of St. Amalie by de la Roche, owned by Queen Amalie, featured in a recent episode of FAKE OR FORTUNE, remains one of my favorite episodes in that series.
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