tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post3601114164258596915..comments2024-03-24T21:42:48.278-04:00Comments on Another Old Movie Blog: A Town Like Alice (1956)Jacqueline T. Lynchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-12665043109259095322020-09-21T08:33:38.223-04:002020-09-21T08:33:38.223-04:00Welcome to the blog! I know what you mean about y...Welcome to the blog! I know what you mean about your heart aching for the trustee. In this case, I think it's because it's Gordon Jackson. I have always harbored a great fondness for "Mr. Hudson."<br /><br />Though it's been many, many years since I saw the 1981 miniseries, I do recall enjoying it very much, enough so that it made a huge impression on me, enough to actually drive me thousands of miles to see the town of Alice. I guess I enjoyed the performances more than you did. <br /><br />As to your question on location, I believe most of the 1981 version was shot in Australia, also in Malaysia.<br /><br />I hope you can see the 1956 version sometime soon. Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-36154882546698192302020-09-19T21:39:06.638-04:002020-09-19T21:39:06.638-04:00Such an insightful review. I need to see the 1956 ...Such an insightful review. I need to see the 1956 version. Making a comment 11 years after the original post, on the 1981 miniseries which I own on VHS tape. I am befuddled by the coldness of Paget, and Harmon - not even the romantic aspect, but Paget doesn't seem to merely be portraying "stiff upper lip;" to me, she is purely mechanical and without an atom of insight.<br /><br />Paget's apparent denial of what she must have known was deep love for her from her estate trustee - there are a couple of brief looks where I have been able to pretend this woman has a 1/2 oz of emotion in her body - but otherwise, I find her treatment of the trustee to be cruel. I find this portrayal to be one of an arrogant robotical woman. I cannot stand her.<br /><br />And Harmon? Thanks, but no thanks. Period.<br /><br />My heart aches for the trustee. Ten years ago. Now. And it is worse now, knowing how fully he loved Paget - but maybe she only represented some kind of dream for him, as, surely, he saw her for the arrogant robotical woman she is. I cAn'tSTAND'her. All the other women are fabulous.<br /><br />By the way, I thought that almost nothing of the 1981 miniseries was filmed in Australia? 100% Purehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15197188059906204913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-60143803741796298922009-07-20T22:05:21.645-04:002009-07-20T22:05:21.645-04:00Tip of my hat to ya, mate.Tip of my hat to ya, mate.RGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14615260562255985768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-37005742000330208912009-07-20T20:15:42.184-04:002009-07-20T20:15:42.184-04:00RG, I don't believe I've seen the 1981 ver...RG, I don't believe I've seen the 1981 version again since it was first aired, but I can imagine the letdown you felt, discovering the passions of your youth had morphed into the reminiscence of middle age. On the other hand, there are a lot of movies, and real-life experiences, that are enhanced with the bittersweet conscience of aging to which callow youth is blind.<br /><br />Your description of the actors is spot-on.<br /><br />All I can add is, I, too, own an Akubra.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-27809877451218694042009-07-20T18:55:33.357-04:002009-07-20T18:55:33.357-04:00part 2 - hope part 1 was accepted
Now, I recently...part 2 - hope part 1 was accepted<br /><br />Now, I recently saw the original movie and then recalled that, hey i could get the DVD..I settled for the "VHS only" on offer..re-watched it all in two nights, trying to make it an event of yore, and came away somewhat depressed. Why?<br />Helen had not aged, Bryan was still stoic and Aussie enough...I found myself recasting roles..imagine the sparks if Rachel Ward had played Jean..but something had changed...it was ME!<br />It not only dawned on me that I was no longer - calculator moment please - 27 - but that the Gordon Jackson role of Noel was the one I now empathized with - no not the bad teeth or the developing eye for the looks of a younger woman. Anyway, he saw the grace and class in jean..her real beauty. The older man looking back...Missed or unrequited love? Lost passion for different cultures (many years of world travel), beer (I made Fosters famous amongst my kin and still receive a six-pack as gift, or stocked for me upon my visit), women of a certain type - intelligence, wit, looks, privately expressed passion, the whole enchilada? Lost opportunity? - to break free from 30+ years of "faithful service" - go back west, "north to Alaska," or even to Oz, where I said I would go as I watched election results over the last quarter of a century or more, as needs be. The joy of life and living with a world ahead of you and someone you wanted to share it ALL with and keep on sharing?<br />All the above? <br />I'm not saying cuz I aim to be stoic like Joe or board that plane for "home"..like Noel.RGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14615260562255985768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-46322237439584958012009-07-20T18:54:03.156-04:002009-07-20T18:54:03.156-04:00A Town Like Alice (1981)
I'm not going to try ...A Town Like Alice (1981)<br />I'm not going to try my hand at reviewing this film, can't improve on yours, JTL, or even that of most amazon reviewers. Besides, the label says "Post a Comment." <br />Yet, still, this is more of a testimonial masked as a comment - buried here back in February (appropriate for this Aquarius) - albeit 2009. <br />part 1 - needed due to length<br />Now, I do recall the pleasure, and anticipation in the original viewing - TV guide consulted - station flipped to (of 4) and the subsequent fascination and wunderlust in the viewing for many things "Aussie" that this mini-series stirred back in 81. I was stationed in Hawaii, and exposed over the ensuing 3 years to a few Aussie exchange officers (man could they drink), hosted a cousin's Aussie boyfriend en route back home and than an Aussie-bound Harvard grad (who repaid his visit with an Akubra hat I still sport, affixed with a kangaroo and boomerang pin!). Having, at that time, never seen the movie or read the book, the theme of repayment you describe, was lost to me - it clarifies a lot. I mostly recall, in words that may fail me here, that I was mesmerized by the real-woman beauty and manner of Helen Morse (Jean); saw Bryan Brown's original devil may care, stoic Digger Joe as worth emulating - an Aussie version of a western star akin to Clint Walker or his contemporary Sam Eliot (Once an Eagle)...the first in a wave to follow such as Mel Gibson in Gallipoli and others featured in the Light Horsemen - but not that Crocodile character. I saw Brown next in Eureka Stockade (1984), the Aussie Alamo, and another winner to me, but what's this?<br />http://www.eurekastockadefilm.com/<br />A 2003 film that never was?? geez and there is a 1949 version with Chips Rafferty...the things we learn when we surf! But I've digressed.<br />My, have times changed..can't think of anything of comparable quality (not talking Super Bowls here) that would get me to tune in with the rest of the viewing millions to a major top three network, let alone PBS, show (I wonder what their numbers were for viewership then - and I don't recall the mini-series running with a telethon..the only time I seem to find PBS "worth watching" sans kids).<br />Frankly, I can't even see PBS putting on a similar series with the sort of realistic war (is hell but sometimes worth fighting) travails, feelings and dialogue portrayed that the allies experienced after their Far East fall...and Joe, if in the real world back then, might have been beheaded for his noble act. Even for 1956 this was a no no, and of course, would have complicated Nevil's Shute's 1950 novel too..besides, today, HONDA or SONY or some other sponsor would probably object.<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapitation<br />New Guinea, 1943. An Australian POW about to be beheaded by a Samurai sword.<br />But again, I've digressed. <br />part 2 followsRGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14615260562255985768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-64351617330530299622009-03-01T08:58:00.000-05:002009-03-01T08:58:00.000-05:00Thanks, Robby. It's always fun when you see a mov...Thanks, Robby. It's always fun when you see a movie location that you recognize.Jacqueline T. Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11047941886908178350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7092350404895325373.post-64628482454425381132009-02-28T20:55:00.000-05:002009-02-28T20:55:00.000-05:00Great then and now shots! It's always interesting ...Great then and now shots! It's always interesting to see how locations change over time.Robby Cresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00535820211830339224noreply@blogger.com