dirac

If I remember the book correctly, Farrell says the first time she danced Meditation away from NYCB was for Bejart – she and Bejart had been talking about performing a Balanchine ballet, and it occurred to Farrell that one, Meditation, was hers. She writes off to confirm and Jacques d’Amboise arrives to coach Jorge Donn and Farrell.

Canary, welcome to the General Reading and Literature forum. We do have BTers who are familiar with the novels, and if you do a search using Larsson's name posts will come up. The Thursday Next series sounds charming, Estelle. Thanks to everyone who's keeping this thread going!

Much obliged for the report, nysusan. Sounds like Tidwell's in the chorus. Many good dancers can be found there, though.

Great post, Canary. There is no doubt Guillem and her style were highly influential. She's been a topic of some debate on BT as you may have noted - I hope our thread does not go off on such a volatile tangent.

It was hard to avoid that conclusion, given some of the hosannas with which the advent of Wheeldon was greeted. I did think that Wheeldon was initially overpraised but I also felt for him when the inevitable backlash occurred. Couldn’t have been worse, in retrospect. But it’s possible for the gifted and blessed to learn from tough times and in the long run Wheeldon may profit from the difficult period he’s going through now. I'm glad to have been able to see so many of his ballets in San Francisco.

Perfectly understandable. How was the performance?

There is a lovely Ashton-choreographed ballet for the Moira Shearer episode,if i remember correctly. Yes, there is. The plot is another ballerina-dances-herself-to-death item, this time with James Mason as the impresario, but Shearer looks beautiful and dances beautifully. Also, her segment comes first and you don't have to sit through the rest of it unless you want to. I like the dance Ashton made for her here (he used the same music for Rhapsody later, it's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" by Rachmaninoff). As rg says, it' will be nice to have this on DVD - it does get shown on cable occasionally, but usually at odd hours of the day or night. Thanks for the heads up, rg.

Thanks, vagansmom.

I too would be interested to hear from anyone who's seen it. Please tell us about the performance when you go, abatt. Thanks for posting.

Has anyone else read The Time Traveler's Wife, BTW?

Thanks for telling us about it, YouOverThere. I can't stand the score to Don Quixote, either. You got your money's worth. Has anyone else heard Kern?

I think in her younger days she'd have looked right at home in British Vogue. The Great Ziegfeld was one of those Oscar bait biopics that remain popular in Hollywood to this day, made with the lavishness only MGM could muster in those days. Cinematically I remember it as being something of a beached whale. William Powell and Myrna Loy don't have the opportunity to strike the sparks they did elsewhere. Powell isn't quite as dull as Walter Pidgeon playing the same part in Funny Girl, but it's a good try, not that I blame Powell. Because of the Production Code the movie can't go into the juicy stuff like Ziegfeld's affairs with Marilyn Miller and the spectacular and wild Lillian Lorraine. I remember some nice production numbers, though. It's been awhile since I've seen it.

Thank you for posting the article, Mashinka. I'm not sure that the writer makes a very good case. American sitcoms are full of not especially appealing men (whose wives are generally played by actresses considerably more attractive). I suppose Kirstie Alley is prettier than Dawn French but the difference is surely marginal, and if Ricky Gervais wasn't considered right for American network television I expect it was because his personality and approach are singularly British and not because of his looks. The young actors replacing Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews in the feature film of Brideshead Revisited are evidence that the UK has its share of affectless pretty boys. Good points, sidwich, and it's nice to hear from you.

Thanks, glebb. I haven't seen that. I'm sure he wasn't kidding, either.

There isn't much to tell. I've seen her in The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth, and Big City and from those it's hard to gauge how wide her range could have been. I'd guess not very. She has a ditzy charm as Anna Held and is shown to best advantage there, although it's not a big part. (The Good Earth isn't as bad as you'd think, given all the fake Chinese running around.)

Thank you for starting the thread, GWTW. I hope your time on bedrest goes pleasantly and smoothly. I'm reading The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman and Johnny U by Tom Callahan.

Leigh's take on Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet:

Shearer's husband, Ludovic Kennedy, died earlier this week. Mme. Hermine sent me the link to this obit:

Thank you for posting the article, Mashinka. Maggie the maid must lead quite a life. Rainer's Hollywood career was a sort of bizarre fluke, but I'm glad all turned out well for her. She not only won two Oscars, she won them in successive years and beat out Garbo in Camille. I think it's a good answer too, and attractively unpretentious - had he told Rainer that he was an actor of unrecognized gifts and hoped to play Hamlet one day, that would have been cause for concern. I wish Fellini had asked me to have onscreen sex with Mastroianni.

I remember 'Lust, Caution' was criticized for being too long and slow and I thought it took the time that was necessary for that particular story. I look forward to seeing this one.

Much obliged for the report, PeggyR.

That’s true, now that I think about it. But I’d suggest that the Kidman character in Dogville shares some of that ambivalence in the conclusion of that film. There’s a ruthlessness in her that wasn’t there before (you can only think that she learned it from Dogville). He has a crazy daring that’s unique to him – I don’t know of any other director offhand who would have risked those heavenly bells.

There is a certain ambivalence about von Trier's view of misogyny - over and over in his movies women are mistreated in various ways, and one wonders if on some level von Trier gets off on the mistreatment; it repels but also attracts. Thanks for the detailed review, Simon. I hope the film shows up in my area soon.

Thanks for posting, Pamela. As mentioned I'm of tow minds about von Trier, but in all honesty I don't think he's being outrageous purely for its own sake.

Tell us what you think of it!