To Walk Invisible

[eighthobstruction]

Surprised this has not had a big mention....http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...walk-invisible A fantastic telling of a tale (no idea of the truth of the matter)....stunning photography....stunning portrayal....stunning characterisation....and stunning landscape (which I do not have to go far outside my door to replicate)....I loved the realism of it, the truth ( and indeed in reality it was far worse than in this enactment....the smoke and soot) but I think this prog' may have captured some of the characters/times/context and environment....certainly one of the prog's I have enjoyed most this year....

[french frank]

Nice (I did try … out of interest)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I was fascinated to see the scenery (which I know well) - especially Haworth main street, which was shut down, mud & straw poured along, and shop fronts covered - the café I have lunch with friends at most weeks was the one with the hares/rabbits hanging outside the front, and the sheepskins on which Bramwell wiped his bloody hands. (Meanwhile, the owners took the opportunity of the disruption to have the place redecorated. Many of the other shop owners and staff - who were amply compensated for losing a week's trade - could be seen as Extras.)

The content otherwise impressed me less than it did you, 8thOb - it's one I know well, and whilst it was more truthful in its use of language (for which great kudos - the novels are so often genteelised) it couldn't escape the familiar near-clichés - and the "plug" for the Parsonage Museum (part of the "fee" for using it in the filming) made Double Gloucester seem single. But the magnificent Chloe Pirrie as Emily was fantastic, putting the others well into the shade (especially the blokes - who were as predictably weak, self-centred, and infantile as has become the custom of Sally Wainwright's writing.)

But the Moors! My god, the Moors! It is such a privilege to live so close to such stunning scenery.


One of Richard Steinitz's very first coups when he started the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival was to get George Crumb to make a rare trip overseas for a personal appearance. Nothing to do with the Festival, it turned out: he is a great Bronte admirer, and part his fee for appearing was a trip to Haworth.

[Stanley Stewart]

I enjoyed Sally Wainwright's adaptation and, of course, the York sequences at Mickelgate. Will view my recording again over the weekend. Memories, too, of playing the Rev Patrick Bronte in weekly rep - ye gods! - at Harrogate in 1963. Think it was adapted by Clemence Dane and a teacher wrote to me re one of Patrick's exclamations, "...and Charlotte's written a play which is much better than likely." Always got a sense of frisson about the charm of this line and, apparently, it was a quote from one of his letters. However, it's a long play and we over -ran at the first night so the play had to be radically cut to fit the matinee and evening performances - sheer hell to adapt in weekly rep where you are always hanging on to the lines on a wing and a prayer. The second performance was a real voyage of discovery but I recall coming on-stage, looking at my daughters and Branwell, thinking, 'gawd, are you ALL still alive'! Off-thread, but I did stifle a chuckle as I watched the TV transmission. And we even made time for an early morning visit to Haworth parsonage. I've made several return visits with visitors since retiring to York; the setting above the Yorkshire Dales is breathtaking - the TV dramatisation caught the intensity and the social climate so well.

A splendid week for film adaptations with further extraordinary memory prompts - to follow!

[eighthobstruction]

....are you telling them where they can stick their plug fhg....somewhere handy?.....yes that was a shame no need for it at all....+ the information ref their deaths was extremely rushed.....

[jean]

...it was more truthful in its use of language (for which great kudos - the novels are so often genteelised) ...

I did find some modern turns of phrase a bit intrusive. And while I've no objection to Branwell swearing, I did wonder if fucking was the all-purpose expletive of choice then that it is now.

Emily certainly outshone the others - but if Charlotte had been anythig like that, nothing would ever have got done!

I have only been to Haworth once. I noted that the signposts on the moors were in Japanese as well as English.

[vinteuil]

.

... the language was one of the things taken up by the critics - as :

"Did the Brontës ever say “at it”? Or “f***”? Of course if you read their letters — or for that matter Jane Eyre — they seemed to think of little else. “If you knew my thoughts,” Charlotte wrote breathlessly to a friend, “the dreams that absorb me; and the fiery imagination that at times eats me up . . . you would pity and I daresay despise me.” History and the Victorians asterisked all that out, turning the Brontës into the sort of paragons of probity whose catchphrases shift notebooks in cosy northern gift shops. Here, Sally Wainwright put the f***ing back in, in every sense. She also added a fair bit of other stuff that wouldn’t do so well on notebooks. It was advisable not to be eating during the vomiting-blood scene. To say that it was grim up north in those days is to understate the matter. These three women led lives that make Wuthering Heights look like a light-hearted comedy of manners. The action — if you can call the endless taking on and off of aprons, peeling of potatoes and pegging out washing “action” — was set over a three-year period. Nothing happened. Damply. Needless to say there was a lot of wuthering. The actors and script were excellent. Wainwright is perhaps best known for Happy Valley and there were shades of that here. At one point the hopeless Branwell became more troublesome than usual. Emily Brontë intervened. “If ’e ’its me,” said Emily, “I’ll ’it ’im back. ’Arder.” Sgt Cawood would be happy to have her in the team. As ever with historical dramas, you longed for some sort of truthometer in the corner of the screen to go green when a verifiable fact was shown. Branwell coughs himself to death while vomiting blood? Green. Branwell suffering delirium tremens and fantasising about his employer naked and “at it”? Charlotte Brontë actually saying “at it”? It wouldn’t sell many notebooks, but a delicious prospect if true."

[jean]

"... Here, Sally Wainwright put the f***ing back in, in every sense..."

I'm not objecting to the other senses, just the use of that particular word - and then only as a meaningless expletive.

[alycidon]

Yes, I concur with Jean. There is too much use of the 'F' word in general these days. It seems to have slipped into general usage in the same way as 'OMG', which, as a Christian, makes me shudder every time I hear it - which is nearly every TV programme these days. I use Reddit quite a bit, and the 'F' word comes up in nearly every sentence, which makes me think that it is is common parlance in the USA.

Like others, I too object to current expressions in period drama. There is absolutely no point in bringing in expressions that did not exist during the period in question. It is sloppy writing, and I counted at least four such.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There is absolutely no point in bringing in expressions that did not exist during the period in question. It is sloppy writing, and I counted at least four such.

But is there any evidence that this is so, alycidon?

[alycidon]

But is there any evidence that this is so, alycidon?

Well, probably not, ferney, but I think that it must be highly likely. If I, at the age of 73, have not heard many of these current expressions until very recently, I would find it surprising if they were used in the mid-1800s.

But, as you correctly infer, we don't know, and I take your point.

[Lat-Literal]

Yes, I concur with Jean. There is too much use of the 'F' word in general these days. It seems to have slipped into general usage in the same way as 'OMG', which, as a Christian, makes me shudder every time I hear it - which is nearly every TV programme these days. I use Reddit quite a bit, and the 'F' word comes up in nearly every sentence, which makes me think that it is is common parlance in the USA.

Like others, I too object to current expressions in period drama. There is absolutely no point in bringing in expressions that did not exist during the period in question. It is sloppy writing, and I counted at least four such.

This is a significant issue for me - one that is regarded as odd because it isn't based in religion.

1. I don't need to Google to know that its modern derivation is purely American, specifically American cinema circa 1970 (for which read at root American business and to a lesser extent American politics). 2. While it has become prevalent among middle class professionals - the aggressiveness of well heeled competition - it is heard less and less in daily life (ie "ordinary people" where politeness means almost everything to business). That is, certainly less than on British television though possibly more than on almost all American TV.

3. Inconsistency - I never had a problem with it at all at football matches but there perversely it is increasingly condemned and can even lead to being sent out of a football ground. That seems utterly ridiculous to me. I cannot stand what it says about social illogicality across the board. 4. Scripts - There are entire generations who are sad that comedy writing (and popular music) are "rubbish" compared with those in their parents' day but intriguingly what they are blind to is the distinction between the two re excessive swearing. Take the latter out and there are more B+ or B scripts than is often perceived but I believe they are considered "D- lame" because of the general air all the unnecessary filler conveys.

Note:

If it was used by Gary Lineker on Match of the Day, it would be front page headlines, many of the least likely would be expressing disapproval and he would probably get the sack!

[alycidon]

I don't know if I've had too much of the red, Lit-Lat, but I can't follow all that. Sorry.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was in Howarth on Wednesday, escaping an enjoyable week of cat-sitting for a brief few hours. It was interesting to see how many shops and cafés manage to work references to the books into the names of their businesses.

Re the moors themselves, I always regret how this part of West Yorkshire has been allowed to become so shabby. Howarth itself is OK, but the moorlands to the sound are rather scruffy, and although much of this was brought about by the industrial revolution, much more could be done to restore the region's potential beauty.

Re excessive swearing in the dialogue, this is commonplace in so many dramas, and is largely unnecessary, perhaps to cover up the lack of imagination by the writers.

[vinteuil]

.

I suspect people swore just as much in the old days as they do now.

I certainly did.