Pygmalion, and The Dark Knight

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PARSLEY'S COMMLOCK

Theatre Review : Pygmalion, The Old Vic
George Bernard Shaw had ginger hair, and like myself he did his writing when he was on the move. Personally I find it ensures that I don't get annoyed when I'm stuck waiting somewhere during a long journey. For him it meant an opportunity to write a play reflecting on how our social status is linked to our use of language.

The play (not to be confused with the musical 'My Fair Lady' which followed it) concerns professor Henry Higgins (played by Tim Pigott-Smith), linguistic scholar, and his light hearted bet with his rich friend Colonel Pickering (played by James Laurenson). Higgins boasts that he can take a street girl (Eliza Dolittle, played by Michelle Dockery) and pass her off as a woman of high birth at a high profile garden party.

There are various subtexts at work. Higgins himself is unable to treat Dolittle with dignity, despite him proving that she has no less ability to be a noblewoman, and the probability that they are in a situation of at least 'special' affection with each other. It's very nice to hear lots of London locations get a mention, and for the historic British notion of 'class' to be captured so clearly, although it's rather sweetly anachronistic against a current day context of immigration, people movement and globalisation.

The play was very much superseded by the musical starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Here it is lovingly crafted in its more original form.

I was shocked and delighted to find that James Laurenson was in it. I remembered him affectionately from my youth as the aborigine detective known as Boney (née Napoleon Bonaparte). I recently discovered he was embarrassingly 'painted' to carry off that part. Here he was entirely convincing as an old stately gentleman. The celebrity cast, under celebrity director Peter Hall, also included Una Stubbs. I once heard her saying how she had longed to play a sex symbol. Here she puts in a well-judged performance as Higgins' housekeeper.

The Old Vic is a posh theatre and with an all-star cast the tickets were not cheap. It takes some tedious scouting around online to find any that exist, at prices below the highest. That said, it was an extremely enjoyable well done show with plenty of humour and impressive production values.

Film Review : The Dark Knight
Well, if people are still into Batman then surely all is right with the world, and certainly the takings from this film suggest that no enthusiasm has been lost for the caped crusader. Ok, from my point of view the under-12's would definitely be better off watching Adam West in the sixties TV version than accompanying an adult into this pretty full on adrenalin-fest, but it's quality stuff from start to finish.

But how long that finish takes to come! I confess, and sorry to give away the length aspect, that this film could have so easily and naturally finished at an hour and a half. At that time it would undoubtedly be the best film I have seen in several years. However, it then sprawls on to another hour, and no matter how well that was done it was just too long by that stage. What is it with film executives? Don't they realise they could dramatically reduce their costs by not making films so disastrously long.

I was also seconds away from believing we could finally have a great one-villain film that was well measured and exceedingly well done. But then the plot twists had to have their own twists, and suddenly the exciting ride turned to nausea.

Christian Bale stars as Batman, who's doing a great job cleaning up the city in partnership with Gary Oldman's Police Lieutenant Gordon, until Heath Ledger's wonderful Joker appears to bring that old unforgettable quality - insanity - into their lives.

Bale puts on a silly Marlon Brando growl of a voice when he's in the Batman outfit. Good on him for disguising his voice rather than thinking people couldn't tell, even if it makes him sound silly. Ledger is psychotic and scary. It gave his unmissable performance an extra poignancy to know that he won't be coming back for this role again after his untimely death.

As with the Bourne trilogy, the exciting action fills the screen to the point where you cannot have an overall conception of the action. Batman can ride a motorbike through a building, and the obvious obstacles that would greet anyone trying to do that can be overlooked in an exciting sequence. It becomes a relentless rush that in the first part of the movie is the perfect foil to intricacies and thoughtfulness in the plot.

Even the burden of finding suitably large cameo roles for Michael Caine (as butler Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (as inventor and Wayne foundation steward Lucius Fox) was worked out in satisfying ways.
Overall Review : Thumbs up. Extremely good action film with excellent plot and performances, rather spoilt by being unnecessarily long.

parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]