Merchant/Ivory
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
Merchant/Ivory
Thanks to Alissa Wilkinson writing in THE NEW YORK TIMES for reminding me of how much I looked forward to Merchant/Ivory films adapted from classic novels by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
A ROOM WITH A VIEW/E.M FORSTER, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY/KAZUO ISHIGURO AND MR. AND MES. BRIDGE/EVAN CONNELL.
A ROOM WITH A VIEW
Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson (Julian Sands) in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
Ishiguro's remarkable novel has been magnificently filmed.
A butler (Anthony Hopkins)who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
Set during World War II, an upper-class family begins to fall apart due to the conservative nature of the patriarch and the progressive values of his children.
Readers Comments
Terrance-
I got to know John quite well in the 70s when he made a woman under the influence. I booked it in a lot of United Artist theaters in my first job out of college, and brought him to the Bay Area to do promotion.
One night at dinner, he started to tell about the next film that he wanted to make. We were all entranced.He was the greatest storyteller.
But he needed financing. I said that maybe my boss, Bob Naify, would be interested because I’ve gotten him to finance Kentucky Fried movie and they’d done a few other films. So I set up a dinner the next time John was gonna be in town. As John regaled us with the plot of this next movie, I realized that there was almost nothing the same as the story he told me but it was no less wonderful. Bob asked him how much he needed. $650,000. Bob said he would do it.
That was the Killing of a Chinese Bookie . The final film was nothing like either of the stories we heard and it was a critical and commercial flop though it has been well regarded in recent years.
When I was going to do a tribute to John at the NuArt theater in Los Angeles I called him to book several of the films that he controlled. He told me that he had run out of money and was not able to pay the storage fees for his prints and therefore they’d been destroyed. When those independent films were destroyed a guy who worked at the storage facility would call and say to us “bring $100 and a van on Saturday morning and take some films with you. “ And we’d gotten two complete sets of the five Casavettes films he owned. So I gave him a set.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention a little bit more about Gena because she just died. Maybe that’s the next article. Maybe there is a new book with her. An interview collection would be great.
Were you at the San Francisco Film Festival when they showed husbands and JOHN, Peter, and Ben had a wild conversation on the stage with Albert Johnson. I wish I had a tape of that
Gary Meyer
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Being an eternal night owl, I frequently find myself scrolling through emails as your newsletter is hot off the press in Paris around 1:00am CA time. Thank you, Terrance, for your diligent research and skillful writing which provides the connection for us Francophiles to live vicariously through your stories and adventures.
…..And hopefully all of your readers will appreciate your prodigious effort enough to ante up the nominal membership fee and or make a more significant contribution. You truly deserve it!–Ann REEVES, Los Altos Hills, CA