#john dighton

[adamwatchesmovies]

Roman Holiday (1953)

Once again, we’re talking about an Audrey Hepburn film that at first, seems familiar. Like before, the details Roman Holiday gets right make it feel wholly new. The performances are excellent, the script is terrific, the laughs are big and the romance is palpable. This is one of the best romantic comedies ever made.

While visiting Rome, crown princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) secretly leaves the embassy to get away from her royal duties for a night. While out, she meets and befriends Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a reporter who only recognizes her after he's gained her trust. He sets out to take her on a one-day vacation - an opportunity for him to get her unfiltered thoughts on the world and take the kind of candid photos the embassy would never allow.

See what I mean about a plot that sounds like we’ve seen many times? You have the rich girl and the poor guy unexpectedly crossing paths. He doesn’t know who she is, they spend some time together and then fall in love. How will the palace react when she returns but has left her heart behind and is now unwilling to proceed with that arranged marriage her parents set up? We’ve seen THAT story before. Roman Holiday is something different.

Roman Holiday often plays like a tour of Rome; a vacation you take along with the characters for the price of a movie ticket. We see the Spanish Steps, the Mouth of Truth and the Colosseum. We ride a Vespa scooter through the streets, dance on the riverside and have coffee in a charming outdoor cafe. Basically, you see what there is to see, you taste the food the city is known for, and get to experience its unique culture. It’s a series of small adventures that build up your interest in the characters. Initially a little bratty, Princess Ann shows a tremendous amount of growth as the story plays out, particularly during the end. Same goes for Joe, who’s a bit of a scoundrel at first. See, initially, Joe doesn’t want anything to do with Ann. He only gives her a place to sleep because he thinks she’s drunk (actually, she’s been sedated by her doctor after a fit). Come morning, he recognizes her and spots an opportunity. The tour is a ploy worth over $5000 to our unscrupulous reporter.

Audrey Hepburn is so good in the film you can’t believe this is the first time she had a significant role. This technically isn’t her first movie, but it’s the the one that “introduced” her. Gregory Peck is always bankable as a star so the surprise comes not from him, but from how well he plays off of her. Their chemistry makes the movie soooo complicated. You figure it’s only a matter of time before she finds out what’s going on. When she does, what will happen? If this was a movie made today, you’d be able to guess. With this one… you’re not so sure.

What makes the film’s ending unforgettable are the many laughs that dominate the middle. To sell his story, Joe has to get the help of his friend, a photographer named Irving (Eddie Albert). He has the tools, but how does Joe communicate to Irving to be quiet, and what shots he wants? With the many fish-out-of-water scenarios, Joe having to dodge the people he owes money to, many misunderstandings and plenty of funny situtations, there’s A LOT going on comedically. There’s just a lot going on overall, making the nearly two-hour running time fly by like it’s nothing.

I’m almost unsure whether I should recommend Roman Holiday to fans of romantic comedies. After this one, so many others just won’t cut it anymore. You’ll have seen what they’re attempting to do perfected. It’s a gorgeous film and just about every aspect of it exemplifies filmmaking at its best - it’s no surprise it earned 10 Academy Award Nominations. Everyone knows Audrey Hepburn from her role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but THIS is the movie you’ve got to see. (September 17, 2021)

[movie-titlecards]

Roman Holiday (1953)

My rating: 6/10

[milliondollarbaby87]

Roman Holiday (1953) Review

When Princess Ann gets bored and restless she escapes her guardians and manages to live a little bit! Falling in love with American newsman Joe Bradley while in Rome. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading Untitled

[thebrownees]

In "Kind Hearts and Coronets": Alec Guinness has fun playing all eight of the unfortunate D'Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne.

[scotianostra]

On September 8th 1912, Alexander MacKendrick, the US born Scottish film director, screenwriter and teacher was born.

I’ve said it before, just because you weren’t actually born in Scotland it doesn’t make you any less Scottish than others. Many things can attribute to you being Scottish and Proud, people like Elsie Inglis or Eric Liddell, neither of whom were born, or indeed died here are both celebrated and championed as Scottish.

In my opinion Alexander MacKendrick falls into the same category, his parents had emigrated to the US and after the death of his father his mother reluctantly gave up custody of the seven year old Alexander to his Grandfather, who took him back to Glasgow, where he grew up. attended Hillhead High School from 1919 to 1926 and then went on to spend three years at the Glasgow School of Art.

MacKendrick’s first work was in animation, and got work in London working on ads for the cinema, he wrote his first film with fellow Scot, playwright, and his cousin, Roger MacDougall, Midnight Menace was released in 1937, it was a minor hit, but it got them noticed, although the war years saw him shooting numerous short documentaries and propaganda films.

After the war he found work with the famous Ealing studios and in 1948 made his directing debut with a film that would endear him to Scots the world over, Whisky Galore. Amongst the films that he wrote were The Maggie, about an American businessman in Scotland is conned into shipping a valuable load of cargo to a Scottish island on a Clyde Puffer, MacKendrick took inspiration for this story from Neil Munro’s stories about Para Handy and The Vital Spark, like Whisky Galore beforehand, Ealing studios filmed most of the film on location in Scotland, this time on Islay.

MacKendrick teamed up with his cousin, MacDougall and John Dighton for one of my favourite films of the post war, black & white era, The Man in the White Suit, which was also a big hit and one of the most popular films of its time.

Hollywood came calling and in 1957 he directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Sweet Smell of Success, a vehicle for the highly popular Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. He was praised for his directing and the film is still popular nowadays, a film site I read often, Rotten Tomatoes, gives it a 98%, few films on the site get that high a rating.

After just three more films, he was offered an academic job as the Dean of the Film Department of the California Institute of the Arts, which he accepted and held from 1969, Alexander MacKendrick suffered from emphysema for many years and this stopped him returning home to Scotland, he died of pneumonia in 1993, aged 81.

Alexander Mackendrick may have been born and died in the USA, but I think he deserves his place as one of the many others not actually born here, who we would would use the term, Scottish & Proud.

Pics include Mackendrick on the set of The Sweet Smell of Success with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis and on the set of The Maggie, set in Glasgow.

[richmond-rex]

I know Elizabeth of York has met the person suspected of murdering the prince in the tower? It makes me curious. It is said that the Queen and her cousin Suffolk are very close, which makes me doubt whether this meeting is for her brother or cousin

Hi! There's actually no direct evidence that Elizabeth was 'very close' to Edmund de la Pole. He was often at court and they were cousins so it's likely that they saw each other and had opportunities to talk but there are no recorded gifts or office appointments from Elizabeth to him, so I wouldn't say they were particularly close like she was to his sister Anne (the abbess of Syon), for example, a cousin with whom she did indeed exchange gifts.

But to go back to your question, yes Elizabeth visited the Tower around the time Sir James Tyrell was imprisoned and interrogated there. No records from Henry's own reign say Tyrell was implicated in the death of Elizabeth's brothers — Tyrell was condemned for his participation in the conspiracy involving Edmund de la Pole — but Thomas More claimed that Tyrell, whilst imprisoned, confessed that Miles Forest and John Dighton killed the princes at his instance. This claim has been extensively doubted but new evidence recently discovered (2020) shows that More was in touch with the sons of one of the men he alleged to have carried out the murder for Tyrell, as he himself indicated in his text: 'as I haue learned of them that much knew and litle cause had to lye, wer these two noble princes [...] murthered'.

Whether Tyrell's real confession that Elizabeth heard was about the murder of her brothers or about her cousin Edmund's treasonous plans, it's interesting that almost immediately after hearing Tyrell's confession Elizabeth left the Tower and visited her aunt Elizabeth the Duchess of Suffolk at her house at Stepney (London). Tim Thornton, who recently wrote an article about it, says that 'the immediacy of this visit might suggest the importance of any revelations from Tyrell in the Tower, and Elizabeth’s desire to pass news of the princes’ fate to their aunt, the last survivor of their parents’ generation'. For the Duchess of Suffok, news of her son's treason could be equally — if not more — important so my opinion is that Elizabeth's visit is no evidence for the confession involving the murder of her brothers.

It's difficult to say though why Elizabeth would have been in any way invited to hear a confession about treasonous activities against her husband the king, when by that point there had been several and she had not been involved in any other of Henry's interrogations carried out in the Tower (Henry's willingness to take a personal role in the questioning of prisoners has been confirmed in other cases but never Elizabeth's). So we'd have to take into consideration both Elizabeth's extraordinary presence and her subsequential visit to her oldest remaining paternal relative.

Thomas More's claim about Tyrell's confession and the fact that he came in contact with the alleged assassin's sons is also very intriguing. A possibility as to why Tyrell was not publicly exposed after his confession is that it would reflect badly on Henry VII for not only allowing the princes' murderers to go unpunished for so long, but also actively favouring them/keeping their privileges intact. It's difficult to say. It's a kind of evidence that definitely does not 'prove' anything.

[daguerreotyping]

Aquatint of well-heeled bad boys Tom & Bob "Catching a Charley Napping" from Real Life in London; or, the Rambles of Bob Tallyho, Esq. and his Cousin the Hon. Tom Dashall &c. through the Metropolis; Exhibiting a Living Picture of Fashionable Characters, Manners, and Amusements in High and Low Life by an Amateur, illustrated by by Messrs Heath, Aiken, Dighton, Brooke, Rowlandson, &c.

This was a knockoff publication plagiarizing characters from the hugely popular Life in London; or, The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis by Pierce Egan, illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank, 1821.

See above the frontispiece from the 1823 edition of Egan's Life in London and the corresponding Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic, 1871 edition (originally published 1829). And check out the cheery row of dancing grim reaper charleys—night watchmen—at the bottom, having got the last laugh after all.

I could not find Life in London available to read online, but Gutenberg has Real Life in London (1905 edition, confusingly attributed to both Egan and the wonderfully named John Badcock—though Gutenberg notes that the actual authorship is uncertain).

I leave you with "Jerry's admiration of Tom in an 'Assault' with Mr. O'Shaunessy, at the Rooms in St James's St."

[byneddiedingo]

Dennis Price and Joan Greenwood in Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949)

Cast: Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Audrey Fildes, Miles Malleson, Clive Morton, John Penrose, Hugh Griffith. Screenplay: Robert Hamer, John Dighton, based on a novel by Roy Horniman. Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe. Art direction: William Kellner. Film editing: Peter Tanner. Costume design: Anthony Mendleson. Music: Ernest Irving.

Kind Hearts and Coronets is best known for Alec Guinness's tour de force as the entire D'Ascoyne family, but that's hardly the greatest of pleasures the film affords. Dennis Price's performance as the suavely lethal Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini is as much a demonstration of how to act sophisticated comedy as one could wish, and who can resist Joan Greenwood as Sibella, especially in hats that seem to contain an entire florist's shop? It evokes her definitive Gwendolen Fairfax in Anthony Asquith's 1952 filming of The Importance of Being Earnest. In fact, Oscar Wilde's play is the essential background reference for Robert Hamer's screenplay -- it apparently also influenced the novel on which the film is based -- and you hear Wilde's voice in such lines as Mazzini's "It is so difficult to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms." Hamer's staging also provides the necessary distancing from Mazzini's murders, as in the scene in which he offs Young Henry D'Ascoyne (Guinness): While Mazzini is taking tea with Edith (Valerie Hobson) in the garden we hear a whump that neither character acknowledges as Henry's darkroom explodes with him in it. Then smoke begins to arise beyond the garden wall, and Mazzini comments that someone must be burning leaves. Not this time of year, Edith replies, and Mazzini rushes off to "investigate" what he knows has happened. Kind Hearts and Coronets seems to me the best of all the classic British comedies of the late 1940s and the 1950s.

[elizdemaray]

Cookbook for When the Sun Goes Out

Cookbook for When the Sun Goes Out features a living sculpture, called a “plastomach”  that actually eats plastic debris via living fungi. Based on research from the John Dighton Lab at Rutgers University, white rot fungi has the capability to digest plastic. In addition to considering the extraordinary capabilities of this life-form, the works in this series consider a possible future…

[postcards-and-postcrossing]

Thursday Postcard Hunt: Maps

“Maps” is this week’s theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt. Postcard from Ireland Robert Dighton’s ‘Geography Bewitched! or, a droll Caricature MAP of IRELAND. It”s a portrait of Lady Hibernia Bull’, wife of John Bull. She is shown here in sedentary pose, facing westward, against a sky background and above a small harbour scene. Hibernia’s head, with a smiling and potato-wielding baby in her shawl…

[irishfederalreconnaissance]

Film Aliases

EON KKK Arizona: 007, hunt for Stan Lee, rogue FBI.

Hunted: Lange, Spencer, Marisco, Morgan, Gaetano.

Boston State Police Mossad: Costigan, hunt for George W. Bush, Fraternal Order of the Police.

Hunted: Brockton, Amherst, Hopkinton, Northampton, Dighton.

Kennedy Campaign Prosecutor's Agent: Tommy Vercetti, hunt for Islamic genocide, death of police.

Hunted: Weinstein, Soros, Bonosornos, Obama, Chapman.

Suicide Squad MI-6 Agent: Captain Boomerang, refusal of Israeli deaconship in America.

Hunted: Rodham, Netanyahu, Queen Elizabeth II, Donald Trump, Bob Kraft.

Russian Soviets Mafia Putinist Maoist: John Wick, the Russian Mafiaso attempting to prove Harpoon blood through Stockbridge Amherst.

Hunted: Goldman-Sachs Hunt of Winstons, Hunt of Bulger Senate Family, Freedom of Sirhan Sirhan Cuba, Freedom for Agent John Connolly, Revealing of Queen Elizabeth II as CIA and Related Vatican Services to Meat Industry.

Sicario Latino-American Agent: The hunt of enemy soldiers of the Israeli-Chinese cocaine dealing agent.

Hunted: Hunter S. Thompson Air Force Narc, Isaiah Friedland Heaven's Gate, Osama Bin Laden French Corrections Convict Labor, Anton LaVey Golf Services Speed Trap, Jesuit National Football League John Hancock, Red Power Marital Force of Seizure.

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

PRINCES IN THE TOWER

PRINCES IN THE TOWER

            The Princes in the Tower were the sons of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville - Edward, 12 and Richard of Shrewsbury, 9. When the king died in 1483, his heir Edward V became king.

            Edward IV left his sons care to his brother Richard, who put his nephews in the Tower of London to prepare for Edward V’s upcoming coronation. Richard claimed himself as king and the princes as illegitimate.  

            Richard III left his nephews in the Tower of London under guard and their mother had to go into sanctuary. The Princes disappeared that same year and were most likely murdered. It was believed that Richard III had the princes killed as they would have been a constant threat to his throne. After the Princes disappeared, Richard III and his once loyal companion, the Duke of Buckingham, had a falling out. Thomas More wrote that Buckingham confessed to a bishop, ‘… I never agreed or condescended to it’. More wrote that the king organised to have the princes killed in their beds and it was stated that they were smothered by the kings trusted servant James Tyrrell with the help of Miles Forest and John Dighton. More stated that he got much of his information from the confessions of Tyrrell in 1502. More stated the killers buried the princes at the ‘stair foot, under a great heap of stones’.

            Only weeks into his reign, Woodville knowing her sons were now dead; conspired with Henry Tudor’s mother, Margaret Beaufort in secret and promised to have Tudor marry her daughter. In 1485, Richard was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth and Henry VII married Elizabeth of York and the Tudor dynasty began.

            In 1592 Shakespeare described Richard III as a hunchback, many modern Richard III supporters didn’t believe this was true and believed it was Tudor propaganda. They were wrong, Richard III’s remains were discovered in 2012 and it was revealed he had suffered severe curvature of the spine.

            In 1674, during the reign of King Charles II, during work at the Tower of London, workmen discovered a wooden box under the staircase containing two small human skeletons. It is believed that these were the remains of the princes. The king had them buried in Westminster Abbey where they remain today.

#princesinthetower #richardIII #Henrystafford #jamestyrell #thomasmore

[logscroll]

Audrey says to Gregory

"If I were dead and buried and heard your voice beneath the sod my heart of dust would still rejoice”

No one seems to know. The writer of the original story (Dalton Trumbo, died 1976) and screenwriter John Dighton (died 1989) passed on without revealing what he knew either. Two poems are quoted in the film which have been identified as Time-Tested Beauty Tips by Sam Levenson and Arethusa by Shelley.

[wikiuntamed]

On this day in Wikipedia: Friday, 5th January

Welcome, laipni lūdzam, merħba, ласкаво просимо (laskavo prosymo) 🤗 What does @Wikipedia say about 5th January through the years 🏛️📜🗓️?

5th January 2022 🗓️ : Event - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismisses Prime Minister Asqar Mamin and declares state of emergency over the 2022 Kazakh unrest. "Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev (Kazakh: Қасым-Жомарт Кемелұлы Тоқаев, romanized: Qasym-Jomart Kemelūly Toqaev [qɑˈsəm ʑoˈmɑrt kʲeˌmʲelo̙ɫɯ toˈqɑjef]; born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as the President of Kazakhstan since 2019. Between 20 March and 12 June 2019, he..."

Image licensed under CC BY 4.0? by Unknown authorUnknown author

5th January 2019 🗓️ : Death - Dragoslav Šekularac Dragoslav Šekularac, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1937) "Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац, pronounced [drǎgoslaʋ ʃekulârats]; 8 November 1937 – 5 January 2019) was a Serbian professional footballer and coach. Nicknamed Šeki, he was quick and crafty with the ball, displaying creative skills which turned many heads. Possessing..."

Image licensed under CC BY 2.0? by Vujcic

5th January 2014 🗓️ : Event - GSAT-14 A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine. "GSAT-14 is an Indian communications satellite launched in January 2014. It replaced the GSAT-3 satellite, which was launched in 2004. GSAT-14 was launched by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II, which incorporated an Indian-built cryogenic engine on the third stage...."

5th January 1974 🗓️ : Birth - Jessica Chaffin Jessica Chaffin, American actress, comedian, and writer "Jessica Chaffin is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known as part of the comedy duo Ronna and Beverly with Jamie Denbo. She is also known for her recurring roles as Coco Wexler on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, Marie Faldonado in the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan and appearing in the films Spy..."

5th January 1923 🗓️ : Birth - Sam Phillips Sam Phillips, American radio host and producer, founded Sun Records (d. 2003) "Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips..."

5th January 1823 🗓️ : Death - George Johnston (British Marines officer) George Johnston, Scottish-Australian colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales (b. 1764) "Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston (19 March 1764 – 5 January 1823) was a British military officer who served as Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, Australia after leading the rebellion later known as the Rum Rebellion. After serving as a young marine officer in the American Revolutionary War,..."

Image by Robert Dighton

5th January 🗓️ : Holiday - Christian Feast day: John Neumann (Catholic Church) "John Nepomucene Neumann (German: Johann Nepomuk Neumann, Czech: Jan Nepomucký Neumann; March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) was a Catholic immigrant from Bohemia. He came to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined the Redemptorist order, and became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia in..."

Image by Unknown authorUnknown author

[scotianostra]

August 2nd 1910 saw the birth of the Screenwriter, Playwright and Director Roger MacDougall.

The son of two teachers, MacDougall was born in Bearsden, Glasgow, after graduating in law from Glasgow University, he headed to London and a career as a freelance writer.

MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick wrote the screenplay for the 1951 comedy The Man in the White Suit, which starred Alec Guinness. It was based on a play script by MacDougall, I remember watching the film in the early 70′s with my mum, and thinking it was a fantastic film, it remains one of my fave Black & White movies of all time, it was nominated for an Oscar in 1952.

Although he worked in film, MacDougall’s heart was in the theatre. ″I am interested in words and ideas,″ he explained. ″Films are all what- happens-next. To me why-did-that-happen is more interesting … Only in the theatre is the writer in control.″

From the mid 1930s to the early 1960s, several templates and scripts for about 30 film and television productions. Several of his pieces were filmed. He wrote the scripts for the Ealing comedies, A Touch of Larceny, and The Mouse That Roared. His other plays include, Escapade and To Dorothy a Son, both adapted as films.

In the 1950s, MacDougall became ill with multiple sclerosis and which left nearly blind and in a wheelchair. To combat the symptoms, he went on a strict diet almost free of carbohydrates.

By this time he was living in California and was a professor at the University of Southern California where he taught screen writing. Within a few months he was able to transfer from a wheelchair to an electric golf cart, and by the time he moved back to England in 1970 he was on his feet again.

Roger frequently published articles and pamphlets on his diet in an attempt to help others afflicted by the disease.

Roger MacDougall passed away on 27th May 1993 aged 82.

[monorayjak]

High-School Horror Part 1

“I do not think I liked being a child very much […]. There was a copy of a play on my parents’ bookshelf. The play was called ‘The Happiest Days of Your Life’ by John Dighton […]. [Gaiman’s father] told me that the phrase “the happiest days of your life” referred to your schooldays. This seemed nonsensical to me then, and I suspected it of being either adult propaganda or, more likely, as…