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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 7, 2007 14:28:42 GMT -6
I think this may have been discussed on other thread . . . . Toby Stephens is to star in a new three-part BBC2 series tackling legendary figures from America’s Wild West.
The Jane Eyre and Die Another Day actor will play General Custer in the first drama- documentary, which aims to show what happened at the soldier’s now infamous last battle. The second episode tells the story of notorious outlaw Billy the Kid and features Cutting It’s David Leon in the title role. In the final instalment of the series, Liam Cunningham, who appeared in Ken Loach’s award-winning film The Wind That Shakes The Barley, stars as Wyatt Earp. Article: www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/15845/toby-stephens-to-star-in-bbc2-wild-west
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 8, 2007 6:50:50 GMT -6
Diane, Theoretically it should be broadcast in the UK very soon. I keep reading about a transmission date of February 16th, but there's no sign of it in the listings guide for next week. However, the DVD release date now seems to have been brought forward to February 26th, which is good news in itself, and suggests that at least one episode will have been broadcast by then. Links here to the trailer: www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=wild_westand the DVD: tinyurl.com/2xlqcj
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 9, 2007 5:32:26 GMT -6
The silly BBC has now changed the DVD release date again -- this time to 5th March. This may or may not mean that the series will also start broadcasting a week later than originally intended ...
Looking at the online version of their listings magazine (quaintly, to those outside the UK, entitled Radio Times), it's surprising to see how many time-slots just a week or two from now are still marked as "to be confirmed" or similar. I'd always assumed the BBC was a well-oiled machine, with everything planned to the nth degree, but apparently not; their scheduling seems to be much more fluid than you'd think.
Hope they make their minds up soon.
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 12, 2007 5:06:02 GMT -6
At last -- a transmission date! It's scheduled for Friday 23rd February, BBC2, 9pm-10pm. And ... the synopsis sounds as if it's NOT going to be the tired old "rash and foolish" scenario, nor yet the Fox "he-he, they all panicked" one. Here's what the online version of Radio Times says about it:
"Drama-documentary exploring George Armstrong Custer's motives when, on a blistering hot Sunday in June 1876, 366 men of his 7th Cavalry attacked an Indian village numbering 2,000 braves. Two-thirds of the soldiers were killed. But the latest historical research shows that, against all the odds, Custer was close to pulling off a remarkable victory. And his actions, far from foolish, were based on a brutally simple and far-from-glorious plan. Toby Stephens plays Custer and Michael Praed narrates."
Presumably this is the non-coms theory, but we'll see.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 12, 2007 14:28:38 GMT -6
Elisabeth, I hope you'll report in afterwards!
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 12, 2007 18:01:27 GMT -6
You bet!
Next week's issue of Radio Times is due out tomorrow; I'm hoping it'll have some kind of write-up that'll give us more clues, or at least a cast list that may shed light. If so, I'll report.
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 13, 2007 9:05:30 GMT -6
OK. No cast list, the brutes, but here's the editorial write-up:
"Toby Stephens plays General Custer in an artful docudrama, the first of a series that reassesses legends of the Old West. Stephens is odd casting, given that he's the most dependably British actor of his generation, but he goes at the part with his usual sneering gusto (plus nice blond whiskers) and pretty much carries the show.
We're told at the start that new research shows the battle of the Little Bighorn (which ended with the death of Custer and hundreds of his men) was not the foolhardy venture of legend but that Custer was on the verge of winning a great victory. However, in a cunning move, the remainder of the film completely fails to back this theory up.
What it does do is photograph the fighting brilliantly. Given that the number of extras is clearly limited (this is a history doc, not Hollywood), what could look laughable is made poignant and lyrical by director David Stewart's clever use of extreme slow motion and sound effects. It makes for an impressive piece of reconstruction that sparks the imagination, even if it never quite stirs the blood."
And then there's a sidebar with an anecdote from Stephens which you just might prefer not to read, as it might spoil things for you!
"I'd done enough riding to be complacent, but the horse they put me on was, quite plainly, not going to co-operate in weaving the fantasy that I was a master horseman. The horse skittered, shied and bucked at every opportunity. Eventually, it had to be given a shot of something probably more frequently used by the misguided youth of Britain for a good night out. It made the horse more co-operative; just very slow. It all left the Native American actors helpless with laughter."
However, they at least seem to have made the effort to cast the horse correctly; a photo shows that it's a sorrel with a white blaze. (Can't see its feet.) At all events it looks as if we're in for some fun, even if it may not be perfect ...
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Post by harpskiddie on Feb 13, 2007 11:18:37 GMT -6
How could any telling of the story be perfect, when we can't agree on what the story was?!?!?!?
Gordie
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 13, 2007 11:25:13 GMT -6
Well ... er ... yes, you have a point there!
Even a convincing hypothesis would be nice. But I do have hopes that it will at least feel right ...
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Post by markland on Feb 13, 2007 15:33:37 GMT -6
Very nice little paragraph! Something about the continued insistence that "new research shows...was not the foolhardy venture of legend but that Custer was on the verge of winning a great victory..." tickles my memory of a blurb for a book. I wonder if the "new research" referenced refers to Kershaw's Red Sabbath?
Be good,
Billy
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Post by harpskiddie on Feb 13, 2007 19:57:04 GMT -6
The best book blurb I ever read [and I've read thousands, having been in the retail book trade] was by Ross Hunter lauding the latest 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain [it was quite good, as most of them were]. what made it wonderful is that Ross Hunter WAS Ed Mcbain.
Another series of super blurbs was written by What'sisname McLeod, who one month called one book "the finest adventure story of the sea I've ever read" and the next month called another one the finest sea adventure I've ever read." We started trying to figure out how many variations of the same sentence McLeod could write. At least he hadn't written any of the books.
I realize this has no bearing on, or relevance to, much of anything; but at least it didn't take me six posts to write it
Gordie
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 14, 2007 3:10:56 GMT -6
Funny!
Billy, maybe it could be; Kershaw's is pretty much the most recent "theory" book, and British, so it'd make sense. Doesn't ring very loud bells for me, but it was a while ago that I read the book. (For once I was able to get that one from the library, so I don't own it and can't check.)
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 14, 2007 10:20:43 GMT -6
A small addendum: no doubt on the back of the Custer film, BBC History Magazine has a Custer article in this month's issue. Details here: tinyurl.com/2asut5I'll see if I can get hold of a copy, and report.
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 18, 2007 4:05:53 GMT -6
OK, the BBC History Magazine article: nothing new really, it's the Custer/Benteen personality conflict and the did-Benteen-drag-his-feet question. It's reasonably even-handed. Many quotes from Mike Donahue. Some oddities, plus the writer has swallowed Gall's story hook, line and sinker; and the battle map provided is just hopeless. But as a basic introduction to the issues involved, which I imagine was the intention, it's OK.
Two items of information from it: (1) Mike Donahue's book -- the maps one, presumably -- is to be entitled Drawing Battle Lines, and is due to be published this year; and (2) it says of the writer of the article, Gavin Mortimer, that "his next book is about the 40 British men who fought with the Seventh Cavalry in the Indian Wars". His previous books were about the Blitz and the history of the SAS, so no obvious track record in 19th-century history; however, could be of some interest. (No title or publication date given.)
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Post by mcaryf on Feb 20, 2007 4:50:16 GMT -6
Hi Elisabeth
I do not subscribe to the BBC History Magazine but I thought I would join their bulletin board/forum in case there was a debate on the article. Unfortunately it seems to be frequented by a man and a dog and the dog has not posted for ages!
Do you think there will be any opportunity from the BBC to discuss the programme on Friday and if so should we try to correct any obvious absurdities?
Regards
Mike
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