A favourite film from childhood; still exciting and thought provoking.
I would like to have given this film five stars, but thought I had to take into consideration that it is a little dated and, therefore, might not appeal as much to others. We showed it at our British Raj themed New Year's Eve party and it went down a treat. Even my 19 year-old son, who isn't a big fan of older films, really enjoyed it. I particularly liked that there aren't really good guys and bad guys. In between the action sequences, there are lots of issues raised about politics, religion, snobbery and soldiering. These are just presented and neither condoned nor condemned. A very good introduction for a discussion of many issues presently affecting the world (as they have for centuries). On a final note, I actually appreciated that the men had sweat stains on their clothes; hard to avoid in 1905 India.
Mr Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn, Paperback Used Book, Good, FREE & FAST D
18 Nov, 2020
Horses for Courses and This is Not Mine
This was my first Julia Quinn book and will certainly be my last. It was just an unoriginal romance set in a time about which the author had no understanding. Maybe I have read too many Regency romances, so they are all blurring together, but there are certainly much better authors of such stories out there.
Having long been a fan of Georgette Heyer's Regency romance novels, I recently started reading her detective novels. Some I have found more enjoyable than others and this is, so far, one of the best. I enjoyed her characters, the plot is complicated (involving a locked room) and the clues are all laid out before the end with no sudden surprise. Heyer always seems to throw in a romance as well and the one in this book is appealing. Personally, I think Heyer's plots are far better than Agatha Christie's, but admit that her police inspectors don't have quite the same appeal as a Hercule Poirot or a Miss Marple. Still, the story should appeal to lovers of detective novels in the country house murder tradition.