Peaky Blinders

Agreed. Mix the cap styles up. And YES...the tieless collar look is odd.

simonc said:

Each to their own, I liked the establishing shot of the club scene, suddenly energy into something quite slow moving.

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I did too. I liked that it portrayed somewhere that was quite extreme in a fairly subtle way... and made it seem convincing that such a place would exist.

herringbonekid said:

give me Harold Lloyd any day.

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I love Harold Lloyd. I also love these sorts of gangster shows (at least the period ones.... I get bored to tears by Guy Ritchie type stuff), but I agree it would be nice to have a wider range of period-based shows. I think these days it seems to have settled to three tropes or so?

1] Gangster

2] Detective

3] Aristosoap (any old Julian Fellowes rubbish)

It would be nice to see a forties-set sitcom again, or a historical piece based on politics - the labour movement / unions or such (though that would have an element of violence, I'm sure, it wouldn't be the dominant theme).

Two Types said:

And the notion that three out of town gangsters could walk into a nightclub operated by, and filled with, members of a London gang and their associates, take them on and win the fight is just ridiculous. Annoyingly laughable. In the 1920s a nightclub with people openly having sex and taking cocaine would have had rather strict door controls - I doubt the Shelby family would have got past the doormen.

But it looks good.

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And that's the thing... it's not intended to be reality (Mick Collins, at the height of the Tan War in Ireland, spent a night right inside the headquarters of the British operatives in Dublin Castle, but he certainly didn't announce his presence!). I completely agree about the lack of realism in that scene.... and yet, and yet.... it's your standard Western thing - protagonist jumps right into enemy territory, and announces himself by causing mayhem, then walking away (mostly) unscathed. As entertainment, it works. It's the new tomcat in town, announcing his presence and telling the old brawler he's no longer king of the neighbourhood. Arguably it's no less realistic than the singing scene in Casablanca...

HBK: I too get frustrated by portrayals of males in period drama. How many more times do we have to see men portrayed in a negative light. Where are all the good men? The normal men who work hard, don't beat their wife and are tolerant of all races, creeds and colours. To see the way men are portrayed in British period drama, you'd think they weren't massively influential in dragging the country forward through the middle part of the 20th century.

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It would be nice to see something a bit more everyday.... but better an unreleting diet of violence than more tedious propaganda for the class system from the pen of Julian Fellowes!

One final moan. The gypsy mysticism angle really grates on me.

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I quite like that, though I wouldn't want it to become a dominant theme.

But I'll keep watching it.

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You sound like me and Doctor Who.

herringbonekid said:

i noticed that too, but forgot to mention it.

British Edwardian caps were often very wide and far from droopy. they also commonly have the two-piece (circular edge seam)
construction rather than the eight-panel. more like this:

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I noticed that the peaks on their caps seem to protrude much less farther out from under the body than caps of the period I've seen, though I presumed that was in part deliberate to hide the razor blades. (Of which.... I only really remember seeing them used once in the first series; this series, so far, I've only spotted them once, when the kid removed his to chop out a line... Tommy's blade used to glint in the light a lot, this series I've yet to spot it. He does carry a gun a lot more now, though - maybe a signifier that he's much bigger and more dangerous than he was before?).

simonc said:

The show is called "Peaky Blinders" and is based on the real life and times of a Brummie gang called the Peaky Blinders (having razors in their cap peaks to slash and blind their enemy with) written by their great grandson, who owns the rights to the show. I guess all the elements you detest are sadly going to be in there. But bear in mind who and what this is about. "All creatures great and small" this is not. Aside from that I think the lighting is well done, the colour grading is of interest to me. The art direction 6/10. The use of Nick Caves track is sloppy. But for me the greatest sign is that international viewers are taking interest in the show and perhaps we can roll out a few more quality dramas particularly with the locations at our fingertips, the skill and talent of crews at Pinewood and Shepparton studios largely sitting on their hands. I would HBO a **** tonne of period series. But right now I'm looking at 1920's raincoats. Moving on.

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I actually rather like the Nick Cave track in there. The modern music they use isn't any more jarring for me than any background music where it doesn't exist in rela life might be. Would definitely be great if this led to more period pieces, though. The Beeb do them well.

herringbonekid said:

nice outfit from episode 2:

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Oh, I loved that. I'd quite happily walk into any tailors and say - "This. all of it, please". Really nicely put together.

Incidently, I noticed a stark difference with the Italians and their big, wide lapels in episode two... was that just a dramatic device to mark them out, or were the Italians already going wider like that as early as 1920? (Would make sense that in those days of a much bigger world, fashions varied more between countries / areas/ regions).

Edward said:

Incidently, I noticed a stark difference with the Italians and their big, wide lapels in episode two... was that just a dramatic device to mark them out, or were the Italians already going wider like that as early as 1920? (Would make sense that in those days of a much bigger world, fashions varied more between countries / areas/ regions).

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i wish i'd seen enough 1920-40s Italian suits to give an informed answer, but the suit forum is sorely lacking in the Italian department (we've certainly seen plenty of evidence of the Romanian fondness for wide lapels recently).

herringbonekid said:

i wish i'd seen enough 1920-40s Italian suits to give an informed answer, but the suit forum is sorely lacking in the Italian department (we've certainly seen plenty of evidence of the Romanian fondness for wide lapels recently).

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I'm completely in the dark on that front myself, but it did strike me as being very much like stuff I've seen worn in American noirs of thed late forties. Could, of course, be an anomaly for dramatic purposes rather than reality, and on that front it definitely works.

The wrong caps thing, I suspect that's a budget thing. The main characters will have likely a dozen caps per series, while extras need to be outfitted cheaply. Seems to me inevitable they're going to compromise on accuracy over price, especially when most of the audience won't even notice. Shame, but that's the realities of budget for you.

I thought the portrayal of Sabini was interesting. He was portrayed as being very Italian, yet Sabini was a born and bred Londoner (Safron Hill, in Clerkenwell) with an English mother and apparently he couldn't speak Italian. His HQ was The Griffin on Clerkenwell Rd, which was certainly nothing like any of the locations shown on screen (dire place, even in my time, it appeared to be run by some dodgy types - it's now lap dancing bar).

i see (with a bit of googling) that Sabini moved to Hove and was the inspiration for Colleoni in 'Brighton Rock'.

I watched last night's episode and noticed that, among the extras at least, there was a wider variety of cap styles than i had previously noticed. However, looking at the lead actors, their caps all appear to have the front stitched down. Was this normal at the time? i would have thought not.

I'm not sure about the caps but I thought Tom Hardy was very good. I thought the young victim with the polka dot bow tie had a bit of Stan Laurel about him.

Two Types said:

I watched last night's episode and noticed that, among the extras at least, there was a wider variety of cap styles than i had previously noticed. However, looking at the lead actors, their caps all appear to have the front stitched down. Was this normal at the time? i would have thought not.

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Could it be something the PBs did when sewing in the blades, i.e. to keep the rzor in place without being as obvious as it would have been without the body sewn to the peak?

simonc said:

I'm not sure about the caps but I thought Tom Hardy was very good. I thought the young victim with the polka dot bow tie had a bit of Stan Laurel about him.

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Tom Hardy has that menacing camp about him - nothing effeminate, just highly strung... reminds me a bit of DeeDee Ramone in that respect. The brother with the tache, the uncontrollable one, is a very believable character to me - somehow, it's never the biggest blokes that are quite that scary, it's the wiry, smaller guy with the crazy eyes who doesn't care and won't stop...

Sam Neill is the stand-out, though... not only his accent but also his mastery of the Ulster (specific reference on that word, given which of the two dominant communities in Northern Ireland from which Major Campbell springs) dialect. The mindset, characterisation and very physicality of his role is perfectly judged with a lev3el of accuracy rarely seen on screen. Clearly he, the writing team, and not least his dialect coach have really done their homework.

Three pictures from last weeks episode

Agree with what was said about Major Campbell. Typical Ulster-Scots, prepared to do whatever deemed necessary & 'use' whatever tactics or persons, in his defence of the Crown. Sam Neill is excellent !

This is a few episodes late, but did anyone happen to recognize the music playing in the background at Aunt Polly's birthday party at the Garrison? I've tried the show's BBC page, but that only lists the modern artists.

HodgePodge said:

This is a few episodes late, but did anyone happen to recognize the music playing in the background at Aunt Polly's birthday party at the Garrison? I've tried the shows BBC page, but that only lists the modern artists.

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'Snakehips Swing' by Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson and his West Indian Dance Orchestra, 1938 (way too late for the scene in the episode).
it's on this CD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Britai.../tracks/B0007ULN9K/ref=dp_tracks_all_3#disc_3

Many thanks, HBK.

Is he wearing two overcoats?

I have to say this series is starting to increasingly irritate me. LAst week's attack on the nightclub was, as usual, ridiculous. Why are they so good at fighting and their enemies always so woeful?

Two Types said:

Is he wearing two overcoats?

I have to say this series is starting to increasingly irritate me. LAst week's attack on the nightclub was, as usual, ridiculous. Why are they so good at fighting and their enemies always so woeful?

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They're the A Team.

Two Types said:

LAst week's attack on the nightclub was, as usual, ridiculous.

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the 'jazz age' dancers and extras in the club were poorly done too. far too modern in styling and attitude.

herringbonekid said:

the 'jazz age' dancers and extras in the club were poorly done too. far too modern in styling and attitude.

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We did spot one of the men who looked more like a hipster at a Bourne & Hollingsworth event than a real person from that era. Did seem oddly jarring, as I've not really noticed anything stick out that badly otherwise (whatever quibbles there might be with accuracy).

I like tom Hardy in this. His somewhat psychotic portrayal of that gangster rather put me in mind of Ronnie Kray; coincidentally, I was then told that he's to play both Ronnie and Reggie in an upcoming film. I suspect, looking at him in this, he'll have Ronnie Kray's ticks pinned down perfectly.