"Bright Young Things"

[Hemingway Jones]

Has anyone caught "Bright Young Things?"
Daisy Buchanan and I watched it on cable.
Directed by Stephen Fry, it is based, rather accurately, on "Vile Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh.
It is a rather breezy film showing the more, shall we say, flamboyant side of life among the young and wealthy during the 1930s in London; sort of a Golden Era "Bright Lights, Big City," if you will.
They captured Golden Era fashions with mostly positive results.
Has anyone seen it? Anyone a fan of Waugh, of Mr. Fry? Or of the lovely Emily Mortimer as seen below?

 

[magneto]

Oh yes yes yes! I didn't see it when it came out, thanks for the reminder to rent it. Although someone told me the film took "liberties" with the ending; is that true?
And indeed, I have copies of "Scoop", "Handful of Dust" and "The Loved One" (I rather liked that movie the made out of that) on my bookshelf.

I loved "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" (a skit TV show Mr. Fry did with Hugh Laurie some years back), amusing as all heck; have you seen it? I haven't read any of Stephen Fry's apparently copious writings though.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

...Although someone told me the film took "liberties" with the ending; is that true?
..."The Loved One" (I rather liked that movie the made out of that) on my bookshelf.

I loved "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" (a skit TV show Mr. Fry did with Hugh Laurie some years back), amusing as all heck; have you seen it? I haven't read any of Stephen Fry's apparently copious writings though.

I haven't seen that show with Mr. Fry. I must admit that I was impressed with his direction. He kept the story going with a compelling visual style. It is certainly worth a look.
As to taking liberites with the book; I am reading it now. I am about halfway through and so far it is spot on. So, I haven't gotten to the end yet! The end of the film is satisying though. I'll let you know.
I do hope you rent it. I would love to hear your opinion.
Which films related to "The Loved One?"

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Never seen it.

Dirty Pretty Things is pretty good, though.

And MJ's Pretty Young Thing is good, too.

 

[magneto]

I haven't seen that show with Mr. Fry. I must admit that I was impressed with his direction. He kept the story going with a compelling visual style. It is certainly worth a look.

Ah, something to look forward to as soon as "hell week" is over...

As to taking liberites with the book; I am reading it now. I am about halfway through and so far it is spot on. So, I haven't gotten to the end yet! The end of the film is satisying though. I'll let you know.
I do hope you rent it. I would love to hear your opinion.
Which films related to "The Loved One?"

The film was actually called "The Loved One", 60s era, B&W, pretty sure Hollywood-made (I just seems *weird* for Hollywood to make a movie out of a book that so completely skewers the absurdity of California). I liked it when I saw it 10~ years ago.

Here's the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/
..Goodness me, *Terry Southern* (of "Candy", "Blue Movie" and "red dirt marijuana..." fame) is given a writing credit!

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The ending of the book was different; I just finished it.
Vast sections of the book are in the film were taken verbatim.
The film ends well, a bit further along in the story than the book. It just sort of extends the themes.
I don't want to give anything away, but I enjoyed them both.

 

[jake_fink]

Hello folks,

I dodged Bright Young Things when it came out becuase I'm not a fan of Stephen Fry, but it is on my wife's list of rentals and with the (luke warm, it seems) recommendation here I'll take a look.

The film was actually called "The Loved One", 60s era, B&W, pretty sure Hollywood-made (I just seems *weird* for Hollywood to make a movie out of a book that so completely skewers the absurdity of California).

The Loved one was directed by the very, very British Tony Richardson who was coming off his super hit Tom Jones. MGM would have given him the money to do anything he wanted, even a disaster like the Loved One. This is one of my wife's favourite movies, though for the life of me I can't figure out why. Robert Morse, the young male lead, was awful, but he came back later with How to Succeed in Business and then much later in life went on to play Truman Capote in the one man show Tru, which was not so awful.

The king of the Waugh films is, and probably always will be, the very nearly absolutely perfect Brideshead Revisisted.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Since posting this...

I've probably seen this film about 20 times. I just get a kick out of it.
Has anyone else caught this since the last posts in May of 2006?

 

[Feraud]

This movie has been in my Netflix queue since you first recommended it! I bumped this film to the top of my list.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I'm officially an addicted. I've watched this film one too many times, I lost count a few months ago.

Like Hem, I get a kick out of it. And the clothes, oh the clothes are fantastic!

 

[Novella]

I watched it a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. It's not my favorite of period flicks, but I'd classify it as a fun movie that I'd definitely watch again. I think it's a shame the lead actor hasn't been in more films.

 

[JazzBaby]

I loved it, but for me it had everything, being a big fan of the Bloomsbury group writers, and a huge huge fan of Stephen Fry (he's on TV quite a bit in the UK and just gets better and better). He's actually quite an actor too, pity he isn't in more movies (see 'Wilde' for proof).

 

[Haversack]

We saw it when it first came out and have watched it a few times since then. Always enjoy it. Most recently was just after seeing a performance of Waugh's _The Circle_ at A.C.T. (Which was particularly good with the men's costuming).

Haversack.

 

[GOK]

I have it on my rental list too! I loved Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Stephen Fry is quite possibly, my no. 1 all-round fab person!

Slightly off-topic:

Has anyone seen Peter's Friends? Not a period piece but incredibly well acted and starring Fry and Laurie (but not in the comedy due sense). Also, for Fry fans, QI is an absolute must. Luckily for UK viewers with satellite, it's on every weekday night!

 

[Smithy]

Bright Young Things is a great film, I've seen it 2 or 3 times now.

Love the car race bit!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I watched it a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. It's not my favorite of period flicks, but I'd classify it as a fun movie that I'd definitely watch again. I think it's a shame the lead actor hasn't been in more films.

I agree. I was just talking about this the other day with Hemingway Jones. It seems that all the other actors have been doing quite well in their careers. Emily Mortimer has been showing up in a few films, "Match Point" being one of them, which is a dark movie to watch but not bad. David Tennant (Ginger) is the new Dr. Who and Guy Henry (Archie Schwert) is a character in HBO's "Rome". Michael Sheen (Miles, who by the way is the father of Kate Beckinsale's baby) is playing Prime Minister Tony Blair in the new movie about the Royal's, and from what I've seen he plays an uncanny likeness. I Would like to see more of Stephen Campell Moore (Adam). I think he is a decent actor, and quite nice on the eyes as well.

One perfect scene in the movie that I love is when Adam is dancing around Nina's flat after he thinks he's received 1,000 pounds from Colonel Blount. The song "Nina", by Noel Coward, is playing in the background. A more perfect song could not have been picked for this character. I often wonder if it was written based on this character, or if the character Nina was thought of because of inspiration from the song. I really should look up which came first Either way, more fitting lyrics could not have been found.
One thing I wish for, directions on how to do my hair like Nina's (Emily Mortimer's) perfect pin-curls. And what I wouldn't do to get my hands on some of the dresses she wore in this film, in particular the navy and white one towards the end of the movie.