I also learned yesterday that the DVD and Blu-ray have come out – on June 1st – in Singapore. More dates to come when I have made the table! Thanks to Ben at Toledo Productions, the production company for the film, for the detailed information.
Category: General
Trawling the internet, researching libraries and databases, and occasionally from material sent to me, I discover things I did not know much about, or indeed at all! There can be more than one Discovery of the Day.
Rosemary Sutcliff book’s movie The Eagle of The Ninth DVD Release in US yesterday
The DVD of The Eagle film of Rosemary Sutcliff’s bestselling historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth was released yesterday (21 June) in the USA. It comes out in the UK on July 25th. Anyone know release dates in other ‘territories’ as they are called?
Here in the UK well known film-reviewers on Radio 5 Live, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, pronounced of the film:
“Verily, tis a hit!”
Hadrians Wall dig unearths Roman refugee camp
Rosemary Sutcliff would no doubt have been fascinated that a research team has found hundreds of unusual buildings which may have housed natives seen as traitors by tribes from north of Hadrian’s wall, in what is now Scotland.
A major dig close to Hadrians Wall has revealed traces of a suspected refugee camp which would have housed tribes-people fleeing south from a breakdown of society north of the imperial border in the third century AD. Archaeologists were initially puzzled to unearth the foundations of temporary but well-built structures on the site of an earlier fort within the sprawling perimeter of the Roman fortress of Vindolanda.
Source: Hadrians Wall dig unearths Roman refugee camp | The Guardian.
Web book chat on Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel The Silver Branch
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff was chatted about on the web on June 15 (2011). Commenting on the advance notice of this discussion (see below) ‘Annis’ (“The Silver Branch is the bridesmaid of The Eagle of the Ninth trilogy, but my personal favourite”) noted that “there was a recent discussion about the novel at the Historical Fiction Online forum “. That discussion was kicked off by ‘Parthianbow’, aka historical novelist Ben Kane. He concluded his review (first published here):
The Silver Branch has a much larger list of characters than The Eagle of the Ninth, and this adds to its appeal. As well as Justin and Flavius, we have the genial Carausius, the cold, calculating Allectus, Evicatos, the brooding warrior, and Cullen, the faithful King’s Hound. Last but not least, there is the fierce old matriarch, Great-Aunt Honoria. Every one of these protagonists is simply but splendidly drawn, and their presence successfully enlarges the tale for the reader. Rich images from the first book also reappear: the Aquila signet ring with the carved green dolphin at its heart and the eagle standard that Marcus retrieved in Scotland.
Themes of comradeship and loyalty ― to family and friends, as well as to ideals ― are central to the plotline, and appeal to us all. As always, Sutcliff’s descriptions of the time are vivid and for the most part, extremely authentic. It is this rare ability to draw us completely into ancient times that makes The Silver Branch and her other works such a joy to read. Be sure to read The Eagle of the Ninth first, however!
Roman Film Night on Rosemary Sutcliff in Folkestone
I discover that as part of an archaeology project in Folkestone (UK) there will be in that town on 31st July, 2011, at the Quarterhouse Theatre a showing of ‘The Eagle’ … and talk – ‘The House on the Cliffs: Folkestone in the Roman novels of Rosemary Sutcliff author of The Eagle of the Ninth‘. There is a pre show discussion – 5pm, film 6pm.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 