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.

Living and being creative in Rosemary Sutcliff’s house in Walberton, Sussex

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Much is written about the ‘community’ and ‘interactivity’ of social networks and blogs, not all of it convincing. But my hope when I started working more vigorously last year on this blog was that, over time, there might evolve a sense of connectedness if not community around Rosemary Sutcliff‘s work and life. So thank you those of you who regularly comment here, or tweet me, or retweet something. And all manner of fascinating posts turn up on the ‘You Write’ tab. Thus today it was a delightful surprise to read a post from Stephen Walby:

We live in Rosemary’s old house in the lovely Sussex village of Walberton. Rosemary lived here until she died in 1992. She is very fondly remembered here, having been an active member of village life. Our next door neighbours daughter remembers coming to the house to help out and many other villagers have stories to tell, we have heard how Rosemary would welcome groups of children from the village school for talks.  Read More »

The Eagle film second only to The King’s Speech on Lawton favourability index!

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

Of course, I have been keen to see how The Eagle film, based upon Rosemary Sutcliff‘s book The Eagle of the Ninth, has been ‘doing’ since its release, and how it has been received. (My amalgam of particularly favourable initial reviews is here – under the title “The Eagle is a ‘rip-snortin’ ‘real winner’ with an ‘unusually strong sense of place …’ “!). Judging by the amount of money being taken at the box office in the USA in its first few days, The Eagle has certainly done less well than various competing films – competing in the sense that they too are in cinemas. But judging by the high popularity of the film once people do see it, maybe that is a result of the marketers not getting enough people to the movie in the first place? And maybe that is a result of  failing to make enough people aware of the film and want to see it in advance of release? And maybe that would not have been the case if they had stuck with the more memorable The Eagle of the Ninth as a title? Read More »

The Eagle (2011) ” … an anti-Gladiator movie?” | The Warden’s Walk | Movie Review

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

The novel The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff, is one of blogger David Urbach’s favourite authors: “I desperately wanted to see this (film The Eagle). Been waiting for it for years”. David has commented previously here on this Rosemary Sutcliff blog, and writes his own intriguing The Wardens Walk, with reviews of fantasy and sci-fi books, movies, and webcomics. He writes a long, thoughtful analysis of The Eagle. He starts his key thoughts section:

In some ways, The Eagle is sort of an anti-Gladiator movie. The scale is realistic and human rather than epic. The locales are tangibly real instead of glitzy CGI. The heroes do not engage in superstar posturing, do not splatter their enemies’ blood at every opportunity, and do value honor and mercy over revenge. It may not be as thrilling or spectacular as Gladiator, but it’s more internally consistent, and, in its own way, wiser and more heartening.

His recommendation is:

Not a perfect movie, but very good and rather unique. For those who like movies about ancient Rome and period adventure stories, yes. Also, if you saw Gladiator (2000) and thought “Well that’s fun, but I wonder what it all really looked like,” then you should see this movie. The Eagle should appeal to movie-lovers who are frustrated with the way modern action movies prefer to ignore story and character in favor of rushing from bloody killing to bloody killing. It’s an exciting adventure that really does care about the characters and their relationship

And after a detailed analysis, in ‘quick conclusion’ he comments:

…  despite some flaws with ‘Shaky Cam’ and a bare-bones script, The Eagle is an exciting and beautiful-looking adventure, with a strong sense of place and themes that are wiser and more unique than are usually found in period Hollywood movies.

Oblicza Kultury – Trylogia Orzeł! – Rosemary Sutcliff

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

The Eagle of the Ninth in PolandKolumna ludzi wśród gór posuwała się naprzód jak błyszczący, srebrzysty wąż, cętkowany szkarłatnymi płaszczami i grzebieniami oficerów. (…) Mgła ścieliła się naokoło nich i w końcu ich zasłoniła, jakby przeszli do innego świata.

Dziewiąty Legion wyruszył ku mglistym rubieżom północnej Brytanii i więcej go nie widziano. Cztery tysiące żołnierzy przepadło bez wieści, a razem z nimi ich sztandar.

Marek, rzymski centurion, postanawia zgłębić tajemnicę zaginionego legionu, którym przed laty dowodził jego ojciec. Udaje się więc na śmiertelnie niebezpieczną wyprawę w nieznane strony, zamieszkane przez wrogie plemiona. Nikt nie spodziewa się, że kiedykolwiek wróci…

„Dziewiąty Legion” został okrzyknięty jedną z najwspanialszych książek młodzieżowych XX w. i sprzedał się na świecie w nakładzie przeszło miliona egzemplarzy.
Source: Oblicza Kultury – Trylogia Orzeł! – Rosemary Sutcliff już 23 lutego!.

Atli Orvarsson’s music score for movie The Eagle evokes ‘true majesty’

Anthony LawtonLeave a comment

The music of The Eagle film of Rosemary Sutcliff‘s historical novel for children and young adults The Eagle of the Ninth came in for praise in a review in Boston in the US. The reviewer commented that Atli Orvarsson‘s score for The Eagle “evokes true majesty” and “brings us into the film’s world”.

Although perhaps not quite a household name within soundtrack circles, Icelandic composer Atli Orvarsson has a lot of sonic potential lurking under his belt, with his score for director Kevin MacDonald’s The Eagle serving as his best offering to date.Read More »