dual personalities

December 21, 2011

A little ‘Yul-tide’ cheer

by chuckofish

The 'Yul shrine' with new additions

What Yule tide celebration would be complete without Yul? Even famous poet Marianne Moore made the connection with her immortal words,

“Yule — Yul log for the Christmas-fire tale-spinner — of fairy tales that can come true: Yul Brynner.”

Special thanks to my wonderful dual personality for finding these superb Yul-relics and for the symmetry. Great birthday presents! The picture does not do them justice. As usual, we (three of us tried) had a hard time with glare and shaky hands, but I think you get the idea. A disclaimer: the green piano came that way (it was free so we couldn’t complain), but we’ve grown fond of it.

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December 21, 2011

God bless us, every one!

by chuckofish

We are closing in on December 25 and I have yet to blog about some of my very favorite Christmas movies! Isn’t that always the way? We haven’t had time to watch them either. Sigh. Well, I do want to mention our favorite version of the Charles Dickens classic, Scrooge (1951), directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. It is, in our humble opinion, by far the best interpretation and the most English.

Alistair Sim is pitch perfect as the old skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge. He plays it so straight all the way through–never mugging or clowning his way–and then at the end, his over-the-top joy seems just right. He is wonderful and all the character parts are well-done too. We especially like Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber and Michale Hordern as Jacob Marley (scary!).

We must also note that we are terribly fond of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) featuring Michael Caine as old Ebenezer.

Not Michael Caine

The Muppet version is admirably respectful of the original story and the Muppets are as always hard to resist. Kermit makes a pretty cute Bob Cratchit.

Somewhere in the 12 days of Christmas there must be time for: The Bishop’s Wife (1947), A Christmas Story (1983), Home Alone (1990), It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Miracle on 34th Street (1947)…So many movies, so little time! (Have I forgotten anything?)

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