Peter Viney's Blog

The Rebecca review is becoming a major piece on the various versions. Lisa added some notes today on the novel versus the 1997 version (after the review of the 1997 version) and then some fascinating observations on “The Second Mrs De Winter” remaining nameless. See the main REBECCA article.

This isn’t a new page, but having seen the 2020 film and the classic 1940 Hitchcock film, we watched the 1997 TV miniseries with Charles Dance, Emilia Fox, Diana Rigg and Jonathan Cake. I added thoughts / review to the main REBECCA article, which has been popular. Scroll down till you get to the 1997 review.

OK, it was 1973, but as Lindsay Anderson’s OH’ LUCKY MAN (link to review) was the (kind of) sequel to If …. I’m putting it in my 60s Retrospectives section. Starring Malcolm McDowell and many of the cast of If …. including Arthur Lowe, Peter Jeffrey, Graham Crowden. Plus a young Helen Mirren. It takes up the story of Mick Travis, transformed from rebel into a go-getter coffee salesman. The film is an indictment of post-Imperial British culture (and manages to parallel the Vietnam war in the Zingara story). I was disappointed when I saw it in 1973 and 1993. Now it all makes sense. It’s much better than I’d thought. The Alan Price soundtrack album is brilliant too.

I’ve just added an article on AROUND AND AROUND on Big Daddy, the wonderful American covers band. They did hits of the 80s and 90s but in late 50s / early 60s style. It’s an expanded version of a Toppermost article … their “back story” explaining why they hadn’t heard any of the original songs, and only had the sheet music is very good … I’ve quoted it in the article. You may never have heard of them, but you should try them out. Their masterpiece is Sergeant Pepper’s … every track re-imagined in late 50s / early 60s styles.

The “Reviled! The Albums Critics Love To Hate” section at AROUND AND AROUND adds David Bowie’s 1973 covers album, Pinups. It was far more disliked by American critics than British ones, and for an album that critics knocked (two stars was Rolling Stone magazine’s rating), Bowie had the last laugh … seven weeks at number one in Britain.

The most popular section on AROUND AND AROUND is ‘Reviled: The Albums The Critics Loved to Hate.” Do look further than that on the site, but today’s addition get us to Paul McCartney, and WILD LIFE by Wings. (linked) It was considered his weakest album in a rush of post-Beatles ire at Paul. It bears re-listening especially as later reissues added the singles Give Ireland Back to The Irish and Mary Had A Little Lamb.

This has been a week for film reviews. There’s so much on at the moment on premium TV channels. This is THE SECRET GARDEN. (linked) OK, a children’s story, but this is a deeper and more interesting interpretation and is a visual feast from the Harry Potter / Paddington producers. I think most adults will enjoy it. We did. Colin Firth and Julie Walters are the adult stars.

Netflix is great value this month. Now we have a full movie Netflix original in REBECCA (linked) with Lily James, Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott-Thomas. We watched the 2020 film, I started the review then looked up the critics online. They all refer loftily to comparison with Hitchcock’s 1940 classic with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine which of course they found superior. We were intrigued, so we watched the 1940 one the next night, and I did a comparative review at the end. It changes the assessment.

AROUND AND AROUND is growing fast. Today’s addition is ELECTRIC MUD by Muddy Waters, the 1967 “psychedelic album” backed by Rotary Connection. It’s in the “Reviled Albums” section, because it was, by no less than Muddy Waters himself. This is a co-write with Rob Millis. He suggested the album, and I hadn’t played it in years. It turned out that we had diametrically opposite views on the album, which hopefully makes for more interesting reading.

The latest page on AROUND AND AROUND is in the “Reviled: The albums they love to hate” section,. and is Lou Reed’s 1973 album “Berlin” (LINKED) It’s a perfect example for Reviled in that the critics’ pens were dipped in vitriol back at the time of release. Now it’s considered a masterpiece. Read and see why. There are comments on “Metal Machine Music” too … and take a look at the other pages on Around and Around. There’s a LOT there apart from reviews.