THE AMAZING MR BLUNDEN

THE AMAZING MR BLUNDEN

(and the discovery of said film...)

A VERY STRANGE, OBSESSIVE TALE!

I have very vivid memories of my childhood, and one of the most memorable is sitting at my new desk watching a film on television with my father. It was somewhere between Christmas and New Year and it was afternoon, as I can remember the curtains being open and it gradually getting darker, such is the shortness of the days at this time of year. I was pretty certain it was 1977, as I'm sure that's the year I received my little red desk as a present. I would have been six.

Me at Christmas, age 6, sitting at my little red desk.

I remember snitches of the film:- there was a Victorian street scene with children dancing around a street maypole, and I had it in my head that this was taking place in London.

There was a Victorian room, and in the room was a big blue and white vase (how I knew that the vase was blue I do not know- instinct, perhaps? You have to understand that we only had a black-and-white television at the time, the kind my father had to hit with his slipper, on occasion, to get a decent picture!). (An update- after watching the film again, I've realised that the blue vase gets a mention towards the end...)

Later on you see this very same room on fire, with a man riding from the scene on horseback (although I have since realized that he's riding towards the burning house, not away from- it's amazing what information the mind stores).

You see the fire and horse scene replayed later in the film, in a flashback.

As a little girl, I loved my colouring-in, and had received a colouring book that Christmas. On one of the pages was a patterned vase that was similar in shape to the one in the film, so I duly crayoned it blue.

My memory didn't store the name of the film, nor any of its principal actors, so I didn't know how to find out more about it, and it bugged me BIG time, right through into adulthood.

This is one of the scenes that ABSOLUTELY HAUNTED me!

I questioned my parents about films with fire scenes in them.

'Jane Eyre?' said my mother. No, I know Jane Eyre, and there was no indication of a mad woman living in the attic.

'Great Expectations?' said my father, but no. There was only a fire, not a person being set on fire.

'Gone With The Wind?' said my mother. Although I was sure the street scene was set in London, I saw no reason to suspect that they didn't have street maypoles in the USA.  I duly watched the film, and it was definitely not it.

God bless the internet!

A few years back I googled in “Christmas programmes shown on television” for 1977, 1978 and 1979 ( I wasn't 100% sure about the year). I wrote down some of the names that appeared. Although I was sure it wasn't correct, I duly sat through three hours of War And Peace, in my quest for recognition. No, It definitely wasn't that film.

I recently discovered a Radio Times website dedicated to every programme the BBC had shown, EVER! Although my memory vaguely recalled advert breaks, I had a look through.

Maybe it was Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? I watched the 1970s version, thinking that I'd struck lucky, but no.  This film was set in modern London, and people certainly didn't dance around street maypoles then. I thought it might have been an episode of The Old Curiosity Shop, as the London scenes definitely had a Dickensian feel about them, but there was no footage of the 1970s version available online and anyway, the programme had been televised too late in the afternoon to coincide with my memory clock.

As it was now Christmas, I googled the 100 best Christmas films ever, and gave It's A Wonderful Life a go, thinking that could be it. But no, this wasn't it and I found this film, sadly, very disappointing.

Only days ago I found a TV Times website which listed Christmas programmes, and duly wrote down a few names. I googled images for a few of the films I'd listed, with no joy.

I then typed in The Amazing Mr. Blunden, and immediately my heart began to race- images showed Victorian children and a fire! And Wikipedia mentioned that the film began in Camden Town, and was filmed in flashback sequence! The whole film was available via YouTube, and within the first five minutes I knew that I'd hit the jackpot. I have since ordered the film on DVD.

Described as a much-loved classic, the film stars the late, great Diana Dors (dressed down to look rancid) as the reprehensible Mrs. Wickens, and also a young Lynne Frederick (she later married Peter Sellers and, incidentally, shared the same birthday as me).  Those of you that like real ghost/ mystery stories with a twist of humour will love this, and I couldn't recommend this film more, for adults as well as kids.

But this was most odd- I'd never heard of The Amazing Mr. Blunden, or even seen it advertised, either as a trailer or listed in a TV guide, even though it's apparently one of those films that gets wheeled out over Christmas and Easter.

It is now up there with my list of favourites/ life-changing-movies, whatever you want to call it. And a thirty-seven year old mystery has finally been solved!

And that concludes this strange, obsessive tale!

ENEMIES OF THE HEART by REBECCA DEAN

ENEMIES OF THE HEART

BY REBECCA DEAN

THE BLURB:-

Berlin 1909, cousins Zelda and Vicky are about to meet the Remer brothers- an evening that will change their lives forever...

Vicky Hudson is only seventeen when she marries Berthold and moves from her idyllic Yorkshire home to Berlin. Adjusting to her new life isn't easy, not least when she discovers that the Remer family are producing weaponry for the German army. With war looming, Vicky flees with her children, leaving Berlin, and her husband, behind.

Striking dark-haired beauty Zelda Wallace is eager to meld into Berlin's high society and sever all ties with her American identity. But beneath her exotic looks, Zelda holds a deeply hidden secret that if revealed, could threaten everything that she holds dear...

Spanning four decades, from the decadence of early twentieth century Berlin, to the horror and devastation of war, Enemies of the Heart is a sweeping international epic that will hold you mesmerized from the first page until the last.

THE REALITY:-

Gawd, remind me not to read another drama set in wartime for a while, as parts of this novel are just too damn depressing.

But then, so they should be- the layers and layers and layers of suffering that went on during WWII, and how many millions of people that were affected, are something we all should know about. There was never going to be a totally happy ending with a book with this subject matter, yet it was a book that you couldn't put down.

This was beautifully researched and came from the interesting angle of an English family with American connections marrying into a German family and also gaining a Jewish in-law. You were curious as to how the interpersonal relationships would all pan out.

The characters were strong and varied- all of them came across as really human and dimensional, and it was interesting to see how they grew as individuals as the situation in Europe worsened- and worsened.

This novel is a good study of both history and geography, as you find out what life was really like within both Berlin high society, and Yorkshire country society, with great descriptions setting the scenes.

As a bit of a fashionista, Lotti was my favourite fashion character, with her kooky (and quite tarty) style of dressing, and I also liked Zelda, with her exotic looks and carefully put together outfits (trust me to find the sartorial element within such a serious book!)  She was someone who defiantly held her head up high, whatever the situation, and someone who embraced Berlin culture and totally tried to eradicate her former American life. There's nothing wrong with reinventing oneself- we should all do it, when need be, and if you are not happy with a situation, sometimes it's better to let the axe fall upon it and move on.

Like The Women In His Life (Barbara Taylor Bradford), Heart Of The Night (Judith Lennox) and A Week In Paris (Rachel Hore) this book tells it like it is and is all the better for it as wartime is not something you can soft-soap. With as happy an ending as possible (have to say, I always prefer a happy conclusion!) this book comes highly recommended. 

WATERMELON by MARIAN KEYES

WATERMELON

BY MARIAN KEYES

THE BLURB:-

Claire's husband left her the day he was at the birth of their first child- I mean, if he thought it was going to upset him that much he should have just stayed at home- but to rub salt into the episiotomy, he didn't even have the decency to leave her for someone skinny!

He's just absconded, leaving Claire with a newborn baby, a broken heart, two extra stone and an er... birth canal ten times its normal size.

In the absence of any better offers, Claire goes home to her family. To her beautiful sister Helen, her soap-watching mother, her bewildered father. And in a story that's both hilarious and bitter sweet, Claire gets better. A lot better.

In fact so much better that when James slithers back into her life she's in for a bit of a surprise.

THE REALITY:-

After having a bit of a hard time with Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (another Marian Keyes novel) I decided to give Watermelon a go as the blurb made it sound like a much better story, even though I knew it would sit within the same, disliked, annoying, genre of “chick lit.”

This was not bad, and a far easier read. Marian Keyes is definitely a good writer and all the characters here, especially the principal ones, had a lot more depth to them.

Long winded and in need of a little speed reading in parts, it nevertheless painted a very good picture of cohabiting life in London and a rich family life in Dublin.

As a study in a relationship breakdown, you can't help but like Claire and feel for her “if it wasn't so absurd I'd cry rather than laugh" predicament. Being dumped just after having had your first baby cannot be anything apart from heartbreaking, but the writer manages to add depth and humour to the situation and to Claire herself.

It's interesting to see the different stages Claire goes through in her quest for recovery, and it's great to see her winning, with the help of her lovable family and a bit of eye-candy in the shape of Adam.

But it's with the slimeball known as James, the shit who has an affair with a fat neighbour, and then has the audacity to blame Claire for pushing him into it due to her shortcomings, that really allows the writer to shine. Every annoying aspect of him comes across on the page well, and you just want Claire to stick up to this twat- which she eventually does. James is a bully who feeds off other people by undermining them so that they lose their confidence and become dependent on their aggressor for approval. We've all suffered someone like this, at some time or other in my life (I had to put up with someone like this at home, as a child) and ultimately, we end up (hopefully) finding our self esteem and rejecting them.

I'm glad Claire gives James the big fuck off. This is chick lit that's managed to arouse emotions in me, so brownie points to it!