The good old days, the dog and Top Withins

Last week we posted on our TV-alerts section (see sidebar) different airings of the Hollywood (and Hollywood at its most pejorative sense) take on the Brontë family: Devotion (1946). A columnist of the Orlando Sentinel watched it and this is what he writes about:

Good old days?

I watched a 1946 movie called Devotion the other day. It's an account of the Bronte sisters and their wretched brother Branwell (whose profligacy is captured on film by Arthur Kennedy, an actor so good he never won an Oscar).

The movie, set in the 19th century, made me wish I lived in a simpler, more mannerly, horse-and-carriage day -- except paper towels would not yet be invented and women would be treated as second-class citizens. And of course, there would be a lot of unpleasant rich people, although that part isn't so different from today. (Commander Coconut)

Needless to say, the film is quite laughable (and with the right mood it can be even funny, check the poster on the right :P). The only thing that deserves attention is the music from the great Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Remember Leon Hale? The Houston Chronicle columnist that features some times in his articles the family dog, named Charlotte Brontë. Well, he is interviewed here and this what he says about the dog's name:

Q: Why would you give your dog a name like Charlotte Brontë?

A: I didn't. That dog belongs to my partner and she is the one who named it, after the British writer. Charlotte Brontë the novelist wrote the famous book Jane Eyre. Her sister Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights, which you may have read in high school. Or maybe you were just supposed to.

Finally, another excursion with pictures to Top Withins can be found on Heather's Adventures on England

Once at the top, it is incredible. You are over looking all the hills and fields and stones, that's all you see in the distance. Alone in the world. We took lots of pictures, and I even made a video, Mom really wanted to sing Kate Bushs song Wuthering Heights...

EDIT:

We have received a review of the recent performances of Jane Eyre. The Musical in Baltimore (in the Roland Park Country School). Thanks to the anonymous reader that has posted a comment here:

The RPCS director of theatre is SSDC and very inventive. This production was better than the one I saw on Broadway and certainly better than the limp version premiered in Dundalk two weeks prior. Improvements over previous productions included Adèle's mother as an opera ballet dancer performing an interpretive dance as Rochester sang "As Good As You" to Jane - beautiful! The inclusion of the Rivers sisters in the cast and a reappeareance of Young Jane at Mrs. Reed's deathbed singing "Forgiveness" with Jane. I also loved the illuminated pages as the cast spoke lines lifted directly by John Caird from the Bronte text. Both Taylor Eagan as Jane and Xavier Taylor as Rochester were outstanding. The entire production seemed professional and I forgot I was sitting in a highschool theater. Other characters that were played by actors of color (both African and Asian-American) were Mrs. Fairfax, John Reed, Jenny, Richard Mason and a couple of schoolgirs. I went to see the show because of my Brontë obsession and now I am a fan of Scott Susong's work and RPCS theatre.

EDIT:
And another review can be found in The Times Herald News:

Indeed, the voice of Kim Willes as Blanche Ingram can best be described as marvelously operatic. Ken Ewing as Edward Rochester also is of excellent voice.
The cast comes together beautifully under Director Nancy Powichroski except that on opening night some of Andrea K. Smith’s narration as Jane Eyre did not always reach the ears of the entire audience.
Dundalk’s set lends itself easily to encompass the scope of the story. Costume Coordinator James J. Fasching has assembled a magnificent wardrobe of costumes and the orchestra under Conductor Tim Viets does a creditable job. (Celeste H. Breitenbach)

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