Merry Christmas, picture-house!
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Attaboy, Clarence!
Tag Archives: James Stewart
London, via Bedford Falls
This weekend, Roisin and I travelled down to London. We had a lovely time but the snow scuppered our plans to a large extent. So this is a blog about making do, listening to mother and making the right decisions…
We had planned a few weeks ago that, on our last weekend before going off to our respective families for Christmas, we would travel down to the NFT to see It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen! As you can imagine, we were both very excited. We’d both seen the film many times before but this seemed like such a nice Christmassy thing to do.
We set off early from Leamington on one of the beautiful Wrexham & Shropshire trains and the snow was already falling quite heavily.
Stepping off the train in Marylebone, we walked through a flurry of snow to Baker Street tube station. As we turned the corner, I looked up towards Regent’s Park and felt a pang of sympathy for the man in Victorian Bobby costume standing in the doorway of the Sherlock Holmes Museum!
We hurried through the busy underground station, but I stopped to take some snaps of the Sherlockian decor. I’ve always loved the decorative tiles at Baker Street, and the illustrative boards which decorate the platforms.
Roisin wanted to visit a clothes shop called Vivian of Holloway (she had a particular dress in mind) but when we got to the Holloway Rd, we found ourselves in the middle of a blizzard. It was difficult to see very far ahead of us, but we struggled down to the shop. Roisin had fun trying on some frocks with petticoats but eventually settled on a polka-dot number that makes her look a bit like Minnie Mouse! You can see some photos of her giving a twirl here!
When we emerged, the snowfall was lighter so we explored a bit further up the Holloway Rd. At this point, we were quite looking forward to a hot drink, so when we found a pub called The Coronet (converted from an old picture palace), we hurried inside! My photos don’t really do it justice but the facade and interior were still very impressive and there were lots of photos of Humphrey Bogart and Fred Astaire inside so I was happy!
We decided to have lunch in Holborn so got on the tube again. After a lovely walk through Bloomsbury Park Gardens, we stopped into an amazing pub called The Princess Louise. Sadly, they weren’t serving food that day but we warmed ourselves at the open fire and admired the building’s fantastic decor, all tiles and mirrors, a real Victorian Gin Palace!
Warming up at The Princess Louise!
We eventually settled on Nandos for lunch (I love their halloumi pittas!) and decided to spend the afternoon looking around the British Museum. While there, we walked by The Museum Tavern, origin of The Alpha Inn in The Blue Carbuncle, and visited Gosh! Comics which furnished me with Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s Snakes and Ladders for £2!
The Museum Tavern
The British Museum was far less crowded than is usual for a Saturday so we had a nice time roaming around. Roisin wanted to visit the medieval Europe section and we had a great time admiring the collection of pocket watches and antique timepieces!
We walked down through Soho to the Thames but the progress was slow-going. It was very treacherous underfoot and our feet were getting very cold! By the time we got to Trafalgar Square we were both eager to get over the river to our cinema seats. We were also promising ourselves a champagne cocktail!
Well, as you can see from the photograph below, we got our drinks! However, when we checked our train times home, we found that the train companies were starting to cancel journeys back to Leamington. We didn’t want to get stranded in London on such a cold night so, with much regret, we left without seeing the film. It was a difficult decision, but it was the right one!
Earlier in the day, I’d been absolutely sure things would go according to plan. Still, we made the best of it and, on the advice of my mum, bought some provisions for the train ride home! It was just such a relief to be sleeping in our own bed that night!
The next morning, we had a little Christmas celebration, exchanging our presents before parting. I got some lovely things: the complete Laurel & Hardy DVD Collection, the Douglas Wilmer Sherlock Holmes DVDs, some wonderful 1940s issues of Picturegoer magazine and a brilliant Roger Delgado T-shirt!
I AM THE MASTER AND YOU WILL OBEY ME!
So, despite the disappointment of not visiting Bedford Falls, we had a great time anyway! And I hope you all have a lovely holiday – Merry Christmas!
Dick Lochte’s Top 20 Private Eye Movies
Over at Ed Gorman’s blog, there’s a fantastic set of detective-related lists. Dick Lochte, the President of the Private Eye Writers of America, has compiled three lists of “Essentials”: Top 20 Private Eye Novels, Top 20 Private Eye Movies and Top 20 Tv Private Eyes! Naturally, my eyes immediately went to the list of movies. Here are Dick’s choices (and I’ve linked each title to its imdb page so you can follow up on those that intrigue you!):
1. The Maltese Falcon (Huston/Bogart version)
2. Chinatown
5. The Big Sleep (the original, not the Mitchum-Winner remake)
6. Twilight (Lochte notes “with Paul Newman, not the vampire crap”!)
8. Vertigo
10. Zero Effect
11. Kiss Me Deadly
13. Gumshoe
15. The Thin Man
16. Harper
18. Night Moves
19. Tony Rome
20. PJ
He also gives honourable mentions to The Big Fix, Michael Shayne Private Detective, Fast Company, The Runaround, Face Down, Nick Carter Master Detective, Hammett and Shamus.
I’m especially pleased to see the underrated Twilight, Gumshoe and Night Moves get mentions. Personally, I’d put The Thin Man a bit higher, but then I’m biased! And does anyone know where I can get a copy of Hickey and Boggs?
I can’t see any serious omissions, though I am fond of It’s a Wonderful World (1939, W.S. Van Dyke), which has James Stewart as a PI taking Claudette Colbert on a Capra-like adventure…
How about you, dear reader? Is your favourite Private Eye movie on the list?
Gumshoe trails #4
“Darling, you don’t need mystery. You’ve got something much better, something more alluring.” “What?” “Me!”
After the Thin Man (1936)
