The Gambler, TV drama based on Catherine Cookson book is w..

sometime ago, i stumbled upon a british TV drama called Wingless
Bird. the story was by catherine cookson, someone i never heard
about.

anyway, presented in 3 episodes of 50 minutes each, i found it
absorbing, informative--of a bygone era and its mores--, and moving.
the story took place around the turn of the century to WWI. one
could say it was a bit soap opera-ish with plot and characters
following certain formulas. but, the thing is it worked and it seemed
authentic and true enough.

there is another cookson adapation, The Gambler. like Wingless Bird,
it is available from Acorn media. and it is just as good.
good story, romance, suspense, redemption, etc. it's also like being
there among the british folks of the victorian era in the late 19th
century. i like how everything was done very straight. it is in the
tradition of 'quality filmmaking' so denounced by auteurists but the
whole thing comes off wonderfully well.

excellent acting, and though moderately funded, filmmaking is sound
and top notch all around.

i especially like the rich woman who falls in love with the gambler
dude. she's supposed to be no great looker but i must say, in some
ways she's a very beautiful woman. i guess this is where the mooie
isn't faithful to the book--no matter what the description in the
book, we like to see handsome folks on screen; even plain faced must
be handsomely plain faced. still, her role is a marvel because she
conveys the insecurity of a woman who's fallen desperately in love
with a man beneath her station. there are some truly great moments.

On Oct 17, 7:11 pm, readache <cerebureaucr....RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> sometime ago, i stumbled upon a british TV drama called Wingless
> Bird. the story was by catherine cookson, someone i never heard
> about.
>
> anyway, presented in 3 episodes of 50 minutes each, i found it
> absorbing, informative--of a bygone era and its mores--, and moving.
> the story took place around the turn of the century to WWI. one
> could say it was a bit soap opera-ish with plot and characters
> following certain formulas. but, the thing is it worked and it seemed
> authentic and true enough.
>
> there is another cookson adapation, The Gambler. like Wingless Bird,
> it is available from Acorn media. and it is just as good.
> good story, romance, suspense, redemption, etc. it's also like being
> there among the british folks of the victorian era in the late 19th
> century. i like how everything was done very straight. it is in the
> tradition of 'quality filmmaking' so denounced by auteurists but the
> whole thing comes off wonderfully well.
>
> excellent acting, and though moderately funded, filmmaking is sound
> and top notch all around.
>
> i especially like the rich woman who falls in love with the gambler
> dude. she's supposed to be no great looker but i must say, in some
> ways she's a very beautiful woman. i guess this is where the mooie
> isn't faithful to the book--no matter what the description in the
> book, we like to see handsome folks on screen; even plain faced must
> be handsomely plain faced. still, her role is a marvel because she
> conveys the insecurity of a woman who's fallen desperately in love
> with a man beneath her station. there are some truly great moments.

I have read some of Catherine Cookson's books in the past but never
seen any produced as movies or serials. As I recall, they were all
extremely well written - much better than the average bodice ripper.
I'll check this out. Thanks for sharing.

I agree with your comment regarding the difficulty of transforming
characters described as plain in novels into beauties on screen. It
is too true and often takes away from the plot when the character is
so much more appealing than originally intended by the author.