Malice Domestic 9

     Joan Hess, ed. Malice Domestic 9 (2000) A nice collection of purpose-written stories paying homage to Agatha Christie. In the last one, “Oliphants can Remember”, a nasty actor-manager is murdered because he seduced and abandoned a young actress, something he did regularly, but the girl killed herself. His murder recalls Murder on the Orient Express, so does the story succeed? Yes, as a puzzle, as pastiche, and as homage to Christie. Good collection, great for travelling, when you want the occasional fiction bon-bon, not a complete meals ** to ****

Night Train to Munich (1940)

     Night Train to Munich (1940) [D: Carol Reed. Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid (as Paul von Henried)]
     Agent Gus Bennett (Harrison) plays a German army officer in order to rescue Dr Bomasch, who was recaptured by the Nazis after an arranged escape of his daughter Anna (Lockwood) from a concentration camp. Henreid plays Karl Marsen, the evil Gestapo officer who tricked Anna into revealing her father’s location. Well plotted, but the slow narrative rhythm of the time allows us to see the holes. Harrison is in top form playing the stereotype he became famous for, the man who doesn’t take things seriously yet manages to outsmart and outfight all his adversaries, besides attracting the female lead who falls for him despite herself.
     A well done main feature, but even for the times the painted and model sets are a bit too obviously fake. The narrative pace is slow by today’s standards, which means that the story nicely fills its 95 minutes.  Radford and Wayne appear as Charters and Caldicott, the hapless and comically dense English tourists, who supply some levity and a crucial plot point. One of the earliest WW2 patriotic movies, and one of the best. Available for free download, and worth watching. ***

UP (2009) Movie Review

     UP (2009) [D: Peter Docter, Bob Peterson. Voiced by Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, et al].
     After a long and happy marriage, Carl loses his wife Ellie, and almost his will to live. About to be evicted from his house, he lofts it with a bunch of balloons and sets out for Paradise Valley, as planned long ago with Ellie. Russell, a Wilderness Explorer seeking a Helping a Senior badge, inadvertently hitches a ride. They do make it to Paradise Valley somewhere in South America, where they meet Charles Muntz, a childhood hero of Carl’s. But Muntz turns out to be a fame-obsessed sociopath who lives in a dirigible with a pack of servant dogs, one of whom takes a shine to Carl. Muntz wants Kevin, a 13 foot tall flightless bird that looks like a cross between a peacock and an emu. In the end Carl and Russell defeat Muntz. Russell gets his Helping a Senior medal, too.
     Nicely twisted plot, well done animation, and a less sentimental tone than one might infer from the plot summary. The movie won an Oscar, deservedly. ***

Lisa Wojna. The Bathroom Book of Canadian Quotes

     Lisa Wojna. The Bathroom Book of Canadian Quotes (2005) Just what it says, and better than I expected. Some of the political have become history, but most are still relevant. Eg, Governments are like underwear. They start smelling pretty bad if you don’t change them once in a while. (Ma Murray)
     A keeper. Probably out of print. ****

R. D. Wingfield. Frost at Christmas

 

R. D. Wingfield. Frost at Christmas (1984) The first Jack Frost novel, with a cutesy title, published in Canada by PaperJacks. My copy is a much-read 2nd hand one I bought at Bearly Used Books in Parry Sound. The title refers only to the time of year. Several crimes interlace, complex plotting is one of Wingfield’s strengths. He’s pretty good on character, too, creating series characters with all the traits that were developed so well in the TV series. Ambience focusses on weather (awful) and work (mixed, with nicely done satire of careerists), and the mean and suburban streets.
     A girl is missing, she turns up murdered by accident. A bank heist, blackmail, an ancient crime, miscellaneous misdemeanours, and a rookie DC who is the Chief Constable’s nephew complicate Frost’s life and enrich the novel with the kind of detail that persuades us we are in a real world.  Frost suffers a gunshot wound, but will survive. According to the Wiki entry, Wingfield wanted this tale to be a one-off, but was persuaded to leave Frost’s survival open. Good decision for fans of Frost, and for the TV series, one of the best ever. ***

Louis L’Amour. Galloway (1970)

     Louis L’Amour. Galloway (1970) A well done potboiler of a Western, with three narrative strands coming together in a satisfying resolution. Fagan Sackett narrates one of them, the other two tell of his brother searching for and finding him, and a distant cousin wandering onto the set because he’s heard some Sacketts are in trouble. The nub of the conflict is a struggle with the Dunns, a lawless bunch who’ve lived off rustling, but now want to settle down and ranch in the same good country that Fagan and Galloway Sackett have selected. But they want it all, and hire an assassin to pick off the Sacketts one by one. Simplified characters, the usual L’Amour sense of place, and of course the unattainable woman as the prize for the hero.
     The book reads like an adaptation of a scenario. The switching from Fagan to other narrators feels like “Meanwhile, back at the ranch”, Fagan’s story is told in a series of set pieces, etc. It’s L’Amour’s ability to  put you into the scene that saves this book from mere formula. **½
Update 20200206: As you can see, my copy was well read.

The Declaration of Independence & The Constitution of the United States

     The Declaration of Independence & The Constitution of the United States (1776 &1784) Published by Penguin Books as part of it 60th anniversary series of reprints.
     Every time I read these documents, I notice things I don’t think I noticed before, or I find some hazy memory corrected or confirmed. This time it was the following, from the Declaration:
     But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Objective evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
    “It is their duty”. Indeed it is. Of course, anyone who takes that seriously these days, and decides to foment revolution on these grounds, will find that most people will consider him an extremely dangerous person. To put it mildly.
     The text has been modernised in spelling, but not in punctuation. 18th century punctuation was somewhat haphazard, and writers were fond of the absolute adverbial phrase, which causes modern readers some trouble in discerning intent. Several articles were clearly responses to political issues of the time, which history has rendered irrelevant. There is entirely too much blaming of the King in the Declaration. By that time, Parliament was already the actual government, with the monarchy only a couple of steps away from a purely symbolic role with no actual power.
     It’s also clear that the Framers were worried that a strong President might take over the Government, much as a strong monarch might. They weren’t very aware of the political developments in England, and so opted for a Republican legislature instead of a Parliamentary one.  The long term result is a weak President, who must rely on both personal qualities and alliances with lawmakers to get his agenda accepted. Ironically, the Framers in effect created an elective monarchy with mid-18th century powers, which don’t amount to much.
     Nevertheless, worth rereading every year or two, if only to remind oneself that a liberal democracy is still an unrealised ideal, but always worth striving and if necessary fighting for. ****