See You Later.....Or Perhaps Never

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm approaching the fifty sixth year of my existence my status as grumpy old man has never been stronger. Though if truth be told I've hovered between that and wild optimism ll my life. However one thing I have noticed is that as I've become older supposedly little@ things start to have a demonic status all their own.

One of my pet peeves of recent years has been the phrase "See You Later". When I was young it was perfectly simple. It meant that you were going to see the recipient of that conversation that very day. What could be easier?

However a few years ago that started to change. I was at work and a woman was about to leave. "See you later" she said walking out of the door .

I didn't understand. I wasn't going to be seeing her for the rest of the week let alone that day. What was she on about?

Other people then started to say the same thing to me and I realised that it was a phrase that had taken a life of it's own which went literally went beyond the original meaning of the word....joining such descriptive transformations as literally itself or when the youth of today describe something as being "bad" when it was in fact good.

So I let it fester in my old man heart. That is until Saturday also at work when a guy said @See you later@ as he was also leaving. Now what made it different was that we were in Bridgend to the west of Britain and he was taking a four hour (and probably then some) to Norwich to the East.

It meant that not only was I not going to see this man for the rest of the day. I was unlikely ever to see him again. I knew from our conversation that he was not returning to South Wales and whilst I have no particular dislike for Norwich I've no wish to visit there either. And yet his last words to me suggested we were going to the pub that evening (of course not being a drinker he'd be disappointed when I become that boring guy)

Language evolves. But it also should make a degree of sense. Or else what happens is that it becomes worthless.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 22: A Night To Remember (1958)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I haven't been well recently, which is why there's been a long break since the last time I've done this blog. But I'm back now for which I'm apologise.

So one of the things I'm returning to is going through and chatting about the movies the 2013 Radio Times Film Guide  bought in 2018 in W H Smith in Harlow for £2.50 when in Essex exile looking after my mother.

The most recent film then that I randomly recorded was Roy Ward Baker's 1958 production for J Arthur Rank about the Titanic disaster. So let's start  with that title.  A Night To Remember? Really!Surely it's one people would rather forget.

Of course such a movie is not easy. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a tragedy then you could joke that it's the ultimate spoiler. Everyone knows what happens next so creating tension is difficult.

I had wondered how to chat about this and then worked out that perhaps comparing it with the much more famous James Cameron Hollywood sugar coating romantic gush of a movie would be a good idea. I did see it but decades ago so these are scattered memories. It is therefore Clash Of The Titanics Part 1. When I get round to looking at Cameron's Titanic again then we'll come to Part 2.

Here's my initial reaction. I didn't like either film but for different reasons. In the case of A Night To Remember a lot of the reasons are technical. But some of this comes down to the script by thriller writer Eric Ambler. There is with few exceptions too little time is spent on too many characters. As the viewer, especially when the iceberg hits, you get a situation where you're introduced to one plot line and then suddenly are shifted to another. That's disconcerting

But like I said most of my dislike for the British film is technical. It's clearly done on a budget and it shows. You might think I'm being unfair in comparing a British movie in the late fifties with it's modern counterpart. But it's nothing to do with the actual sinking ( taken from a Nazi movie - unseen - on the subject). For example the decision to make it in black and white. I would argue (and did so in a Facebook group) that secondary to it's sinking the Titanic is remembered for it's extravagance. Black and White does not cut the mustard [or insert your colour here] Though I have to mention if you look at the set design of the restaurant it doesn't seem special either. The Hollywood version is better.
And before we leave the restaurant there is a scene when as the ship sinks a trolley hits a pillar. That pillar wobbles.

Being a British film it does seem more realistic when conveying a nation's pride at it's building and the class structure of the ship' s staff which mirrored society a whole. Class is an important part of both films but seems to be more authentic in the Rank one.

When the iceberg hits the Rank film seems to change it's patriotism to show Britain calmly dealing with this disaster. That is until you're shown that even when it comes to women and children to go on the lifeboats class is an issue as those on third find themselves locked in whilst those on the upper classes get to relative safety first.

Of course when it's about to go under then anarchy does rule.

Whilst there is a young Honor Blackman and David McCallum the true star in this film was Kenneth More. He was the upper middle class star of movies at this time. He was the comfy pair of acting slippers being representative of supposed British authority, calmness, decency and a sense of humour. Here he plays the number two of the ship and comforts his audience by being the only person to confront (albeit mildly) the only boo hiss villain here, the head of the shipping line.

I have know idea as to the veracity of this but the film seems to blame at least in part the disaster on a series of admin errors. To be honest it seemed too easy and to pat to have done this. Yet talking of blame it is interesting to note that in both movies the character that seems to have gone off lightly is the designer of the supposedly "unsinkable" ship. After all in it failed in it's first real test and no one confronts him.

You feel that even in it's budgetary constraints A Night To Remember could have been a better movie. Instead it ultimately become a disappointment.

Until the next time.