May 2013
1 post
Happy Birthday, Orson Welles.
Actor, director and frozen pea spokesperson Orson Welles would have been 98 years old today. While Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) may be one of the most important American films of all time, I have always been fascinated with his shadowy role in Carol Reed’s postwar thriller, The Third Man (1948). Welles’ impact on the film (and the character of Harry Lime) has become almost mythic....
May 6th
April 2013
2 posts
Apr 22nd
Today, in 1413, Henry V was crowned King of England.
Apr 9th
March 2013
8 posts
Children and Postwar Dickens Adaptations
“The British worried about how children who had been evacuated would develop into adulthood and whether parents and the social system could raise these children. The Dickens novels [Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, and A Christmas Carol] provide fruitful source material for stories about neglected children and cruel or ineffectual parental figures. I have opted for the...
Mar 28th
Deborah Kerr
“[M]ost of Kerr’s distinct features are covered by her costume. The nun’s habit hides all but Kerr’s face, which must, as a result of the confining costume, bear the weight of her performance. Her face must express the whole of her screen identity: her strength of character and independence, as well as her vulnerability, her desire, and her uncertainty. The wimple acts as a kind of costume...
Mar 26th
The lovely Ms. Kerr
Michael Powell directs Deborah Kerr and Roger Livesay in The Archers’ wartime masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Mar 22nd
Guinness
Stuart Freeborn transforms Alec Guinness into the pickpocket Fagin for David Lean’s Oliver Twist (1948). The make up, modeled closely on George Cruikshank’s original illustrations, and Guinness’s characterization were considered anti-Semitic by many. The film was banned in Israel (and in Egypt because, ironically, of the sympathetic portrayal of Fagin). When the film was finally released in...
Mar 19th
Alec Guinness
“Guinness can be anyone: Victorian Jew, Arabian sheik, Russian general, or Jedi master…By transforming from one character to another, Guinness suggests that there might be nothing behind the identity of middle-class masculinity, and that it is all just a façade. These performances highlight the performative nature of Guinness, subtly reminding the audience of the elusiveness of...
Mar 18th
Lady Killers (1955)
Great publicity photo for Alexander Mackendrick’s dark comedy, The Lady Killer (1955). Gotta love those teeth on Alec Guinness. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Mar 16th
Mar 14th
This is my friend, Dana. She just beat breast cancer AND bought my book!
Mar 6th
December 2012
6 posts
Dec 18th
Know thyself.
shitmystudentswrite: Alfred Hitchcock was a master at making Hitchcock films.
Dec 14th
614 notes
What's the matter with bigamy?!?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Dec 14th
This weekend's actual viewing
No complaints. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Dec 9th
With any luck,
This weekend’s viewing. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Dec 8th
Merry Christmas, Baby
So decided to repost this list of favourite holiday films from my old blog. These are, in no particular order films (feature length, mind you; perhaps this year I will finely do my top Christmas television special list) that I try to watch every holiday season. Some will be the classics that appear on everyone’s list, some will be hidden treasure that you’ve never heard of before. 1)...
Dec 2nd
November 2012
5 posts
For this weekend's viewing
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Nov 30th
Nov 22nd
Nov 20th
Lest We Forget
Dulce et Decorum Est Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind....
Nov 12th
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Nov 2nd
October 2012
2 posts
(null)
So, I came across my book on eBay. Frankly, I found this a little odd. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Oct 30th
Oct 11th
September 2012
2 posts
Sep 13th
Sep 7th
August 2012
3 posts
Summer part 2
Much of this summer has been spent working on my next major research projects, plotting where my research will be going for the next couple of years (and maybe beyond). In doing this, I have turned something a friend of mine said into a sort of mantra, “Whatever I do, it’s going to be fun.” Now fun can mean different things to different people. What I consider “fun”...
Aug 27th
Summer
I realize that I haven’t exactly been prompt with updates here. The summer’s writing and research (movie watching) distracted me.  I want to thank all the people who have helped me get the word (and the book) out. As a result of your requests, suggestions and persistent nagging, The Lasting Influence of the War on Postwar British Film can be found in libraries throughout North...
Aug 22nd
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Aug 16th
July 2012
1 post
Jul 17th
June 2012
1 post
Jun 13th
May 2012
6 posts
May 23rd
May 17th
May 16th
I'm not the only author in the family
My baby sister, Allison, also published a book this year. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
May 15th
Book cover cookies!
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May 13th
More Happy Readers
May Intensive Students intently reading…  Claude … looking for French                     Mark She’s CLEARLY enjoying it!                Kathy Sheldon might be confused.          Savage reading - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
May 11th
April 2012
6 posts
Apr 27th
Another happy reader
This is Laura. She likes this book. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Apr 27th
Apr 26th
Apr 26th
2 tags
Apr 23rd
Book news
Two things of interest in terms of my book: 1) The University of Winnipeg bookstore could be hosting a launch for my book. It might not be until fall - apparently they like to wait until there’s an outside chance of an audience - but that’s cool. I’ll keep you posted. Still, it won’t have cookies with the book cover that my wife ordered for our private book party. ...
Apr 13th
March 2012
2 posts
It's available this week!!!
According to Amazon, my book will be available on March 13. As you can tell from the pictures, my copies arrived recently, and, in all honesty, it looks fantastic. I am so pleased with how it turned out - lay out, font, picture placement… everything. As I have said before, because this book is considered “academic” - and therefore priced higher than trade books - I don’t expect people to buy it....
Mar 11th
1 note
My book around town
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Mar 6th
Even dogs love it ...
The other day someone was telling me about one of their Facebook friends who posts pictures of coffee cups whenever he “checks” in from a coffee shop. That gave me an idea to do a similar “garden gnome” thing with my book - take pictures of it all around town like people do with gnomes or Flat Stanley’s. Here is the first such picture: - Posted using BlogPress from...
Mar 1st
February 2012
2 posts
It's here!!!
My author copies arrived on Friday. I can’t even begin to express how thrilled I am with the final product. “With scrupulous and brilliant close analysis of key films and stars, Boyce reveals and complicates a new era of ‘Britishness’ in the immediate postwar years, one irrevocably marked by war trauma. In remarkably clear prose, The Lasting Influence of the War on...
Feb 19th
December 2011
3 posts
My book...
I’m about to publish a book. It’s set to be released March 2012. I think it’s pretty good; in fact, so do a few other people. The book is about postwar British film.  Although most of the films made in the ten years after the war ended (1945-1955) never mention the war explicitly, the war and the postwar realities (rationing, rebuilding, and Britain’s diminishing role as...
Dec 23rd
1 note
Dec 22nd
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?
Dec 22nd