With Winter on us, the numbers in the class were down this month.  We discussed the film Operation Mincemeat.  This is based on a WWII operation to outwit German troops.
 
Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily.  Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of a tramp, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as a fictitious Captain.  Correspondence between two British generals which suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was placed on the body.  Consequently German reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before the invasion of Sicily.
 
This was a marvellous piece of history.  In general it was close to accurate.  There were a couple of characters that were introduced that were not part of the actual history.  These provided some extra tension opportunities, including one to provide some romantic tension.
 
We found it a good production with complex relationships.  Tensions between the various characters and around the issues that needed resolution were well handled.  All the main characters were well played, and even the more minor characters fitted well into the story.  Favourite scenes were towards the end.  One of these was the waiting to hear whether the Sicily landing was successful with the Germans believing the plan had been to invade Greece instead.  And the final scene rounded the film well with the two main characters (played by Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen) having resolved the tensions between them.
 
Generally the class found this a good story with ratings between 3.5/5 and 4/5.
 
Our next film class is on 10 August.  We will be discussing the film To Olivia (the story of the relationship between Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal) and possibly Mothering Sunday (based on a book by Graham Swift). 

​Joy Shirley

With Winter on us, the numbers in the class were down this month.  We discussed only one film – Downton Abbey: A new Era.
 
Generally we found the film watchable.  This was a feel-good film with no bad actor or character.  Not everyone had seen the television series or the previous film.  Because of the range of underlying stories that were based on previous events it did not stand alone well.  For others who had seen the earlier film, this was thought to be superior.
 
The main actors are Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Maggie Smith (Dowager Violet Grantham), Hugh Bonneville (Robert Grantham) and Elizabeth McGovern (Cora Grantham).   As the Dowager, Maggie Smith, was a real presence, although her physical appearances were not as frequent as in previous shows.  It was her story that dominated some of the scenes even though she was not present.  One of her classic and true to character statements was “do I look like someone who would turn down a Villa in France?”
 
The more minor characters were all important to the story as it unfolded.  The actors maintained their characters well, with appropriate growth in maturity.  The film did provide some tidying up of stories for some of the characters.
 
The cinematography at the start seemed to be over the top, with a wedding that did not mean much for anyone who was not familiar with the background to the characters.  There were a couple of scenes that were not quite as expected.  For example, while on a motorboat, there was no indication of wind, with hats not moving and hair not blowing as would be expected.  In discussing the soundtrack we decided it was fitting, with no intrusion and not particularly notable.

Our next film class is on 13 July.  We will be discussing the film Operation Mincemeat.  This is based on a true operation that that took place in World War II.


Joy Shirley