Film Four -- Evelyn Waugh

[jack]

The last that sticks in my mind is Bright Young Things, adapted by Stephen Fry, from Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies, I think.

I've only read a couple of Waugh. Scoop is absolutely brilliant, and should be read by everyone. William Boot is accidently sent as a foriegn correspondant to a civil war in a small fictious african country, where he is unfailing polite and incompetant, yet ends up an accidental success.

If you've heard me use the phrase "Up to a point, Lord Copper" it's from here -- an editor addressing his irascible boss, says "Certainly, Lord Copper" for "yes" and "Up to a point, Lord Copper" for "no".

Yet, Scoop touched me in a way the other two didn't. Perhaps because William is obviously in a temporary hiatus, and everything seems nonserious, and we can laugh, whereas the other protagonists have their lives actually wrenched about permanently, and it just felt entirely too maudlin.

So, BYT was pleasant, but I only actually laughed right at the end, when all the jigsaw pieces fell into place, on his bemeddaled return from WWII. But it was worth it.

Also, surreal but good to see David Tennant as pleasant a moustached cad. I am firmly of the convinction that whenever I see him in something, it is actually Doctor Who, averting a dalek plot by a cunning ruse involving acting in a film.

Comments

[fanf]

Sounds like Scoop has a similar setup to the Flashman books, except that Flashman is an outright coward and liar, and utterly selfish - yet he ends up being an accidental success.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I still want to get round to reading those. And you should definitely read scoop :) I guess that would be a good description, I have some sympathy for the accidental hero (though William would do the right thing, just knew almost nothing about it).