Dangerous Moonlight

[neufer]

<<The Warsaw Concerto is a single-movement piano concerto written for the 1941 film, Dangerous Moonlight (known as Suicide Squadron in the USA). It was written by British composer Richard Addinsell. The orchestration was by another Briton, Roy Douglas, whose contribution is rarely acknowledged.

The film's love-story plot revolves around the fictional composer of the piece, a piano virtuoso and "shell-shocked" combat pilot, who is a refugee in England from the World War II occupation of Poland and considers returning to Poland to rejoin the war. The actor, Anton Walbrook, was an accomplished amateur pianist, so his hands are seen playing in the film, but in fact the music on the soundtrack is played by an uncredited pianist, Louis Kentner.

The film-makers wanted something in the style of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini or the Second and Third Piano Concertos, but were unable to persuade Rachmaninoff himself to write a new piece or to afford to obtain the rights for any of these existing pieces.

Spike Milligan repeatedly refers to the piece in his autobiography Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall and the subsequent books in the series as 'the bloody awful Warsaw Concerto'.>>

[owlice]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaZemfn ... re=related[/youtube]

This has much less tubby sound than the video above; more relaxed tempo, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FnuD-8m ... re=related

[neufer]

This has much less tubby sound than the video above;
more relaxed tempo, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FnuD-8m ... re=related

Now listen young woman. I don't like talking about these things but you asked for it.

This isn't about the Warsaw Concerto! This is about Dangerous Moonlight.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[owlice]

Now listen young woman.

:: falls over laughing :: Young!
:: falls over laughing again ::

Oh, dear... oh, that's funny!! Ummmm, thanks? Yeah, yeah, thanks!! (Young!!)

This isn't about the Warsaw Concerto!

Bullocks! Sez it is, up there, first post!

This is about Dangerous Moonlight.

Oh, that, too, of course... if you insist.

[neufer]

This is about Dangerous Moonlight.

Oh, that, too, of course... if you insist.

Get with the program, owlice.

You were SUPPOSED to have said: "I'm sorry; I didn't understand."

And then I would have said: "Forget it."

[owlice]

Oh, neufer, you're killing me here!!

Just for you, this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Moonlight

NOW the thread is about Dangerous Moonlight, or, as you put it, Dangerous Moonlight.

I've never seen the movie; is it any good? Or were you referring to the effect of moonlight from a full moon on lycanthropes?

[bystander]

You were SUPPOSED to have said: "I'm sorry; I didn't understand."

I'm sorry; I still don't understand.

[neufer]

You were SUPPOSED to have said: "I'm sorry; I didn't understand."

I'm sorry; I still don't understand.

Oh....just forget it

[owlice]

Now I'm confused...

[neufer]

Now I'm confused...

You made me sit thru "Small World" and you wouldn't even watch:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[owlice]

What makes you think I didn't watch it?!?!
ETA: Ah! I see why now. Didn't catch that the first time through (and couldn't relate to it, anyway!!)!

Now I understand.
(Sorry.)

Did you really sit through "Small World"??

[neufer]

What makes you think I didn't watch it?!?!

ETA: Ah! I see why now. Didn't catch that the first time through (and couldn't relate to it, anyway!!)!

Now I understand.
(Sorry.)

Forget it.

Did you really sit through "Small World"??

I'm still trying to forget it.

[owlice]

I'm still trying to forget it.

I have just the thing....

[neufer]

I'm still trying to forget it.

I have just the thing....

Neufer: A piano virtuoso & "shell-shocked" combat discussion group poster, who is a refugee at The Asterisk* from the World War III Stratfordian occupation of "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare" but considers returning to HLAS to rejoin the war.

• -------------------------------------------------------
  "Contested Will" By James Shapiro Prologue
  
  <<This is a book about when and why many people began to question
  whether William Shakespeare wrote the plays long attributed to him,
  and, if he didn't write them, who did. Consulting a handful of online
  discussion groups [like] "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare"
  (for a glimpse of how nasty things can get), will offer a sense of
  where the battle lines are currently drawn, but will fail to make
  clear how we got to where we are now and how it may be possible
  to move beyond what seems like endless trench warfare.>>
  -------------------------------------------------------------

DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT (UK, 1941)

<<Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. Written by Shaun Terence Young (also story), Brian Desmond Hurst, Rodney Ackland. Photography, Georges P�rinal. Editing, Alan Jaggs. Art direction, John Bryan. Music, Richard Addinsell. Music director, Muir Mathieson. Cast: Anton Walbrook, Sally Gray, Derrick de Marney, Keneth Kent, Percy Parsons, J.H. Roberts, Cecil Parker, Guy Middleton, et al. 83 min.

Minor but special film is little known outside Britain, though its music, The Warsaw Concerto, became an instant radio staple the world over and is still heard. While a lesser and derivative score, it made the fame of composer Richard Addinsell. He was obviously inspired by Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, which, in 1945, came into its own in another British film, David Lean's superb "Brief Encounter." Addinsell's composition is nicely worked into the film, along with the Polish national anthem, bits of Beethoven and Chopin.

The movie was a huge hit in beleaguered Britain and high in the affection of audiences. When it was made and released in 1941, England was being blitzed by the Luftwaffe, Nazi forces had spread from Norway to Crete, North Africa and Russia. America had not joined the fray yet. The film was produced by the British unit of RKO, which financed it.

The main story, told in flashback, deals with the period of the Nazi invasion of Poland (started September 1, 1939) through the Battle of Britain (July-September 1940). As Warsaw is about to fall, pianist Stefan Radetzky (Anton Walbrook), now with a Polish bomber squadron, is ordered to fly to Rumania. Interned, he escapes, comes to the USA to concertize for the Polish Relief Fund. He meets again and marries journalist Sally Gray, an American with whom he had a lightning romance in Warsaw. Radetzky gives concerts, then joins a fighter squadron of the RAF in England and fights in the Battle of Britain.

Made under difficult circumstances, the film is, of necessity, un-fancy, though its early use of actual combat footage is effectively presented. The very simplicity of the movie, the absence of Hollywoodian polish, slickness and rah rah patriotism, its reserve and immediacy, give it a touching, semi-documentary directness.

No doubt to boost morale and flesh out the story, there are a few improbabilities. In one of them, handsome Derrick De Marney plays a full-of-blarney Irish volunteer in Poland. One wonders how the short time of the Polish war (the blitzkrieg) allowed this.

"Dangerous Moonlight" was not shown in the USA until after the war. It was somewhat misleadingly rebaptized "Suicide Squadron," as the original title itself was also misleadingly sentimental. In the UK it is the best known work of its director, Hollywood-trained Irishman Brian Desmond Hurst.

The very interesting star is Vienna-born Adolf Wohlbruck (later Anton Walbrook) who did well in German and Austrian films and, after a stint in Hollywood, settled in England. Distinctive, aristocratic, quietly effective, he became a major figure in important movies, among them the two that followed "Dangerous Moonlight" : "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" and "The Red Shoes." In all he made a small number of films, but these, plus two Max Ophuls French pictures ("La Ronde" of 1950 and "Lola Montes" of 1955) place him high among performers.

The main writer of "Dangerous Moonlight" was 25-year old Shaun Terence Young, then in uniform. Later he became a director of action movies, including James Bond pictures. French cinematographer Georges Perinal was one of Britain's aces of the camera. Michael Rennie is listed near the bottom of the credits. The supporting cast also includes the delightful Cecil Parker who had one of the most distinctive voices in the history of cinema. (Edwin Jahiel) >>

[owlice]

I thought it was funny! And you might like to know that *I* got stuck with it, darn it, even into this morning. Had to put something in the player to dislodge it.

Neufer: A piano virtuoso & "shell-shocked" combat discussion group poster, who is a refugee at The Asterisk* from the World War III Stratfordian occupation of "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare" but considers returning to HLAS to rejoin the war.

Please leave the war behind. (Your side is losing anyway.* )

"The Red Shoes."

Wow. Thanks for that; I thought I'd seen him before, and now I know where.





*Kidding! Kidding! Totally!

ETA: Refugee?! HA!!!

[neufer]

I thought it was funny!

The hippo & dog?

<<From 1962-1967, Bert Kaempfert's instrumental A Swingin' Safari was used as The Match Game theme song.>>

Neufer: A piano virtuoso & "shell-shocked" combat discussion group poster, who is a refugee at The Asterisk* from the World War III Stratfordian occupation of "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare" but considers returning to HLAS to rejoin the war.

Please leave the war behind. (Your side is losing anyway.* )

I beg your pardon

I have over 25,000 posts invested at "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare"!

"The Red Shoes."

Wow. Thanks for that; I thought I'd seen him before, and now I know where.

My wife once taught public kindergarten and decided to play a movie for the kids one day as a treat.

So she showed them the Andersen fable of the "The Red Shoes" without having previewed it first.

Big mistake! (Talk about your shell-shock!)
http://www.retroweb.com/40acres/gwtw_40 ... _color.jpg

[owlice]

The hippo & dog?

Yes! Some of the hippo's expressions (in reaction to the dog) were very Gromit-like. I got a kick out of it!

<<From 1962-1967, Bert Kaempfert's instrumental A Swingin' Safari was used as The Match Game theme song.>>

I remember The Match Game. Am trying hard to not remember the theme song.

:: eyes recording of DSCH Op. 87 for possible use should banishment be necessary ::

I beg your pardon

I have over 25,000 posts invested at "Humanities.Literature.Authors.Shakespeare"!

I saw the stats! All Most Many for naught!
(Follow the asterisk, neufer, follow the asterisk!)

My wife once taught public kindergarten and decided to play a movie for the kids one day as a treat.

So she showed them the Andersen fable of the "The Red Shoes" without having previewed it first.

Big mistake! (Talk about your shell-shock!)

ACK!!!

http://www.retroweb.com/40acres/gwtw_40 ... _color.jpg

I avoided the first theme, but one from this is trying to assert itself. I may have to go YouTubing later.

[wonderboy]

This made me laugh hahahah, cheers guyses!


incidentely, is that safari woman above a young Angela Lansbury from murder she wrote? It looks kinda like her!

[konradpow]

I read this subject with great interest - also because of the "local patriotism" - since I am Polish and I live in Poland, so I learnt of things interesting for me. It is interesting, that the film is referring to the occupation in Poland - I must see him absolutely, the more so as I like such sentimental old films, and I like very much this music.
(By the way - sorry for my English )

[Beyond]

I read this subject with great interest - also because of the "local patriotism" - since I am Polish and I live in Poland, so I learnt of things interesting for me. It is interesting, that the film is referring to the occupation in Poland - I must see him absolutely, the more so as I like such sentimental old films, and I like very much this music.
(By the way - sorry for my English )

Don't be sorry for your Inglish. I was born here and yore Inglish is as good or betterer than mine. We Polished people are very bright , but I'm only half as bright, cuz I'm only half Polished.

[neufer]

I read this subject with great interest - also because of the "local patriotism" - since I am Polish and I live in Poland, so I learnt of things interesting for me. It is interesting, that the film is referring to the occupation in Poland - I must see him absolutely, the more so as I like such sentimental old films, and I like very much this music.

<<The Biuro Szyfrów (Polish for "Cipher Bureau") was the interwar Polish General Staff's agency charged with both cryptography (the use of ciphers and codes) and cryptology (the study of ciphers and codes, particularly for the purpose of "breaking" them). The precursor of the agency that would become the Cipher Bureau was created in May 1919, during the Polish-Soviet War (1919–21), and played a vital role in securing Poland's survival in that war.

In mid-1931, the Cipher Bureau was formed by the merger of pre-existing agencies. In December 1932, the Bureau began breaking Germany's Enigma ciphers. Over the next seven years, Polish cryptologists overcame the growing structural and operating complexities of the plugboard-equipped Enigma. Five weeks before the outbreak of World War II, on 25 July 1939, in Warsaw, the Polish Cipher Bureau revealed its Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment to representatives of French and British military intelligence, which had been unable to make any headway against Enigma. This Polish intelligence-and-technology transfer would give the Allies an unprecedented advantage (Ultra) in their ultimately victorious prosecution of World War II.

Former Bletchley Park mathematician-cryptologist Gordon Welchman has written: "Ultra [Allied high-grade signals intelligence] would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the Poles, in the nick of time, the details both of the German military ... Enigma machine, and of the operating procedures that were in use." After the war, Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to tell King George VI: "It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war."Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, at war's end, described intelligence from Bletchley Park as having been "of priceless value to me. It has simplified my task as a commander enormously.">>

[owlice]

Ah, I was younger then...