i disliked the film intensely upon my first theatrical viewing...


but upon subsequent viewings and certainly with the DVD release it's grown on me considerably. as someone said it's "it's own animal". it's a lighthearted romp.

certainly much of the criticism leveled at it...it's disjointed and hastily edited, most of the characters are poorly developed and underused, it's sort of all over the place...are quite valid. in terms of film structure it's deeply flawed. but it has it's own weird tempo and charm. and some great performances. in particular pfieffer, green and bohnam carter are really good. so is depp.


so while some of my initial reservations persist...i dislike the "magtoria" compromise and the late carolyn "reveal" will never sit well...i've come to accept it on it's own weird terms. it's an homage. a bit of a folly. but it can't be taken too seriously.

incidentally i work with someone who just traveled to paris and this was the in-flight movie...

this person was a fan as a child and had fond if hazy memories of it but said she enjoyed the movie alot. she also had much praise for the cast.

releasing an unfinished, unedited "what-could-have-been" script is just going to stir the pot and get all the whining and hand wringing going again.


nothing positive is going to come of it and personally i think it's a bad idea.

i almost forgot it comes out this week. i'll look for it.

whatever happened to old constable carter(who incidentally HATED mustard on a sandwich)?


he sort of just disappeared.

also don't the same people who produce the BFP also write for the dynamite comic series?


i believe those are also some sort of "officially sanctioned" stories that are vastly different from the ones being told on the audiodramas. by that measure aren't they supposed to be 'canon' as well?

it's impossible to keep it all straight.

i'll add this if i may...

apart from the implausibility of it, and for reasons and i cannot quite put my finder on, the DS witchdraft trials always lack their intended impact.

it was the same story with victoria's trial in 1795. it was the weak link in a very strong storyline. there's always lots of people standing around yelling, jerry lacey in particular, and they're supposed to be the big climactic scenes of the storyline, but somehow they just fall flat.


speaking of victoria i was startled to hear her name mentioned several times during this plot in reference to the 1795 trials. by this point she was so long gone and forgotten it's almost like a hearing a name from another story completely. 1840 is a long way from the hammond foundling home.

i suppose this quentin was slightly more belligerent, and wore louder sportscoats, than all of the other quentins...


but to me the characters are completely interchangeable. nothing really differentiates one from any of the others. and i honestly think that was the writers/producers intention.