(From left, Robert Donat as Richard Hannay and Lucie Mannheim as Annabella Smith in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps).
This story of The 39 Steps is one of the wrong man, Canadian Richard Hannay as portrayed by Robert Donat, suspected of murder getting mixed up with an attractive blonde, Pamela as portrayed by Madeleine Carroll, while hoping to clear his name. The death in play is that of one Annabella Smith, as portrayed by Lucie Mannheim, who turns to Hannay for help before coming to her end after implicating him; Smith introduces to Hannay the notion of an abstract and unexplained phrase The 39 Steps.
(From left, Madeleine Carroll as Pamela and Robert Donat as Richard Hannay in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps).
The opening confusion with Annabella Smith begins in London at a music hall event featuring Mr. Memory; Wylie Watson portrayed Mr. Memory. It’s while Smith fleeing to Hannay’s bedroom and getting murdered that Hannay retrieves a map of the Scottish Highlands held by Smith; that map leads Hannay to a building labeled Alt-na-Shellach in the village of Killin, Scotland. Hannay first meets Pamela aboard the Flying Scotsman, learning at Waverly Station in Edinburgh, Scotland of his being suspected of murdering Smith. Hannay escapes police custody at the Forth Bridge when Pamela aims to support his capture.
(From left, Robert Donat as Richard Hannay, Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret and John Laurie as John in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps).
The police ultimately follow Hannay to the the croft of John and Margaret, where the couple has granted Hannay an evening of respite. Margaret, as portrayed by Peggy Ashcroft, gives Richard the coat of her husband John, as portrayed by John Laurie, to assist Hannay in making an escape. The notion of an extended police chase in cinema gains an expression multiple ways through The 39 Steps, leading for now to Alt-na-Shellach.
(Godfrey Tearle as Professor Jordan in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps).
It is at the home there that Hannay encounters Professor Johnson and his wife; Professor Johnson and Mrs. Louisa Johnson were portrayed by Godfrey Tearle and Helen Haye, respectively. A bullet meant for Hannay at the home of the Johnson’s misses its mark when a hymnal in the coat jacket of John, as presented to him by Margaret, saves Robert Hannay’s life. Pamela, intending to reveal Robert Hannay to police again, leads the pair on a trip with police impersonators aiming to take the pair to Inverary, Scotland.
(Wiley Watson as Mr. Memory in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps).
Cleverness by Hannay helps Robert and Pamela, handcuffed together, escape their captors once again. The pair make their way to the London Palladium, where the movie comes to a satisfying conclusion. The film’s ongoing chase sequences resolve provided an interesting mix of humor and directorial winking. Owing to the overall enjoyment that was experienced, I grant The 39 Steps as directed by Alfred Hitchcock 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(Jean-Pierre Marielle as Jacques Saunière in the Ron Howard movie The Da Vinci Code).
The movie begins with the pursuit if Louvre Museum curator Jacques Saunière, as portrayed by Jean-Pierre Marielle, in the world famous Paris, France art museum by Roman Catholic, albino monk named Silas; Silas was portrayed by Paul Bettany. Saunière, while coming out of the exchange dead, leaves clues amongst the artwork of Leonardo da Vinci, the namesake for the movie, the book, and the clues embedded in the art around the museum that lead the police to summon renowned Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon to the case.
(From left, Paul Bettany as Silas and Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa in the Ron Howard movie The Da Vinci Code).
Robert Langdon, as portrayed by Tom Hanks, initially is suspected of the murder of Jacques Saunière, by police captain Bezu Fache, as portrayed by Jean Reno. Police cryptologist Sophie Neveu, as portrayed by Audrey Tautou, disagrees that that Langdon should be suspected of her grandfather’s, that is Saunière’s, murder; Neveu and Langdon shake Fache’s pursuit and deduce that Saunière was a grand master of the French founded Priory of Sion.
(From left, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu and Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon near the Louvre Museum in the Ron Howard movie The Da Vinci Code).
Silas, meanwhile, works for an anonymous to him person he calls The Teacher, which has links to the Bishop Aringarosa led Opus Dei. Aringarosa, as portrayed by Alfred Molina. Circumstances send Langdon and Neveu to Sir Leigh Teabing, as portrayed by Ian McKellan.
(Jean Reno as Police Captain Bezu Fache in the Ron Howard movie The Da Vinci Code).
It was Teabing, a purported expert on the Holy Grail, who introduces a theory contrary to accepted religious canon about a relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus, which motivated much of the subtextual mystery functioning in the movie. Charlotte Graham portrayed Mary Magdalene in The Da Vinci Code.
(Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing in the Ron Howard movie The Da Vinci Code).
The thriller aspects of the movie, along with the intrigue underpinning the mysteries animating the story for the movie, largely worked. That the resolution went in the direction it did was a bit provocative for my taste, though that does not mean the fiction did not work. I give The Da Vinci Code as directed by Ron Howard 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
First published in September 1954, British author William Golding’s first novel Lord of the Flies captures our attention today. Much as it did for an English and American generation following World War Two, the work captured my attention from a curiosity perspective for what happens for groups thrown together in isolation.
(William Golding, as shown here, wrote the novel Lord of the Flies).
The novel specifically deals with a group of British boys forced into a circumstance of self-governance after becoming stranded on an uninhabited island. Isolated from adults or any semblance of society, attempts to govern themselves for the common good or organize activities necessary for survival turn out badly. The book deals in three large binary issues, including groupthink versus individual thought, emotional versus rational responses to stimuli and morality versus immorality. The island setting for the book in theory exists somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
(Alternative covers of the William Golding novel Lord of the Flies, which was originally published in September 1954).
The primary characters in the tale are Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy and Roger. The lack of cooperation among these characters comments on the nature of leadership and the movement into darker motivations that serve as commentary around the colonial tendencies of the British empire at the point of the novel’s publication. Some of the tensions governing the world through the war of the previous decade were an undercurrent as well.
(British writer of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, is shown here).
That the book has sparked a good deal of debate over its meaning and the author’s intention in writing it obscure a more basic point that leads me to my stance on the book’s rating. Lord of the Flies by William Golding ultimately is what each reader takes from it, which for me was an adventure and commentary on human interaction, government and straightforward selfish and fear-driven behavior worth 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(Released February 17th, 1985 per the website All Music, Songs from the Big Chair was the second studio album for Tears for Fears).
The primary musicians performing on Songs from the Big Chair included Roland Orzabal on vocals, keyboards, guitars, synth bass , Linn Drum and grand piano, Curt Smith on vocals, bass guitar and synth bass, Ian Stanley on keyboards, Linn Drum and arrangements and Manny Elias on drums and drum arrangement.
Shout opens Songs from the Big Chair with a song inspired by “American psychologist Arthur Janov‘s school of Primal Therapy. This song was inspired by his primal therapy treatment, which worked by getting people to confront their fears by shouting and screaming. The name of the group came from Janov‘s book” Prisoners Of Pain: Unlocking the Power of the Mind to End Suffering, as noted here. The song enjoys an engaging sound through the refrain, as well as attention grabbing jingling percussion to open the experience. Shout charted as high as fourth in the United Kingdom and number one in the United States.
(Released November 23rd, 1984, Shout was the second song from the Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair to become a single).
The Working Hour opens with a setting of the soundscape declaring the presence of saxophone and a sense of drums for two minutes before singing from Roland Orzabal comes into play. As Orzabal is quoted here as saying in support of this being his favorite song from the album, the “main saxophone riff is extremely important and powerful – it’s got that sort of ‘crying’ quality to it.”
Everybody Wants to Rule the World “is about the quest for power, and how it can have unfortunate consequences,” as noted here and in evidence from the song itself. Charting second in the United Kingdom and first in the United States, the song Charlie Don’t Surf by The Clash includes a line that matches the song title of this Tears for Fears song.
(The third song to become a single in support of the Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair, Everybody Wants to Rule the World was released on March 22nd, 1985).
Mothers Talk offers a political bent first in pointing out parental raising techniques, wherein mothers have warned their kids against making silly facial expressions. Second, the “anti-nuclear cartoon book When The Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs,” as noted here, inspired the Cold War messaging of the band’s opposition to nuclear tension among countries that the band felt could compromise. Turning that second message into a statement of telling society to stop being childish is fair enough. Mothers Talk charted as high as fourteenth in the United Kingdom and number twenty-seventh in the United States.
(Mothers Talk became a single in support of the Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair six months ahead of the album’s release).
I Believe “was an homage to the style and work of British singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt,” as pointed out here. Charting as high as twenty-third in the United Kingdom, this ballad expresses love for the grand piano and the saxophone with “the narrator taking a hard look at his beliefs, including whether his destiny is created through free will or determined by fate, [further] challenging the listener to do the same.”
Broken breaks a unique rhythmic ground by offering an instrumental reverie of just over than 1-minute and 40-seconds that gives way to an almost dream-like sensibility of being overwhelmed in defeated emotion. The sense of being lost mentally yet physically in motion ends with emphasis on the sense that time has passed quickly with it passing in an echoing flight of timing flying past.
That sense of instrumental reverie flowing into a sense love slipping into fear of brokenness with Head Over Heels. As noted here, Head Over Heels charted as high as twelfth in the United Kingdom and number third in the United States while expressing an all-consuming love “for a girl and pleading with her not to break his heart.”
(Released June 14th, 1985 in the United Kingdom, Head Over Heels became the fourth single in support of the album Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears).
Listen closes the album Songs from the Big Chair at just under seven minutes, sonically setting mood through with interesting arrangements, operatic vocals, and lyrical invocations of Russia and allusions to American mythology through a lens of the fears expressed in Mothers Talk having been realized. Invoking lyrics in Spanish that mean “Birthday girl, no need to worry,” the reference to the television mini-series Sybil (1976) seemingly has come full circle by album’s end. While we started with the statement that the album invokes emotional healing, is the album in fact saying that the need for emotional healing is still on-going? My instincts say yes.
The human cost of the British occupation of India forms the organizing principle that informed my read of the April 1924 release of the E.M. Forster book A Passage to India. Power dynamics of a personal and political nature underline questions of sexuality, ethnicity, colonialism, religion and prejudgments of what must have happened in an ambiguous scenario that informs the central rhetorical points of the novel.
(E.M. Forster, shown here, had his greatest success as a writer with the book A Passage to India).
The core story of A Passage to India questions what did or did not happen between the English schoolmistress Adela Quested and IndianIslamic physician Dr. Aziz in the fictional Marabar Caves. Forster carefully sets the stage leading into the cave visit first with Dr. Aziz having corrected the actions of Quested’s travel companion, Mrs. Moore, for the manner of Moore’s visit to a mosque. This exchange is placed against Cyril Fielding inviting Dr. Aziz to a party that exposes further tensions, with the final step being that Aziz promises to visit the Marabar Caves with Quested and Moore. By the end of this conversation, Mrs. Moore’s son, Ronny Heaslop, has twice reacted badly towards Dr. Aziz for engaging with his mother and/or his mother’s companion. Animus of an ethnic and colonial nature foreshadow what comes later.
(Alternative covers for the E.M. Forster book A Passage to India).
A series of misunderstandings and innocent turns lead to a number of the members to visit Marabar Caves not being in attendance. Further accidents of circumstance lead to ambiguous allegations of sexual assault being leveled at Aziz. That a feeling of fear was legitimately felt is unmistakable; that an assault occurred is genuinely preposterous and wrong. When Fielding voices a firm belief in Aziz’s innocence, he is shunned and condemned as a traitor to his ethnicity and culture. The prejudgments of crime and guilt in the face of scant evidence demonstrate the biases in opposition to the Indian culture generally; that the story makes it personal among characters makes that notion real.
(E.M. Forster, shown here, had his book A Passage to India published in April 1924).
The remainder of the novel extends the notions of the general expressed personally real with what senses of conscience among some can be mustered. Mrs. Moore’s health takes a turn for the worse; Adela Quested recants at trial leading to Dr. Aziz’s exoneration; Ronny Heaslop punished Quested the point of the exoneration by ending the couple’s wedding plans. Dr. Aziz and Cyril Fielding suffer a break of their friendship owing to Fielding’s ongoing friendship with Quested while simultaneously convincing Aziz not to pursue monetary recompense for the allegations against his, Aziz’s, good name. With some mistaken impressions, Aziz finds it difficult to accept friendship with white men again, remaining friends strictly with Indians moving forward, forsaking friendship with people of British heritage of India has gained its independence.
(Additional covers for the book A Passage to India by E.M. Forster).
The sense of distance that is reinforced for some and introduced for others through the course of A Passage to India feels intentional for what I take as direct commentary. That multiple points of view sustained through the course of the work add substance to the messaging as well. I grant the book A Passage to India as written by E.M. Forster 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Released January 13, 1969, the album Yellow Submarine by The Beatles turns 55-years-young this very day. We remember and celebrate Yellow Submarine with this look at the music created by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with a tip of the hat to George Martin for contributing to the scores that accompany that movie that accompanied this album.
(The album cover for the Yellow Submarine album by The Beatles).
Paul McCartney wrote the majority of the song Yellow Submarine, which opens the Yellow Submarine album. McCartney is quoted here as saying in 1966 that a yellow submarine is meant as a place where “all the kids went to have fun.”
(Album cover for the double A-side single Yellow Submarine, which was released in support of the album Revolver by The Beatles).
George Harrison called his composition Only a Northern Song “A joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England,” as quoted here. The city Liverpool is located in the northwest of England.
All Together Now is described here as a “simple sing-along song that took only five hours of studio time to complete.” Paul McCartney with John Lennon get writing credits for this largely upbeat song.
(All Together Now was released as a single in 1972 in European countries such as France and Germany, backed by Hey Bulldog).
Hey Bulldog started with a different title, though as quoted here “Paul [McCartney] barked at the end and made John Lennon laugh. They kept in the barking and changed the title, even though there is no mention of a bulldog in the verses or chorus.” John Lennon with Paul McCartney get writing credits for this tune.
(From the year preceding the Yellow Submarine album release in 1969, pictured from left are George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr).
It’s All Too Much was written by George Harrison. As quoted here, the song “was inspired by his wife, Pattie [Boyd].” This song is about the strong feelings of love that overwhelm him.
As quoted here, All You Need is Love was played by The Beatles “for the first time on the “Our World” project, the first worldwide TV special.” The song has an “easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth.” The message made it worth adding to the Yellow Submarine (1968) movie as well as this album.
(All You Need is Love was released as a single in 1967, prior to the release of the Yellow Submarine album).
Released over a course of nine months in the first decade of the twentieth century, The Hound of the Baskervilles was the third of four novels featuring mastermind detective Sherlock Holmes. Written by Arthur Conan Doyle of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, the novel features the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Suspected in the death is an extravagantly large ghostly hound said to have haunted the Baskerville family for generations. Holmes is presented as the detective to answer to this mystery.
(Arthur Conan Doyle, as seen here, wrote four crime novels featuring Sherlock Holmes as the detective).
Location and timing feature in the story, with the supposed curse of a demonic hound haunting Dartmoor, England dating back to the English Civil Wars of 1642-1651. Dr. James Mortimer brings Sherlock Holmes to London to inform him of this haunting, in that Charles Baskerville of Dartmoor had taken the legend seriously prior to his, Baskerville’s, death. While Baskerville’s death ostensibly looks to have been a heart attack, the look of horror on the man’s face coupled with gigantic hound footprints found near the scene of the philanthropist’s death brought forth the question.
(Alternative covers to The Hound of the Baskervilles, which was first released in serial form from August 1901 to April 1902).
Serving as executor to his friend’s estate, Mortimer is concerned over passing the estate over to Charles Baskerville’s nephew, Henry. While Holmes dismisses the notion of the legend as nonsense, seems eager to stay at Baskerville Hall in spite of receiving an anonymous note warning him to stay away. Henry is returning to the Dartmoor region from Canada, standing to inherit a considerable financial sum in addition to the property. Sherlock Holmes has Dr. Watson travel with Henry and Mortimer when Holmes finds that Charles Baskerville’s nephew is being followed.
(Of the crime novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle, shown here, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four to feature Sherlock Holmes as the detective).
An interesting cast of characters are found at the estate upon arrival, with Watson sharing investigation details to Holmes after the larger party recognize strange happenings at the Dartmoor property. Hidden familial relationships among people that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson encounter give rise to suspicions of guilt among allowing detective Holmes to bait a trap to kill the howling hound while pointing to the guilty party for Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. The truth is revealed in the end with the underlying motivations revealed satisfactorily for all to see.
(Additional covers to The Hound of the Baskerville as written by Arthur Conan Doyle).
The correct interpretation of who had been acting in self-interest to cause the underlying mysteries eluded me, though I was at least on the proper track for the motivations that were in play. These points contributed to my enjoyment of the mystery overall. Thus, I give The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(The Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia was released in November of 2010).
Angels from the Realms of Glory opens A Christmas Cornucopia as a carol reminiscent of many worship services I’ve attended over the years. Upliftingly presented with backing orchestration and chorus, the music for the song was published as written by hymnwriter and poet James Montgomery of Scotland in 1816.
(Scottish born hymnwriter, poet and editor James Montgomery wrote the hymn Angels from the Realms of Glory. The song is the first on the Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia).
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen follows the album opener with tidings of comfort and joy upon the birth of the historical Jesus. The charm for me is the focus on the singing featuring Lennox throughout, the subtle vocal accompaniment for the first stanza, and the orchestration through the full performance. The accentuating drums add a full-bodied beauty for me that combines with subtlety for what I take as flute through the last quarter of the song, ending as flute in isolation.
See Amid the Winter’s Snow manifests more beautiful orchestration as led by Dave Robbins throughout this album. First published in 1858 for English hymn writer Edward Caswall, English organist and composer John Goss composed a hymn for the original piece in 1871. The presentations then and now express joy in the birth of Jesus Christ at the commemoration of his original arrival.
Il est né le divin Enfant is French for He is born, the divine Child. Lennox sings the FrenchChristmas carol in the original language in narrating the story of the 4,000 year wait for the humble birth of Jesus in a manger.
(A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox was released in November of 2010).
The First Noel as a piece of music is “a traditional Englishcarol most likely from the 16th or 17th century, but possibly dating from as early as the 13th century”, as quoted here. The chorus vocals in a brief dreamy spell between verses at a pair of points elevates the piano and strings that accompany the Annie Lennox singing for this song. The trumpeting of the joyous event of Jesus‘ birth to close the song presented an unexpectedly uplifting conclusion to this piece.
The Holly and the Ivy is a traditional folk Christmas carol of British origin. The song harkens back to the association between Christmas and holly, which has origins in the Middle Ages (or Medieval times). The cadence performs a bit quicker than my senses and heart wanted to experience this song.
(This portrait of Christina Rossetti was made by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, her brother. Christina Rossetti‘s poem In the Bleak Midwinter was published under the title A Christmas Carol).
Written as a poem by Christina Rossetti, In the Bleak Midwinter is frequently performed as a Christmas carol as done by Annie Lennox on A Christmas Cornucopia. The song postulates a series of cJoseph (Earthly Father of Jesus Christ)omparisons of religious importance foe how Jesus came to exist, the prophesied two comings of Jesus, Jesus‘ birth and surroundings, and the affection types offered Jesus by angels and Mary, his birth mother.
As Joseph was a Walking (The Cherry Tree Carol) surprised me as both a Christmas carol and a children’s ballad. The lyrical version presented by Lennox includes an angel previewing the birth of Jesus for Joseph, Jesus‘ father on Earth.
O Little Town of Bethlehem plays to different music than I’ve heard it presented previously. The song is presented solemnly and traditionally with an almost understated piano accompaniment. The chorus that joins Lennox at periodic points makes for a beautiful rendition of this song.
Silent Night with lyrics by Joseph Mohr and composition by Franz Xaver Gruber presents the second to last song on A Christmas Cornucopia. Presented with a traditional piano approach that grows to include a children’s choir and strings, the musical arrangement does as much for the song as does the Annie Lennox singing.
(Universal Child is a single released in 2010 to support the Annie Lennox album A Christmas Cornucopia).
Universal Child is the original Annie Lennox composition on A Christmas Cornucopia. As quoted here, the song is an advocacy for all kids to experience “Safety, security, access to medical care, to love, protection, education, a future, a decent place to live – a child must have all these things.”
(Cover art for Led Zeppelin‘s fourth studio album. The album, commonly called Led Zeppelin IV, was released November 8th, 1971).
Black Dog is named for a Labrador retriever that wandered the grounds where the song was recorded, per Songfacts as referenced here. The opening idea for the song came from John Paul Jones having “wanted to try “electric blues with a rolling bass part,” and “a riff that would be like a linear journey.”” The 1968 Muddy Waters album Electric Mud proved an inspiration for Black Dog, which charted as high as fifteenth in the United States.
(Black Dog was released as a single and charted in several countries with Misty Mountain Hop as the B-side, though the songs were not released as a single in the United Kingdom).
Ian Stewart contributed piano playing to Rock and Roll, the second song on Led Zeppelin IV. Having charted as high as forty-seventh in the United States, the drum work for this reportedly was inspired by the Little Richard song Keep a Knockin’. John Bonham had become frustrated with “a pretty much unplayable drum pattern” for the recording of Four Sticks, per this background. The inspiration from Keep a Knockin’ became part of the signature sound for Rock and Roll, whose lyrics were written by Robert Plant.
(Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin was released as a single with Four Sticks as the B-side in February 1972).
Sandy Denny contributed duet vocals on The Battle of Evermore, the third song on the Led Zeppelin IV album. Robert Plant wrote the song’s lyrics, per information found here, “after reading a book on Scottish history. The lyrics are about the everlasting battle between night and day, which can also be interpreted as the battle between good and evil.”
Per this feedback from Songfacts, “[t]he most famous rock song of all time, “Stairway To Heaven” wasn’t a chart hit because it was never released as a single to the general public. Radio stations received promotional singles which quickly became collector’s items.” To the best of my reckoning, the lyrics themselves are rather opaque. Two message are clear. The first is that material wealth makes getting to heaven challenging. The second message is that a wealthy woman got everything she wanted without giving anything back.
Four Sticksreportedly “was named because drummer John Bonham played it with four drumsticks – two in each hand.” Bonham reportedly had difficulty physically playing this song. The song “contains elements of Indian music.”
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote Going to California, reportedly “drawing inspiration from Joni Mitchell, specifically her song “California.” In the Led Zeppelin song, “the guy in the song is looking for a girl just like [Mitchell], one with “love in her eyes and flowers in her hair” who “plays guitar and cries and sings.”
(Cillian Murphy as Jim in the Danny Boyle movie 28 Days Later).
A highly contagious virus studied in a Cambridge, England laboratory of Cambridgeshire county begins the story of 28 Days Later. A group of ecoterrorists free a chimpanzee infected with the aggression-inducing “rage virus” from this laboratory. Almost immediately, one of the terrorists becomes infected by the freed animal, succumbing to the infection and transmitting it to another terrorist. Within days, the virus induces an epidemic resulting in the collapse of society. Twenty-eight days later, we meet bicycle courier Jim at the abandoned St. Thomas’ Hospital in London as he awakens a coma suffered before the initial outbreak of the rage virus. Cillian Murphy portrayed Jim.
(Noah Huntley as Mark in the Danny Boyle movie 28 Days Later).
Jim wanders the streets of London before survivors Selena and Mark rescue him from infected humans that had chase him, Jim, into a church. The group learns that Jim’s parents had committed suicide during the outbreak when getting to the family home in the Deptford part of London. Before even much of an opportunity to process this blow, Selena must kill Mark upon Mark’s infection with the rage virus. Just moments later upon experiencing this at the frenetic pace of a rage infested zombie, Jim and Selena encounter cab driver Frank with his daughter Hannah at Balfron Tower in East London. Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson and Megan Burns portrayed Mark, Selena, Frank and Hannah, respectively.
(From left, Naomie Harris as Selena, Cillian Murphy as Jim, Brendan Gleeson as Frank and Megan Burns as Hannah in the Danny Boyle movie 28 Days Later).
It is news of supplies and the potential safety of a blockade in Manchester, as brought by Frank, that the previously unfathomable grouping take up a drive to a northwestern section of England. The apparent respite offered by this journey quickly gives way to new realities at the abandoned blockade. The fortified mansion under the command of Major Henry West, as portrayed by Christopher Eccleston, gives way to a new and insidious story of a society that’s died and a fresh hell of intended for Hannah. The subterfuge of the blockade giving way to the true intention of a barricade of sex slavery.
(From left, Christopher Eccleston as Major Henry West and Cillian Murphy as Jim in the Danny Boyle movie 28 Days Later).
The angle of Sergeant Farrell, as portrayed by Stuart McQuarrie, and Jim’s opposition to combat the slavery gives 28 Days Later an adventure and humanity that sets the movie apart from the underpinnings one might expect of other more traditional movies with a zombie angle. The introduction of the Private Mailer character, which offers its own inhumane point-of-view, leads to an odd justice for the blockade to round out this particular storyline. The intrigue that brings the storyline to a close in Cumbria, England within earshot of a Finnish jetfighter flying overhead presents the answer to the question of survival raised from the beginning of the movie that this story has raised and the viewer deserved. Marvin Campbell portrayed Private Mailer.
(From left, Cillian Murphy as Jim and Stuart McQuarrie as Sergeant Farrell in the Danny Boyle movie 28 Days Later).
There’s more done properly in the movie 28 Days Later to overcome what points against the film have been raised by critics, for example, on Rotten Tomatoeshere. I give 28 Days Later as directed by Danny Boyle 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt Lynn Digital 