Were now watching GORMENGHAST, the BBCs 2000 dramatization of the first two Titus Groan novels by Mervyn Peake. Many Peake fans have taken a pretty dim view of the series, but I somewhat disagree. It does have its weaknesses, for instance the pretty amateurish CGI used to create the vast castle; and of course the necessary loss of Peakes narrative voice is a bad loss indeed. On the other hand, some of the performances are very good, especially Ian Richardson as the 76th Earl and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Steerpike. Some have complained that the series is more cartoonish than the books, which is true; but the cartoonish aspects of the books are among their best features (many Peake fans read him too solemnly). There have also been complaints that Steerpike is more sympathetic in the series than in the novels. I dont think thats true. In fact, the series in some ways does a better job of suggesting the parallel between Steerpike and Hitler that Peake probably intended (remember that TITUS GROAN was published in 1946, and that Peake had recently been assigned by the British Army to do illustrations of the liberated Bergen-Belsen death camp).
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 16:13:31 +0000
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