The Wingless Bird

On Saturday I streamed for the second time The Wingless Bird.  The first time I watched it it seemed longer.  This time around the storyline seemed rushed.  The Wingless Bird is a good movie.  It is based on the book of the same name by Catherine Cookson.  The storyline begins in 1913 just before the outbreak of world war two.   The location is England.

The heroine is Agnes Conway who is the daughter of a man who owns a guest house, confectioners shop and smoke shop.  Agnes, like all of Catherine Cookson's heroines is a very strong woman.  Agnes (Aggie) is twenty two and a little bored with life.  Until she can figure out what to do with her life she helps her father run the confectioners shop.    

 

On Christmas eve 1913, Charles Farrier walks into the confectioner's shop for the first time with his sister Elaine.  While waiting to be served Charles observes Aggie and is attracted to her.  Charles returns to the shop at a later date to see Aggie but pretends that he came to purchase cigars from the smoke shop.

Aggie's parents are in a loveless marriage.  They sleep in separate bedrooms because Aggie's mother will not allow her husband to touch her.  There is a secret within the marriage that comes out as the storyline progress.  

One night Aggie overhears what the secret is about her father and the next morning the atmosphere is strained during breakfast.  

Aggie's sister Jessie gets romantically involved with a young man named Robbie Felton who is from the "other side of the tracks" and not considered worthy by their father.

Jessie is not careful and she becomes pregnant by Robbie.  Robbie is a good decent man though and so is his family.  Robert loves Jessie and wants to marry her as soon as possible.  

Jessie confides in Aggie about her pregnancy.  Their parents find out and all heck breaks loose.  Their father will not allow Jessie to marry Robbie.

Charles Farrier is madly in love with Aggie.  Aggie admits that she loves Charles but her mind is preoccupied with Jessie's predicament.  Charles explains to Aggie how she can help her sister get away and marry Robbie.

Charles wants Aggie to meet his brother Reginald (Reggie) and here is where the storyline gets even more interesting.  

The threesome have tea together and Reggie is delighted by Aggie.  He recognizes that Aggie is very intelligent and that there is no pretense about her.  Aggie is down to earth and also well mannered.
 

Reggie and Charles are sons of wealthy landowners.  Their parents are still mentally living in the 19th century and class difference is very important to them.  Both men know that their parents will see Aggie as merely a shop girl and beneath them for a daughter-in-law.  Reggie is supportive of Charles wanting to marry Aggie.  Reggie even understands why Charles is so smitten with Aggie and doesn't blame him one bit.  Charles asks Reggie to help him convince Aggie to go ahead with their plans to marry, which he does.

World war two breaks out and Reginald is on the warfront which changes him.  Charles does not enlist, but instead is a writer and insists on living his life the way he chooses. 
 

Reggie returns from the war a wingless bird and even more passionate.   

  Reggie near the end with Aggie.  The ending was so sweet and touching.  I cried and kept replaying the ending over and over.  The end really pulls at your heartstrings.

The Man Who Cried

I watched this movie yesterday afternoon and quite frankly I am not sure what to think of it.  It is a good movie, but Abel Mason got himself entwined in so much deception for so long and involved his son.  I cannot help but wonder if he could have avoided it all somehow.  Why didn't Abel leave his wife before and divorce her?  He didn't have to wait until he fell in love with another woman to decide to leave.  I really like Abel and it is easy to see that he is a good man, but his choices were not the best ones.  How did he end up choosing such a horrible woman for a wife in the first place?

Ciaran Hinds portrays Abel Mason.  Abel after learning that his wife wrote a letter to the husband of his lover who killed her and then himself finally leaves and takes his son with him. 

Abel's wife verbally abused him and physically abused their son for many years making life a living hell.

 Abel with his lover who was murdered by her husband just when they both decided to leave their spouses and build a life together for themselves.

Abel is distraught because after so long on the road and not finding work he feels badly for putting his son through such destitution.  They have no roof over their heads and have to get food from a food pantry.  Abel's son assures him that it is no trouble at all.  This is a great moment in the movie and had me teary eyed.  Abel promises his son that when he does find work he will give him a good life.

One day Abel meets Hilda after rescuing her husband from an attack.  As a thank you Hilda's husband offers Abel a job and roof over their heads.  Abel accepts, but he changes his last name from Mason to Gray so that no one finds out that he left his wife and took their son with him.  Shortly afterwards Hilda's husband dies and she reveals to Abel that she loves him but had to keep her feelings to herself because she was married.  Amanda Root plays Hilda and I love her in this role opposite Ciaran Hinds. 

Hilda is jealous of her sister Florrie and told lies about her being with many men which was not true.  Abel fancied Florrie, but managed to get Abel to agree to marry her.  Abel felt that he had to marry Hilda or else he would be out of work and out on the streets again with his son.  The marriage was not legal though since Abel never divorced his wife.   

  

Many years went by and Abel helped Hilda to keep the motor car business that her deceased husband started profitable.  Eventually though Abel gravitated towards Florrie and they had an affair.  Apparently Hilda was not so opened to Abel when it came to having marital relations.  Florrie became pregnant and had a girl. 

Abel's wife found him after many years and showed up on Hilda's door step.  Abel was arrested and went to trail.  The maximum prison sentence for bigamy is seven years, but Abel only received one years because of a letter that Hilda wrote to the judge.  She confessed that she backed Abel into a corner about marrying her and that he did not want to do it initially.  Hilda also told the judge that Abel was an exemplary father and helped her with the motorcar business while never profiting from it himself. 

Florrie was injured in a raid and died, but while she was in the hospital Hilda came to visit and apologized for treating her so badly over the years and telling lies about her.  Florrie made Hilda promise that if anything happened to her that she would take Abel back and raise their daughter.  

Hilda keeps her promise to Florrie and Abel is completely ashamed of himself.  Hilda was always a good woman who really deserved better than what she received in life.  When the going got tough Hilda told the truth and rose the occasion which is not something that Abel could say about himself.  



    

The Moth

I decided to watch another movie based on one of Catherine Cookson's books.  This one is called The Moth and it is the eighth movie that I have seen that is based on a book by Catherine Cookson.  I was reading some reviews on other blogs about The Moth and it is a favorite of many.  As usual with a Catherine Cookson movie I was drawn into the story and sat through all three episodes of The Moth in one sitting.  For me it is not my favorite of all the Catherine Cookson productions, but it is a good movie.   The time period is 1913 in Northumberland, England.

I think that actor Jack Davenport is the reason why The Moth is a favorite movie.  The Moth focuses around the life of Robert Bradley which is handsomely portrayed by this actor.  Robert Bradley is a very talented carpenter by trade.  Robert has a very good heart and stands up for himself in a strong willed manner.  He will not allow himself to be bullied into anything and does not care what other people think. 

   Jack Davenport as Robert Bradley

Robert's father passes away and his estranged uncle offers him an apprenticeship.

Millie Thorman is "The Moth".  It is not really clear to me in the movie why it is called The Moth.  I suppose that if I read the book the title would make more sense.  Anyway, Robert meets Millie for the first time one night while he is down at the like watching the reflection of the moon.  Millie shows up and at first looks like an eerie apparition.  She certainly frightened me.  Millie is very childlike and mentally is like a little girl.  She likes to go out walking during the night to follow the moon.  Millie is also the by product of an affair that her mother had with a man who was her true love.  

Millie worries her family when she goes out walking and on this particular night her sister Sarah and their man servant finds her with Robert.

 Sarah Thorman

Sarah Thorman has been engaged for three years, but her fiance's mother does not like her and he is afraid to stand up to her and marry the woman he loves.  Sarah breaks off her engagement and moves on.  She is attracted to Robert and experiences moments of jealousy.  

 The man servant for the Thorman family despises Robert.  In order to stop Robert from becoming the new head of the Thorman estate through his marriage to Sarah, the man servant sets the mansion on fire.

The house is destroyed but the man servant is killed trying to rescue Millie whom no one frealized was still in the house when he set it ablaze.  Robert resuced Millie, but his hands and arms were badly burned in the process.

When Robert has recovered enough from the fire he marries Sarah.  There are other subplots to this story that are also very interesting.  It is a good movie just not my favorite.  I felt that it was a little rushed and some things could have been explained better.  There is a lot of meat to The Moth storyline and maybe it should have been 4 episodes instead of three.

 

The Dwelling Place

I streamed this movie last night on netflix and I was spellbound watching it.  I watched all three episodes in one sitting.  I have not read the book but it is now on my list of books to read even though I usually stay away from books that contain such poverty and tragedy.

The story takes place in the 1830's in England.  Sixteen year Cissie Brodie and her siblings lose their parents to cholera.  This is how the story begins.  What I found a little strange during the beginning scenes is that none of the six children cry or display any deeper sense of loss over just losing both parents.  Instead they seems instantly resigned to the fact that they are now orphans.  That is not believable at all.

Cissie and her siblings are all then thrown out of their house and Cissie refuses to go to the work house where life is even more grim and the family will most likely be separated.  Determined the keep the family together Cissie moves the family into a cave on the side of a hill on the fells.  A poor local carpenter named Matthew Turnbull is in love with Cissie and he helps Cissie make life as comfortable as possible for the family in the cave.  Matthew brings what little furniture they have into the cave.  Cissie is very brave and resourceful.  She has to look after the youngest boy so she goes in such for job for the other siblings.  Two of the boys work for a very shirt period of time down in the mines.  One of the boys is only eleven years old and the other is 14.  The mines is a dark cruel place and they are not earning enough to keep the family from going hungry.  Matthew Brodie out of his love for Cissie and her siblings manages to find other work for them.  The youngest girl gets a job as a laundry girl and another sister gets a job as a live in maid.

 Tracy Whitwell who is now a playwrite stars as Cissie Brodie. 

 Cissie Brodie

Cissie and her siblings standing at the opening to the cave that became their home.

Cissie and her family on the fells.

Cissie and Matthew Turnbull

Matthew Turnbull is deeply in love with Cissie, but he is burdened with taking care of his elderly parents.  Matthew's father is ailing.  Matthew wants to be with Cissie but all the reserve money that his family had was spent by his father to keep the family afloat over the years.   Therefore, Matthew marries a mill owners daughter named Rose.

The very wealthy Fischel family.  Lord Fischel with his children Isabelle and Clive.

This where the story gets even more interesting.  Isabelle is an evil witch of a person.  Clive is basically a good person, but he is not strong enough or self confident enough to not get drawn into his sister's evil doings.  One afternoon the brother and sister duo come upon Cissie and her youngest brother.  It is not the first time that the foursome cross paths.  Isabelle instigates a fight between herself and Cissie.  Clive breaks them up but Cissie and Clive accidently fall on the ground with Clive landing on top of Cissie.  Clive is getting ready to get up when Isabelle goads Clive into raping Cissie.  Cissie's littel brother runs to get help and runs into Lord Fischel who is just in time to see Clive finishing up raping Cissie as Isabelle watches.  

Lord Fischel is ashamed of his children and sends Clive away to sea immediately.  A few months later Lord Fischel spots Cissie who is big with child.  With the assistance of his man servant Lord Fischel realizes that the Cissie's pregnancy is a result of his son raping her.  Immediately Lord Fischel recognizes the baby as his grandson and wants to raise the boy himself away from the destitute life that Cissie lives.  When the baby is born though Cissie cannot part with him for any amount of money.  Lord Fischel eventually gets his way through blackmail.  

  

Clive returns to England years later when his son Richard is four years old and being raised by his father and Isabelle.  Clive is still ashamed of what he did to Cissie and does everything he can to make it up to her and return their child to her against his father's wishes.  For the first time in Clive's life he defies his family to do what is right.  Of course Cissie doesn't trust him at first but Clive does everything in his power to show Cissie that she has nothing to fear from him.  Clive really wants to help her and as he begins to understand what type of woman Cissie is he admire her, which makes him feel even worse for what he did to her.

Matthew Turnbull becomes a very wealthy man after his father-in-law passes away.  He is still in love with Cissie and his wife Rose gets the short end of the stick.  Rose knows that her husband's heart is with Cissie Brodie.  Matthew will drop everything on a moments notice to be there for Cissie.

     

Clive Fischel is portrayed by actor Edward Rawle-Hicks.  Clive is a very interesting character because even though he committed a heinous act, he does have a conscience and knows that he did wrong.  Clive is immediately repentant.  He is not the type of man who is waiting around the corner for his next victim.   This aspect of Clive's personality is what must be taken into consideration when you see how the movie ends.  I read a lot of reviews by other women who wore appalled at how this movie ended and as a woman myself I understand it.  However, having paid attention to the entire story and watched Clive's transformation from someone who cannot seem to stand up for what he believes in to a man returning from sea understanding what he did and doing all that he can think of to make Cissie happy, I cannot paint Clive with the same broad brush that I would a career criminal.  I won't reveal the ending for those who have not seen this movie yet, but it is a surprise.       

There are lessons in this movie about forgiveness and how important it is not to live in the past hanging onto things that can destroy you.  I will be purchasing the book by Catherine Cookson.