Charles II

[kissmekate]

Yes to all you've quoted, GE2!

Ginny, make sure you have the UK version, titled Charles II - The Power and the Passion. There is a severely butchered version around, called "The Last King" - not recommended!

[lovethemanrs]

Yep those quotes are wonderful, thanks for posting. Any news on Charles II is always welcome.

A masterful portrayal that Rufus should be extremely proud of, and forever one of of my great favourites - for many reasons.

[adina]

I admit I need some time to understand the meaning of symbols, but the solution sometimes comes so unexpectedly. So, when the Rooftop had that racoons-hedgehogs-mushrooms wallpaper, it meant that we are interested in scientific matters (ah, yes, we are working on our Rufus Encyclopedia with a scientific thoroughness!) and the gnomes represented our loyalty? They were there to guard the things we had buried in the garden. The French treaty. Zorro's sword, the recording of Amadeo Colonna, Ali Baba's treasure...Well, it seems a loyal fangirl has to dig a lot.


"A strong visual aspect of the Whitehall set was the use of painted walls. This was an actual style from the period with the works of artists such as Antoni Verrio, a favoured artist of Charles II.
Each room reflected the personality, vagaries or events in Charles’s life. This resulted in the design becoming slightly heightened and, though I hesitate to use the word, theatrical. We treated 14 rooms in this fashion!
In the small council chamber, for example, parts of Dr Tulp’s Anatomy Lesson by Rembrandt were used as floor-to-ceiling wall covering. The giant faces of these powerful men had a particular relevance to this room, helping the sense of people, listening, watching and plotting.
Charles’s closet, which had wall paintings of giant birds, giant snails and mushrooms, reflects the idea that he was very interested in scientific matters.
His private bedroom portrayed the heavens, celestial sky. In his state bedroom and the ante-room were the key tapestries which were very heraldic and had the lion and the unicorn, which are Charles’s emblems."

I like the painted walls and in general I like the way they used the set. The camera found such interesting angles!
Speaking of angles, did you notice the tender move of Henrietta Maria in the picture next to her description? Ah, did her warm moments get sacrificed in the editing room?
There is a pic to prove that Catharine also had more lines. www.cinemagia.ro/filme/charles-ii-the-power-the-passion-putere-si-pasiune-charles-al-ii-lea-10367/imagini/610052/



This is such a good pic!!! I want the lines.

"Charles was an extraordinarily charming, good-humoured and tolerant man, who was one thing to his women and another to his ministers," adds Hodges.

Oh, those scenes with the ministers! In the second part when Charles is yelling at Hyde because of the Test Act and after telling his terms he ends it with


"Do not presume to tell the king what is acceptable! Parliament must accept this or nothing. Do not return to me without their agreement."

He is as hard as a diamond! A very angry diamond.
(Hyde is lucky they are not in a coach or he would be the one who had to say the infamous line "If you shout at me, I shall faint." (Louise deserved that scolding, but getting that in such a cramped space, poor girl!))

The Danby scene in the fourth part is fantastic, too. When Charles is trying to avoid eye contact but eventually he is forced to look at Danby and utter "I know nothing of any secret treaty." Ah! Rufus's face must be used as illustration of "shame" in the actors's handbook.
And in the next scene he is figthing with Shaftesbury to save Danby's life!
And in his next scene he is going to Lord Stafford in the Tower!!
Oh, this series is sooo rich, and really every detail adds something to the Charles portrait. Even the giant mushrooms on the wall.


Yes, this thread has to be opened regularly. Thanks, GE2. Let's celebrate talent.

[Rachel]

Ah, lucky me! I got a DVD of Charles II for Christmas. It's the Dutch version with Dutch subtitles, and it's rather confusing as the DVD box is labelled "The Last King" (i.e. the butchered American version) but when I play it the title is shown as "Charles II: The Power and the Passion." It's 5 minutes shorter than the BBC original, but what the hey, 5 minutes its better than the 2 HOURS A&E edited out. It's a region 2 DVD but I was able to play it on my computer with no problems.

What can I say? It is absolutely magnificent. Easily Rufus's best role ever. As Adina says above, this mini-series gives Rufus such rich material to work with - from shame, to terror, to regal haughtiness, to debauched rogue, it's a tour de force. One favorite comic moment, when he and Buckingham are taking Nell out to dinner and the bill is presented. The look on both his and Buckingham's faces when they realize that neither of them has any money and Nell bursts out laughing. Best "kingly" moment - when he dissovles Parliment. He is perfect, icy calm and so very regal, every inch a king. The look on Buckingham's and Shaftsbury's faces - they didn't think he had the resolve, the guts to do it.  They seriously underestimated him.   

I had to say, Rufus really made me feel for Charles, a man caught between a rock and a hard place - trying to honor his father's memory, trying to enforce religious tolerance and being forced to compromise in order to keep the peace and protect his position.

And of course as a true blue EH fan, how could I not love Charles's line "I believe in science, not magic."

[kissmekate]

Lucky you indeed! I'm really happy for you that you finally got to see the whole thing. I still can't get how they could possibly cut so much from the original in the US version

[walt]

KMK, do you know how touchy many Americans are about everything that is connected with nakedness and sex? That's a kind of taboo in the US. So you may imagine which scenes were probably deleted for the US version of Charles II?

[kissmekate]

Of course I know, but I really don't see the point. If anyone minds the nakedness, nobody's keeping them from turning the DVD off ... and I've seen a lot worse than the bed scenes in Charles II. At least, those were done quite tastefully.

[midoro]

The Americans mind the nakedness, but not the violence in movies!

[kygal]

Yay Rachel. Santa was good to you!

[Rachel]

It wasn't just the nakedness and sex that got cut! If you go to wikipedia there is an entry for this mini-series and they have a nice summary of what got cut - much of it had to do with sex but just as much that was cut didn't.  Almost everything having to do with Minette and Louise was cut. Everything to do with the secret treaty was cut.  The cuts were made for strictly scheduling reasons.  For some reason A&E decided to allot only 3 hours (two  90 minute segments) for this mini-series.  They must have thought  that was all the history we Yanks could stomach!  And since A&E, unlike the BBC, runs commercials. even further trimming had to be done.  Hence a production that, while still ok, sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense. 

What pissed me off so much though is that when they released the DVD they released it as it aired in this country.  At least PBS has the decency to release the full versions of the stuff they edit for Masterpiece Theater when they release the DVDs.  Hence the need for us American Rooftoppers to search out regions 2 DVDs.

[kygal]

At least Santa was smart enough to know this...hehehe.

[adina]

There is a game called "The Word Association Game" where the word "anatomy" was put. I wanted to add a Charles II screencap to my response, but the game was so fast, I arrived with the pic too late. But I think it is rather interesting, so I decided to add it to my earlier post here as a P.S.

Aug 23, 2013 19:24:45 GMT adina said:

Each room reflected the personality, vagaries or events in Charles’s life.(...) In the small council chamber, for example, parts of Dr Tulp’s Anatomy Lesson by Rembrandt were used as floor-to-ceiling wall covering. The giant faces of these powerful men had a particular relevance to this room, helping the sense of people, listening, watching and plotting.

This is the scene of the third episode when Danby presents the French treaty to the ministers:



Danby: France is willing to provide a subsidy of two million livres to His Majesty in return for recognition of Louis' claim to sovereignty over the Netherlands.
Buckingham: Oh, it's a bargain, Danby! Or are there more items on the bill of sale?
Danby: England must also agree, at a time to be decided by France, that both our countries
will declare war on the Dutch.
Shaftesbury: Your Majesty, we've no justification for an unprovoked attack on Holland!
Charles: Justification will be found.
Shaftesbury: And when Parliament discovers you intend to use French money to rule alone?
Charles: Parliament will know nothing of this treaty because no one in this room will tell them, Shaftesbury.


Look at the face on the wall. This scene is nothing else but close-ups (even of the Rembrandt painting.) Okay, I know a television thingy is always about close-ups, but this scene does have a put-their-heads-together feeling. Rufus is great!!! The way he eyes the ministers and reacts, oh, oh, toughy. When Arlington comes with the "Such a business cannot remain secret for long", he growls "I will not be servant in my own house. I mean to rule." and leaves the room with the "With Parliament if I can, without them if I must."
Eh! Intense scene!
Rufus and his friends gave another interesting lesson on the anatomy of power, Guys on the Wall, didn't they?

[barbicanbelle]

Look who I just came across whilst browsing The Guardian .... Charlie ... "an excellent prince doubtless had he been less addicted to women” ...

link

[kygal]

Thanks BB! YUM!

[barbicanbelle]

Oh no! Some of Charlie's jewels have been stolen!
Check out the story here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12101225/Goodwood-House-raid-Charles-II-ring-700k-stately-home-break-in.html