#i was CONDITIONED to love 1) swashbuckling and 2) repressed romance

[oldshrewsburyian]

@stripedroseandsketchpads asked such great questions we should have tea about it, but, in brief:

Who’re your favorite swashbucklers and why?

I have a great sentimental allegiance to this guy, my first Robin Hood, idol of Tiny Proto-Medievalist Me, gorgeous and impudent swaggerer:

Basil Rathbone, meanwhile, taught me about what meta- and intertextuality were long before I knew those words; once I learned to fence, I appreciated his performances in additional ways:

Also I definitely had an “oh he’s hot” moment rewatching these films. Anyway.

Honorable mention to the outrageously beautiful Tyrone Power. I loved his Zorro passionately in childhood, and then rewatched that movie and discovered that, to the adoring, alienated child of a publicly heroic but emotionally distant & disapproving parent, the performance is almost... unbearably nuanced and realistic. So there’s that.

Also thoughts on the roles of Conrad Veidt?

YES. That’s it, that’s my thoughts. I genuinely can think of no other actor with comparable range not only in acting roles but in acting styles, from early silents to German Expressionism to operetta-esque froth to Powell & Pressburger to classic Hollywood. Also, the STYLE:

Favorite book you’ve ever taught in a class?

This is a really hard choice to make! I always love teaching Beowulf. Right now, I’m deep in the letters of Abelard and Heloise, and really relishing the experiences of students grappling with both Abelard and Heloise’s experiences and how they write about them.

#asks and answers #film #i was CONDITIONED to love 1) swashbuckling and 2) repressed romance #is a tag that i have #errol flynn #conrad veidt #tyrone power #basil rathbone