I've heard this usage from the period more than once in the series: "Do not cousin me." As in, "Don't patronize me." Maybe I don't have the spelling right, but I've googled it to death and can't find anything. Does anybody know anything about it? Thanks.
shareIt's "cozen" and it means to cheat, deceive, or trick.
shareAh, thanks very much! There was no text available, and I could only try it phonetically, which I obviously missed. ;) I really enjoyed the series, especially the dialog.
shareIt was a wonderful series.
Can you believe they wanted Judi Dench for the part of Sarah and took Hampshire as second choice when Dench decided to drop out of the project?
Can you believe they wanted Judi Dench for the part of Sarah and took Hampshire as second choice when Dench decided to drop out of the project?
Lucky for us. I love Miss Dench, but I couldn't see her as one of the great beauties. (Mrs. Brown was more her speed.) I thought Hampshire was striking the moment I saw her. I could understand why Jack was smitten. Also, I think they directed her beautifully. Indeed beautiful and heroic, she was also willful and defensive -- "I'll not be cozened!" -- to the point where her hectoring, justified as it may have been, finally turned off Anne.
Incidentally, I think brother James was perfectly cast. A prig, of course, but complex. I felt an odd compassion for him. Regal, scrupulous to a fault, he started off with strong backing and was long-lived. He could have had a great reign, but wound up alienating everybody and making himself the end of the line of true British royalty.
Actually, the casting was great all-round, for the golden age of Big Hair.
I love Miss Dench, but I couldn't see her as one of the great beauties.
Prolly not, but kinda cute back in the day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7711591@N04/1111243492/
Wow, you're right! Interesting, that even at that age, she was as Titania as she would be as Victoria -- regal.
Many thanks for the pic. I didn't start noticing Dench until much later. Ma faute. :(
Did you like Hampshire as much in "The Pallisers" as in this?
shareConfess I haven't seen it. Alas, anything that looks like a costume drama with mainly romantic intrigue stops me cold, which also may be why I waited so long to see First Churchills and was so delighted when it turned out to be much more. (I was so turned on by the subject I ordered the Charles II miniseries, which turned out to be mostly rutting.)
But I see Pallisers is Trollope, which I shamefully neglected in school. He despised America even more than Dickens did, so that probably prejudiced me. Well, I'm over that, and The Pallisers is so well-rated that I'm going to dive in this week. (Got plenty of time to watch, since where I live in California is under water at the moment.) I'll report back about Hampshire six years older. :) Thanks for the nudge!
Charles II miniseries?
Do you mean that bizarre concoction from 2003 featuring Rufus Sewell and variously titled: "Charles II", "The Last King" or "Charles II: The Power and the Passion"?
What do you think of these producers who have decided the only way to present anything historical is to give it a sort of bad acid-trip sensibility? I found the bits of "The Tudors" (the few moments I could force myself to watch) to be even WORSE!
I don't know if you'll care for "The Pallisers" or not. I know I've loved it ever since I first watched it at age 14. So for me there is the nostalgia factor involved when re-watching and enjoying it now.
This was made in 1974 when the current vogue for presenting Trollope's work as flat-out comedy, or at least heavily playing up his sense of satire was not yet in vogue. It's subtler, and far better for it (IMHO).
Susan Hampshire plays Glencora Palliser as she plays every role she's ever undertaken. Same vocal inflections, facial expressions, breathing patterns, head tilts, hands-on-hips as Sarah Churchill. You get the full range of Hampshire here from A to B. Don't get me wrong - I adore the woman.
Yep, I mean that one. Don't mind the obligatory romantic interlude, but this was just costumed porn. The Tudors turned me off the same way. It's not so much about the Tudors as Henry VIII by the latest hardthrob, Rhys-Meyers, who annoys me. Like you, didn't watch it past the first few episodes.
Yes, there's big a decline. Compare Masterpiece Theatre now to what it used to be. Same goes for BBC and Public Broadcasting. Before, excellence was the standard; now, it's pandering to the lowest common denominator.
I'm looking forward to The Pallisers. Now I can fake it and talk like I've read Trollope, though my crowd wouldn't know a Trollope from a trollop.
As for nostalgia, yes, I think we're all quite partial to our world at 14. I was taking Latin from a Mr. Chips type, so you can imagine the impact I Claudius made.
Costumed Porn! - Yes exactly!! Henry VIII with a shaved head and abbreviated leather doublet - no shirt. The DVD covers are hilarious because they really do look like cheap porn in cheap costumes.
Can't help agreeing about the decline in Masterpiece Theatre as a whole. Mind you, I was not too disappointed in their recent "Little Dorrit". It wasn't as good as the 1988 Alec Guinness film version, but still had good things in it. I think one of the best BBC adaptations that has ever made its way onto Masterpiece Theatre was the fairly recent Dickens "Bleak House" adaptation. In fact I will go so far as to say this was the BEST (bar none) literary adaptation I have ever seen on television. I cannot reccommmend it highly enough. It stars Gillian Anderson who (surprisingly) turns in a first-rate performance as Lady Dedlock. Amazingly there is not ONE weak link in the cast. Search this one out!
I do hope you find "The Pallisers" to your taste. I don't know if you've seen the much more recent Trollope adaptations ("The Way We Live Now", "He Knew He Was Right") but the new BBC have chosen to treat his work as very broad satire and practically play it like slapstick. None of that in "The Pallisers". Oh, and another Trollope you may like is the 1982 adaptation of "Barchester Chronicles". Susan Hampshire turns up in this also, and gives the same performance she gives in "First Churchills" and "The Pallisers". Only the hair-do's change (slightly). You have to be very patient with "Barchester" until episode 3. That's when it starts to get good. You could easily skip eps 1&2. Alan Rickman and Geraldine McEwan arrive in episode three and turn in amazingly good performances. Comedic, but subtle as opposed to slapstick.
You mention your pubescent memories of "I Claudius" and your Mr. Chips Latin instructor. GOOD STUFF! Just remembering the performances of Sian Philips as Livia and John Hurt as Caligula is bringing a wry smile to my lips. Is it true they're thinking of re-making this?
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I too LOATHED the Forsyte Saga remake.
Sometimes they really should just leave well enough alone.
All of the leads in the newer version PALED in comparison with the 1967 one. Funny how, using the same material they came up with such a weak product.
Mind you, everything is about ugliness these days.
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It's so gratifying to find like-minded people out there. I just cringe every time a classic gets the remake treatment these days. I've owned the Pallisers (yes, it is well-worth the viewing), First Churchills, original Forsyte Saga, Vanity Fair (70s version with Hampshire) for years, and I never tire of any of them. The performances remain so strong and insightful that I would never know they came from at least 40 years ago, had I not been alive when they all first aired. Susan Hampshire may have a style about her acting, but I just love her. She still manages to inhabit each of these characters; she always feels like an old friend when she enters my living room. I hate the way everything has to be watered down and sexed up these days. Having watched The Six Wives of Henry the VIII and Elizabeth R devotedly as a child, I feel physically ill every time one of those Tudors ads comes on. I just spent several hours suffering through the new Great Expectations; I felt so appalled by it that I took notes about all the errors and bad production decisions. Alastair Cooke must be rolling over in his grave.
Put puppy mills out of business: never buy dogs from pet shops!