MovieChat Forums > Waterloo (1970) Discussion > What is this building called?

What is this building called?

posted 17 years ago by No-Id
5 replies | jump to latest

Hi,

You know where the british people are having a party, right? Where the natural music is going on and the dancing?

Was it a tea party or something? What is this called? Did British (important) people dance and party in monarchy buildings?

Thanks for any input.

EDIT -
Sorry I'm slow tonight. Was it the ball party?

[–] spointon 17 years ago

The "party" was the Duchess of Richmond's ball which took place in Brussels. According to Murray's Handbook for Travellers on the Continent, it took place in a house on the Rue Ragule. The building was hired from a coachmaker. Disappointingly, the site of the house is now occupied by a burger bar.

The room in the contemporary paintings of the ball looks a lot smaller than the huge ballroom in the film, though looking at the list of guests it must have a been a tight squeeze!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchess_of_Richmond's_ball

[–] oingoboingo1962 16 years ago

I beleive it was the "Duchess of Richmond's" ball In Brussels.
Not sure what building it was.

[–] rogerneon 11 years ago

Rooms in movies and on television are almost always larger than real rooms.

[–] rogerneon 11 years ago

There was some disagreement in later years over the exact location of the ball. There was also differing opinion on whether the room where the ball was held was on the ground floor or the first floor (note to North Americans, in Europe, "First Floor" usually means what would be called the "second floor" in North America). However, it seems to have belonged to a carriage maker, and the large room could have been a workshop, or possibly the equivalent of what we now call a "showroom."

[–] MAGolding (1240) a year ago

It was the Duchess of Richmond's Ball. The Duke of Wellington was at the Ball, and was given a messag that Napoleon's army had crossed the border & the officers were all sent to prepare to march.

Elizabeth Longford described it as "the most famous ball in history".[1] "The ball was certainly a brilliant affair",[2] at which "with the exception of three generals, every officer high in Wellington's army was there to be seen".[3]

The ball inspired a number of writers and artists in the nineteenth century.[31] Sir Walter Scott mentioned it in passing in Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk.[32] It was described by William Makepeace Thackeray in Vanity Fair and by Lord Byron in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Byron emphasises the contrast between the glamour of the ball and the horror of battle, concentrating on the emotional partings,

Thackeray's dramatic use of the ball in Vanity Fair inspired, in turn, a number of screen depictions. One notable example comes from the 1935 RKO production Becky Sharp, the first full-length Technicolor film released after perfection of the full-color three-strip method,[34][35] which makes the Duchess of Richmond's Ball the first historical set-piece ever staged in a full-colour feature film.[36] Critics of the day were not kind to the picture itself, but the sequence in which the officers hurry to leave the ball — the red of their coats suddenly and emotionally filling the frame — was widely praised as showing great promise for the dramatic use of colour on-screen.[37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchess_of_Richmond%27s_ball

The Duchess of Richmond had little pleasure in the ending of her ball. One of her sons, Lord Henry Adam Lennox (1797-1812) joined the navy and drowned age 14. Three of her sons were officers in Wellington's army & were at Waterloo. Her 15-year-old son lost sight in one eye in a horse riding accident in the battle.