Green for Danger
January 8, 2008 | Uncategorized
I am Veronica Mitchell and I usually blog over at Toddled Dredge. Becky and I have never met in real life, but she asked me to guest post for her during her exciting international travels and high living. I expect to be sent a picture of any new tattoos. Or “tats,” as the cool people call them.
I don’t write about politics on my blog, so I was a little tempted to write a political post for Deep Muck Big Rake, especially after so many other guest-posters did. But trying to craft a political post is a bit tricky for me. I waver between philosophical statements about the nature of communal moral responsibility and less cogent arguments like “Bite me, hippie.” So it’s probably best for Becky if I hone my own political expression before I try it out on her blog. For now, I will just continue rubbing my money-stained Republican hands together, laughing maniacally, as I oppress the poor and conspire to re-institute the draft.
Instead, I will tell you about one of my favorite movies, recently released on DVD.
Green for Danger is a murder mystery set in a wartime hospital in England. The characters and the plot are not much different than any of the hospital dramas currently on television, once you take into account the sexism and censorship of the day. There are a handful of gorgeous women (nurses only, of course – this was 1944), the requisite unattractive-but-clever woman, and two male doctors who vie for the affections of the hottest nurse.
What makes this movie worth watching is Alastair Sim, who plays Inspector Cockrill, the detective assigned to solve the mysterious murders at the hospital. Sim’s most famous role, of course, is Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, but if you’ve never seen him in anything else, consider watching Green for Danger.
He mesmerized me. I could watch that man just sit in a chair and be entertained. He has the unnerving comic grace of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, but none of Depp’s beauty, which oddly makes me enjoy him more. Sim strikes just the right note, treating murder as deadly serious, while amusing himself thoroughly with its investigation.
From his first entry into the hospital, Sim steals the show. This homely old guy keeps every eye on him. In one of my favorite scenes, the suave doctor is trying to seduce the hot nurse in the garden by quoting Shakespeare to her. He is getting somewhere when the Inspector appears out of nowhere and tops his quotation with later lines from the same play:
In such a night / Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well, / Stealing her soul with many vows of faith, / and ne’er a true one.
Then, having thoroughly doused Dr. Ladies’ Man, the Inspector says good night.
The movie includes one of those highly implausible reenactments of the crime, and this one appears to exist in a world completely free of medical ethics, but despite this flaw, the film is delightful. In the middle of a terrible war, in a plot about terrible crimes, Sim and the writers found humor and poise and laughter.
As Inspector Cockrill said (not that this has any relevance to the appearance of my Republican self in the midst of so many Democrat guest-bloggers), “My presence lay over the hospital like a pall — I found it all tremendously enjoyable.”
January 8th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
[…] the 7th was the 8th), but in the spirit of Open Mike Night, stop by and leave lots of comments at my guest post at Deep Muck Big Rake, so Becky will think it was a good idea to have me […]
January 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I love Alastair Sim in A Christmas Carol; I must see this film!
January 8th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Wow! That was the best guest post that I have ever read!!!
(A little over the top?) Sorry…
Anyway- I love discovering a new (to me at least) old movie to watch. I’ll have to check it out!
January 8th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Cheers to the pall. Cheers to the movie nod. Cheers to the frog.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
How do you find these wonderful movies Veronica?
January 8th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for the film recommendation; I love British mysteries, so I’ll have to check it out!
January 8th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I never knew you were Republican! Go figure.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
That movie sounds intriguing!
January 8th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Does it count if several of the comments are from the same person? Probably not. I mean, who really reads these things? ;)
This is certainly cheaper than buying lots of drinks to support the band. However, I am craving an IPA right about now…
January 9th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I’ll have a margarita, please, shaken not stirred.
The movie sounds good, but I can’t stop laughing at your money-stained Republican self.
But wait, wasn’t this supposed to be posted yesterday?
Hecklers are expected on Open Bar night, aren’t they?
Do you know Stairway to Heaven?
January 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Excellent post–I can’t wait to see the movie. And I am walking away repeating that last line. I think it will come in handy for situations like walking in to a room of teenaged boys who suddenly clam up guiltily. Fun!
January 9th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I have NEVER HEARD OF THAT! And yet it sounds EXACTLY like a movie I’d love… putting it on my Amazon list right now.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Alright – here’s my comment! Becky, it was a great idea to have Veronica guest post, because she’s swell…and neat! and stuff….
January 9th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Sounds like a movie we would very much enjoy! Just promise me no one bursts into song or starts dancing…