I stopped in at Sippican Cottage on Tuesday and discovered that David Niven's 100th birthday had been the day before. Just this weekend we watched A Matter of Life and Death, a ground-breaking film from 1946 in which he starred. It's a totally charming movie about an RAF pilot, Peter, who is shot down off the coast of England. He was scheduled to die but the person in charge of his death messed up because of fog. The movie is in color (among the living) and black-and-white (among the dead).
Sippican's post has a youtube tribute to David Niven that reminded me how much I always enjoyed him. The first Niven movie I remember was Around the World in 80 Days. It came out when I was a child and there was a tremendous amount of publicity about the movie, especially because the producer, Mike Todd, had been killed (at least he had been by the time I saw it). Later David Niven was one of the rotating stars of a TV series that we watched on Sunday nights, 'The Rogues."
I had no idea that, in the 1930s, he played Bertie Wooster in a short film based on P.G.. Wodehouse's Thank you, Jeeves! And when you think about it, he'd be perfect in the role. Bertie is a very endearing character.
Getting back to A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven), there is a wonderful trial scene in the afterlife. Raymond Massey, who was killed by the Redcoats in Boston, is the advocate for having Peter's life end as scheduled. The original jury is replaced when it is pointed out that each of them has a reason for hating Great Britain (and Peter is a British airman). Instead Americans are seated and each one has a different ethnic background.. Each states in turn, "American citizen."
David Niven, "Wodehouse with tears," 1910-1983.
Sippican's post has a youtube tribute to David Niven that reminded me how much I always enjoyed him. The first Niven movie I remember was Around the World in 80 Days. It came out when I was a child and there was a tremendous amount of publicity about the movie, especially because the producer, Mike Todd, had been killed (at least he had been by the time I saw it). Later David Niven was one of the rotating stars of a TV series that we watched on Sunday nights, 'The Rogues."
I had no idea that, in the 1930s, he played Bertie Wooster in a short film based on P.G.. Wodehouse's Thank you, Jeeves! And when you think about it, he'd be perfect in the role. Bertie is a very endearing character.
Getting back to A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven), there is a wonderful trial scene in the afterlife. Raymond Massey, who was killed by the Redcoats in Boston, is the advocate for having Peter's life end as scheduled. The original jury is replaced when it is pointed out that each of them has a reason for hating Great Britain (and Peter is a British airman). Instead Americans are seated and each one has a different ethnic background.. Each states in turn, "American citizen."
David Niven, "Wodehouse with tears," 1910-1983.