I have a new obsession: spies. In both films and books. It kicked off last year around this time with
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Still going strong.
So, I'm reading this book right now.
I know there's the Captain Obvious reason for the fascination--my dad was an intelligence officer for many years. I can disclose that to you now, since he's retired. I know it's like "Maybe if I read a bunch of books, it will give me some insight into his secret life, blah, blah, blah..." No. That's pap psychology for peasants. Meh.
Specifically, I'm captivated by authors who were also spies--Maugham, Conrad, Greene. As I mentioned in my last entry, I started reading this:
And I came upon this passage:
"A poet's an individualist. He can dress as he likes; he depends only on himself.
A novelist depends on other men: he's an average man with the power
of expression. 'E's a spy...'E 'as to see everything and pass unnoticed.
If people recognized 'im they wouldn't talk, they'd pose before 'im;
'e wouldn't find things out."
Now we're on to something. Far more interesting.
So anyway, I'm also completely obsessed with the British series,
MI-5, aka
Spooks. It's sort of like the
Law & Order of the UK (actually, did you know there's a British version of
L&O? Truth.).
Spooks aired for 10 seasons, had no issue with knocking off main characters and deftly replaced them with new ones.
While an action series, it still addressed terrorism and intelligence in a far more compelling way than any US series (yes,
Homeland, you), concentrating on terrorist acts of the bio, environmental, religious and political varieties. It also made no bones that many of these acts were "inside jobs," with intelligence forces from different countries colluding, or factions within the MI-5 and MI-6 playing each other. A contrived terrorist strike in the name of launching a war for oil? Well,
duh. All in a day's work.
Spooks launched with the hunky Matthew MacFadyen, and when he left in season 3, I thought no one could replace him. Boy, was I wrong. Ladies, meet my new, favorite man on the planet, Rupert Penry-Jones. This man makes any and all James Bonds look like this
guy. Let's take a look.
Hi!
As an aside, both MacFadyen and Penry-Jones have starred in Jack the Ripper-related series since their runs on
Spooks: Rupert on
Whitechapel and Matthew on the BBC's new
Ripper Street.
I've seen
Whitechapel, and while it's not
Spooks, it's also not bad--finely crafted comfort TV, UK-style. However, my TiVo somehow mangled the premiere of
Ripper Street, so I can't report on that just yet.
As an aside to my aside, I read
From Hell last year, a compelling conspiracy as to who Jack the Ripper really was and how this horror foreshadowed the bloodbath of the 20th century. No spoiler alerts here. Read it.
But be warned: Intense doesn't begin to describe
From Hell. I don't think there's another graphic novel quite like it. The story is so complex, the violence so stomach-churning, it's mind boggling how attuned every detail is to the accompanying illustrations.
OK. Back to my primary narrative. I really wanted to check out Sir Penry-Jones in a current remake of
The 39 Steps. I knew I should watch the Hitchcock original, but I didn't care. Only I couldn't get the damn thing to download on blu-ray, and when I switched back to cable, guess what was on? TCM was airing the Hitchcock version. I took this as the universe telling me to watch the goddamned original. "It's Hitchcock, for God's sake!" said the universe.
"The MAN who put MAN in roMANce..." Hee!
The crazy thing about watching early Hitchcock is it makes you realize how many cinematic techniques he originated, how we take for granted what must have seemed utterly groundbreaking back then. Because it was.
In one of the opening scenes, a woman encounters a murder and her screams dissolve into the piercing shriek of a train whistle. The main conceit in the movie centers on the hero being handcuffed to the extremely reluctant heroine--what is now the plot device of every goddamned bounty hunter movie. Because god knows I can never get enough movies about bounty hunters. Oy.
Seeing
The 39 Steps provides a great segue to chatting about a
book by my friend, Chaz.
Chaz, aka Charles Fleming, is a journalist for Los Angeles magazine, the LA Times and author of
High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, along with many novels. The Secret Stairs of Los Angeles maps out many walks across the city, featuring these crazy, hidden staircases. Chaz also leads his own tours of these steps. You can read more about them here.
One of the routes in his book traces a path I walk with my dog in the Hollywood Hills. Chaz's book is great because it identifies some of the really cool landmarks along these hikes. Reading it made my walk so much more interesting. Let's take a look.
Isabel did the stairs with ease.
Stunning views of the San Fernando Valley.
Walk #38, aka "Universal City--Happy Trails," included some interesting sights, including a house called "Wings," which Fleming describes as "Flintstones-meets-Jetsons."
The Wings house.
Beware.
The home of Max Ehling. The new owner is proud of it, too.
Another landmark that's tough to miss is the spectacularly mosaic-ed palace built in 1927 and designed by professional wrestler, George Ehling. Partly breathtaking, partly bananas and totally Hollywood Hills.
Two views of the secret stairs of Los Angeles.
I can't wait to explore more walks from the book. I hope to report on them in future blog posts.
So, in looking up older Hitchcock movies, I realized I've never seen
this, which features a young John Gielgud and
The 39 Steps star, Madeleine Carroll.
Guess what? It's based on
Ashenden! We've come full circle, people. It's next to watch, fo sho. And of course, Rupert, in the remake of
The 39 Steps. Let's have another look.
I'm not even going to get out of this chair.
