#he recovers quickly but you can See he has to veer off script for a second

[ssaalexblake]

So many lives would have been saved in the dw universe had the master just decided to be That Theatre Actor who loves themselves too much and thinks they can do anything they want simply because they are The Headliner and they know the whole to be or not to be speech by heart, instead of... This. 

[project1939]

Day 40- Film: Flesh and Fury 

Release date: June 26th, 1952. 

Studio: Universal 

Genre: Sports drama 

Director: Joseph Pevney 

Producer: Leonard Goldstein 

Actors: Tony Curtis, Jan Sterling, Mona Freeman 

Plot Summary: Paul is a deaf-mute boxer whose professional career is really starting. He meets Sonya, who helps him find a big-time manager. Soon Paul and Sonya are engaged, and he is training for the welterweight title. One day a reporter named Ann, whose father was deaf, comes to cover his story. The two of them have a powerful connection, and she brings him to a deaf school where he starts learning to speak. But what about Sonya? And can he actually get an operation to restore some of his hearing? 

My Rating (out of five stars): *** 

If not for the all-around good acting in this, I might not give it three stars. Some of it stretched believability, and some of it veered a little too far into Melodrama City, but overall, it’s not a bad film. 

The Good: 

Tony Curtis. Man, was he pretty when he was young! I can see why girls went crazy for him. All of my movie magazines have had ample coverage of him. But he was also captivating to watch in a way that went beyond his beauty. There’s a vulnerability and a sensitivity with him that is appealing. I was pretty impressed with his acting as well. Having to spend 2/3 of the film without talking was a feat he handled well. 

Jan Sterling. I’ve never seen her in anything before that I’m aware of, but I loved her. When she made her first appearance in the film, I thought for sure she must be the co-star/romantic lead of the picture. She looks amazing and her personality pops off the screen. Unfortunately, the script really let her down in the end. 

Mona Freeman. I didn’t find her as sparkling as Jan Sterling, but I liked the way her character forcefully stood up to anyone who showed prejudice to deaf or mute people. She was clearly painted as the good and wholesome girl, but her character was very educated and intelligent. She wasn't boring. 

The treatment of deafness in the film. Deaf people were treated with respect and as full human beings with qualities besides their deafness. People did kind of baby him a little, but that behavior didn’t seem to be totally condoned. At one point Sonya referred to Paul as “a dummy,” and Ann, whose father was a very successful architect, responded with fury: “This house was built by a dummy! The things in it were acquired by a dummy. The women in it were loved by a dummy.” I found it incredibly moving because not only did she put Sonya in her place and make it clear that word was offensive, but she expressed how much she loved and adored her father.

The Bad: 

I hate boxing. I don’t understand why anyone either fights or watches it. I don’t judge anyone for liking it, it’s just something that holds no appeal for me at all. So I don’t really enjoy boxing films! 

The whole operation thing. It seemed pretty convenient that he was able to regain a significant amount of hearing with one surgery. He also seemed to recover pretty quickly too! 

The way he learned to speak so well and so fast. I know it’s a movie, and Hollywood wouldn’t want a romantic hero to be stumbling badly with words and making awkward imprecise sounds. But it still felt distractingly unbelievable. 

The way Sonya did a 180 near the end. Yes, we knew from the beginning that Sonya wasn’t the most perfect person with the most pure motives, but come on! All of the sudden she just turned into a monster! You couldn’t have created a character with a bigger “villain” sign on her! It made me really angry at the movie, because I liked some of her moral ambiguity before. All of the sudden the movie flipped a crazy switch on her, and I hated it. 

The title. Clearly they just picked a title that sounded sexy and dramatic. There was no logical reason within the story to pick that title. But “flesh” is a big buzzword for sex, so put it in there! And "fury" has a feeling of passion as well, along with some helpful alliteration! That’ll bring in the teenage girls, won’t it? 

[the-king-of-the-wind]

Prologue: Absence

Seldom were the days that Barona Castle was silent. The odd holiday perhaps, times when its ever present staff thinned to visit family, when guests both foreign and local took pause in their persistent visits and all was calm within the stone walls. Times like that were calm, almost serene, and if it was one such time then the castle’s lone visitor could have found some relief from the tension that welled like a ball in his chest.

Except it wasn’t.

The castle was empty of the usual guests, the staff was thin, but it wasn’t any kind of holiday; there was no calm in the silence that pervaded every corner of the castle. It was disquiet, tense; the few gazes he was able to catch flickered away the second he’d found them and that only made his heart race faster. He didn’t need anyone to tell him- something was very wrong here.

Footsteps echo an urgent cadence and his pace only quickens. Each step a bit faster, a bit more urgent than the last and its all he can do not to go running through the castle halls. He knew where he was going, Barona was a second home to him, Richard’s castle was even more so. For once it didn’t matter that this area was restricted; he had to know that everything was okay. He had to see that Richard was safe. With his own eyes.

The letter had arrived earlier that morning, one that had started out looking as boring as any other. A day of paperwork awaited him and when Frederick announced he’d a missive from the capital Asbel Lhant had all but jumped out of his chair. It felt like forever since he’d heard from Richard, and while the formality of the letter’s delivery meant that he probably needed help with something, Asbel was more than prepared to do anything Richard needed him to. And if it allowed him the chance to see his best friend again, all the better.

Asbel broke the royal seal without giving it a second glance, unfurled the paper to an unfamiliar black script. His brows furrowed and his heart sunk with each of the letter’s brief lines, not a single in his best friend’s handwriting. An invitation to the capital; one that was concise and impersonal, leaving all the details vague at best. The request to remain discreet was enough to leave him unsettled. Why wouldn’t Richard write it himself? And why the secrecy? A ball of ice curled in his gut; he suddenly felt sick. With barely a word, Asbel was on the first ship to Barona.

The paper still clutched in his tightening fist as he walked quicker and quicker; it hadn’t left his hand since he’d first read it. Revisiting the words upon the paper over and over, he couldn’t get anything to line up. Asking around on the way here he’d heard rumours of an attack on the highroad north of the capital, but no one seemed to know any details. Even if there was something unusual about the monsters, it didn't explain the secrecy, or why Richard hadn’t written this letter himself. Only one explanation kept recurring in his mind; one reason that would explain this… one reason he didn’t want to consider.

Something had happened to Richard. Something had happened and someone was trying to cover it up. Because if Richard hadn’t written this letter… who had?

“Lord Asbel!” A voice calls down the hallway after him and the clinking of armour joins the sound of footsteps, now three sets alongside his own quickening stride.  “Lord Asbel, please wait- we were to escort you to the throne room!”

Asbel knew he should go with them, after all, what if that was where Richard was? His best friend could be waiting for him while he was off all over the castle, but Asbel just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, that they were trying to hide something. Since when did they need to send three knights to escort one person? He’d go with them once he was sure that Richard was okay.

Veering the corner he spots his goal: a lone door in the secluded hall and the pair of guards standing next to it that all but confirmed his suspicions. Richard never allowed such a heavy guard around his room…

“Lord Asbel!” The guard at the door looks momentarily surprised before quickly trying to recover, placing himself halfway between the young Lord and the door. “I’m sorry but no visitors are presently permitted even yoursel-“

Asbel didn’t even wait for the guard to finish, nothing about this was right- Richard would never order the guards to keep him out- the unease that had been curdling in his stomach all morning swelled, curling around his heart until his chest felt too tight to breathe. Come on Richard… please be alright-

Easily pushing past the guards, heavy doors swing open to an elaborately furnished bedroom, one that even Asbel has only seen a handful of times but his steps bring him inside as readily as were it his own. Everything looked familiar, all the way down to-

“Richard!” A burst of relief sends the air from his lungs as mismatched eyes find his friend standing by the window. He was… okay! Surprisingly okay. Windor’s king stood by the window, its panes cracked open leaving the wind to gently play with his blond hair. He was so relieved it took Asbel a second to realize he was standing there in silence. “Oh! Sorry to bust in here like that.” Asbel scratched the back of his head a bit sheepishly. Maybe he really had jumped to conclusions… but it didn’t explain why everyone was acting so strange. “I was really worried, I got a really weird message from someone here. They way they’d worded it I thought that maybe you’d… been… ”

Hurt.

The last words falls soundlessly from his lips. Richard’s head turned from the window and Asbel finally catches sight of his familiar golden eyes- except they weren’t familiar… Richard always had such a warm and gentle light to him, a kindness in he heart that spilled out to all those around him- to all his friends. Asbel had gotten used to the spark he saw whenever they saw each other again. Whether after a few months or seven years, Richard had never not greeted him with anything but the recognition of a treasured friend. Looking at him now… the eyes that met his were confused.

Confused… and empty.

“Forgive me, but…” the king finally spoke tentatively, briefly lowering his head before looking back up at him. That single gaze went right through Asbel, and he suddenly felt like he was going to be sick.

No. There’s no way. This can’t be- Don’t say it. Please don't say it….

“Do I… know you?”