The Leisure Hours, July 17
Mitford Madness, Gilded Age Housewives, & Hot Arthur Summer
Watching
There is nothing more cozy to a cinephile than an Uncommonly-Satisfying Streamer. One that nobody else seems to know about.
Remember the Criterion Collection debut? Like that.
So! I have a new one.
I had to, had to, see the Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny biopic. Yes, this is the philosopher who coined the term, the “banality of evil.”
We need Hannah at our side right now— she lived through the worst, the quasi-redemption, and the worst again.
Sometimes I think she’s the only one who would get it. If there was a t-shirt that read: WWHAD, I would wear it.
Arendt is now showing on the PBS documentary channel, which is filled with other obsessive delights. It’s dead cheap, they run everything from A&E style biographies (remember those?), to animal docs, high-end cooking shows (Mind of the Chef), and great, great history.
Sure, it’s the home of the Ken Burns brand, but I can’t scoff. Have you ever seen his Prohibition series co-directed with Lynn Novick? What an eyeopener. The episode titles won me over: “A Nation of Drunkards,” “A Nation of Scofflaws,” and “A Nation of Hypocrites.”
Another perfect jewel: Sarah Colt’s PBS doc on “The Gilded Age” in New York City. Yes, it’s an ideal companion to Julian Fellowes’ soap opera, but much deeper on the establishment of industrial-age capitalism, as well as its devoted opponents. Courage, indeed.
Reading & Watching Tie-In
The Mitford Affair: A Novel, by Marie Benedict, audiobook narrated by Emma Griffiths.
Wigs on the Green, a satire by Nancy Mitford
The Mitford family are the greatest of the certifiably-insane 20th century British aristocrats. 5 daughters formed the nucleus, forbidden from attending school. Devilishly smart. All but one of the family went full-Nazi-apologist, led by the tragically-named “Unity Valkyrie Mitford,” who would become Hitler’s blonde-Brittania sap.
Unity’s older sister Diana was considered one of the “greatest beauties in Europe,” and was the mistress of Lord Oswald Mosley, through several abortions and humiliations. Yes, Oz was the aristo head of the British Union of Fascists and was just as unpleasant and duplicitous as the name implies.
One of the Mitford youngest sisters, Jessica, was the red sheep, a converted communist, who joined the anti-Franco fight in Spain, and ultimately moved to Oakland, CA, where yes, I knew her slightly.