>>>>>>>>Based on Joseph Conrad's "The Duel" ("Point of Honor" in the US?). Others of his stories gone to film include:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>And don't forget Secret Agent ( Bob Hoskins and Robin Williams in a particulary good role as 'The Professor' who walks around at all times with his finger on the dead-man switch of the bomb he has strapped to his body. ) Interesting how comedians make some of the best dramatic actors - e.g. Jerry Lewis who isn't funny to anyone but the French but who does what should have been and Oscar turn in Scorcese's King of Comedy - which should also be on any list of truly great movies.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Speaking of Bob Hoskins, another terrific movie is Mona Lisa.
>>>>>
>>>>>Yes, and the Long Good Friday
>>>>
>>>>I'm not familiar with that one. I'll have to look it up.
>>>
>>>That's the film that brought Hoskins to fame, esp. over there. He's a London gang boss - lots of violence and black humour at the suffering of those who crossed him. I think it also features a young Pierce Brosman, esp at the end - but not sure on that. I understand that when the film 1st crossed the Pond it needed sub-titles so the Cockney could be understood.
>>>...
>>
>>Also worth noting is the performance of Helen Mirren !
>
>I don't think anyone ever noticed her performance back then! :-)

Ah - Age of Consent ( 1969 ) Remember it fondly.

Another exquisite Mirren performance that is often forgotten is in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) since it was a Peter Greenaway film and a lot of folks find his stuff pretty impenetrable. ( my personal favorite being The Draughtsman's Contract

Charles Hankey

Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.

-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin

Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.