Weekend videos

This past weekend, I watched Passport to Pimlico, the 1949 Ealing Studio comedy of a London street that declared independence from Britian after an ancient Burgundian treaty was found. Margaret Rutherford is especially funny in the minor role of Professor Hatton-Jones, a loopy professor. Also a good luck at post-WWII Britain's world of rationing and black market.

I also watched the documentary Lost in La Mancha, about Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to bring Don Quixote to the big screen. An astonishing number of unfortunate events, from a severe back injury that sidelined the lead actor for months to a freak rainstorm that almost washed the set away, doomed the effort, but there are glimpses of the genius that was going into the movie.

I recommend both movies - the first for a great British comedy and the second for the inside view of filmaking it gives.