And we're into the home stretch. Nice little monologue in a mirror for Richard E. Grant. Still don't feel that his look is quite right, but I really can't fault his acting. He's done a fantastic job. Sissy's acting, however, strikes me as a little flat. And she wears her hair down for no reason, a la Billie Piper in Mansfield Park.
Mrs. Sparsit does the funniest impression of a cold I've ever seen. She really does sound like she's swallowing marbles! A welcome bit of comic relief in a scene that sorely needs it.
Finally, Harriet Walter gets to let 'er rip in a big dramatic scene. It doesn't last long, but it's about time she was allowed to strut her stuff!
We've seen so little of Mrs. Pegler I thought they were going to drop her altogether, but here she is at last. Everybody's confounded expressions are a hoot!
Unfortunately, we're slammed abruptly into poor Stephen yelling in agony. Of all the way-too-fast transitions in this movie, that was far and away the worst. Hmm, we have Rachael lamenting that she saved Stephen's wife's life . . . that's not very Dickensian.
The women's hair in this movie seems to have great significance. Louisa's has been wisping around her face, for the first time, ever since she left Bounderby — and Sissy deliberately pulls hers down when she arrives back at the circus! A little too on-the-nose, I think . . . There's a nice shot of some circus people, including a rather memorable cigarette-smoking angel.
Oh golly, they've made Tom up as a clown, complete with big red nose. And he seems to have lost his marbles along with his dignity. I couldn't help laughing at the sight of him, but the whole thing really is grotesque. In a fitting way, I mean.
GRR at Bitzer throwing in modernized political references that weren't in the original. I HATE when movies do that.
"Why is this horse dancing?" There's a line for the ages!
Oh, Mr. Sleary, Mr. Sleary, you said "amused" without a lisp. My heart is broken. It was a nicely delivered little speech, though, but for that.
EW, that was a gruesome fate for Bounderby. Not that he deserved any great fate, but still, ew.
And we're done. Tomorrow I'll have a few final thoughts on the movie as a whole.
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