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Original poster

Feminists who are Lord Peter fans......

163 replies

BertrandRussell · 06/02/2018 19:56

I just noticed this reference to domestic violence in Busman’s Honeymoon.
“"O-o-oh! I do hope he won't be violent."

"Violent?" said Harriet, half amused and half angry. "Oh, I shouldn't think so."

But alarm is infectious...and much-tried men have been known to vent their exasperation upon their[Pg 330] servants. The two women clung together, waiting for the explosion.

"Well," said the distant voice, "all I can say is, Bunter, don't let it happen again.... All right.... Good God, man, you needn't tell me that ...of course you didn't.... We'd better go and view the bodies."

The sounds died away, and the women breathed more freely. The dreadful menace of male violence lifted its shadow from the house”

Aren’t those last two sentences chilling?

OP posts:
Definitelyrandom · 11/02/2018 20:46

Thanks to this I’ve been working my way through the Walters/Petherbridge series on YouTube and it is very good. I was struck by the cigarette/cigar smoking - had forgotten how normal it was in TV programmes.

Abra1de · 08/02/2018 08:59

Harriet W is just an amazing actor and one of the few who would be intelligent enough to understand what DLS was doing with the character. It is extraordinary, if you think about it, that this is a woman going through the same work/life angst that many of us are: on the eve of WW2.

catkind · 08/02/2018 08:31

Gaudy Night is my favourite of the TV adaptations. The female academics are brilliant, it's lovely to have so much screen time with them.

Lancelottie · 08/02/2018 07:51

I have a combined edition of the play scripts of Busman’s Honeymoon and Love All. Worth reading for the authorial asides if nothing else.

EmpressOfJurisfiction · 08/02/2018 07:47

I've spent chunks of the night watching the Harriet Walter Gaudy Night on YouTube. It really is very good.

I'd forgotten about that. Those two are brilliant together - Ian Carmichael never came close to Edward Petherbridge.

I might have to binge watch at the weekend.

EmpressOfJurisfiction · 08/02/2018 07:46

Probably accurate, though for the 1930s. No NHS dentistry.

Ah. That is more palatable than the idea that most country husbands knocked their wives' front teeth out.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 08/02/2018 07:43

I've spent chunks of the night watching the Harriet Walter Gaudy Night on YouTube. It really is very good. I'm sure nobody else on here has anything to do today!

OP posts:
BeatriceJoanna · 07/02/2018 19:52

Real life has been such a letdown Ain't that the truth!

The punt scene is wonderful. The novelist Catriona McPherson thinks so too

tobee · 07/02/2018 19:00

Penguin yes.

PenguindreamsofDraco · 07/02/2018 18:42

That scene in the punt in GN The development of their relationship is entirely driven by Harriet - he's already there waiting, but nothing can happen until she gets there. God I love it.

Real life has been such a letdown Grin

InvisibleUnicorn · 07/02/2018 18:11

@HelenDenver that was exactly what I was going to say. That sort of dramatic part in a play was much of the era.

InvisibleUnicorn · 07/02/2018 18:10

Has anyone here joined the Dorothy L Sayers society? I really want to, but you lot seem to have all the info I could ever need 😂

InvisibleUnicorn · 07/02/2018 18:10

I think I love you too @RustyBear

@BertrandRussell have audible changed previously ordered versions? 😮 I loved my Ian ones, plus had some dramatic ones too.

I can't remember my password to log onto audible now. I shall be very upset if older versions have been updated 😔

HelenDenver · 07/02/2018 17:40

Hmm, $20..
www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1992

tobee · 07/02/2018 17:35

Ooh it's cut off Constance Cummings as Harriet. American born Brit.

tobee · 07/02/2018 17:33

From IMDb

Feminists who are Lord Peter fans......
tobee · 07/02/2018 17:33

There are two TV movies of Busman's Honeymoon. 1947 and 1957. And the 1940 movie. Now I like Robert Montgomery. But he is a native New Yorker. Which doesn't sit right with me as Lord Peter. Haven't seen them but imagine they might be a bit creaky. Smile

HelenDenver · 07/02/2018 17:22

Would like to get the playscript one day!

HelenDenver · 07/02/2018 17:21

Also - BH is the novelisation of a play, and some of the characters can be more caricatures for this reason, IMO. Two women cowering in trepidation would be a dramatic moment.

FlaviaAlbia · 07/02/2018 17:19

That incident with Ms Twitterton. If I'm remembering rightly, her father was a violent alcoholic wasn't he?

If so, her fear is a normal reaction to bottles of alcohol belonging to a man being damaged I think and that degree of fear would be catching. Especially since Peter and Harriet haven't lived together before and she hasn't seen his reactions to something like this.

Abra1de · 07/02/2018 17:18

YANBU!

tobee · 07/02/2018 17:05

It is very long too.

I always feel sad that DLS didn't have a great private life.

Lambside · 07/02/2018 16:59

Ooh what a great thread.
Is it DLS who occasionally makes reference to the unfortunate ugly women who still want sex? Of course at the time the sex starved spinster was a stock character and references to 'glands' causing all sorts of mental health issues probably reflected contemporary medical thinking.
I find GN gets a bit too much at times. DLS does hero worship LPW and as PPs said her voice becomes a bit intrusive.

tobee · 07/02/2018 16:58

I keep dreaming of going off on a HV walking holiday.

tobee · 07/02/2018 16:57

Aibu that Have His Carcase is my favourite?