To wonder why a film has never been made of the story of the Mitford Sisters

[cannotchange]

(First timer here)...anyway have read a couple of books by/about the Mitfords and am currently reading Letters Between the Sisters, their story is unbelievable, fascinating, etc. As they say - you couldn't make it up. It also exposes the nepotism of the ruling classes that you could still argue exists today (as in Sam Cam et al). It could be made into an epic 3 hour blockbuster me thinks....or may it is just me and my current obsession with the Mitfords....

What slightly irritated me about the letters is that by the end Diana and Deborah were blatantly writing with one eye to posterity - by then various books about the family had come out and I think other letters had been published, so they knew these were likely to be published as well. You can detect them clearly trying to rewrite history, especially with regard to the whole Unity saga and the family's connections with fascism.

Tournesol - my thoughts exactly, they were bonkers. I personally think Diana was a lot to blame, Unity was easily led. I admire Pamela - she was the only sister who 'earned' a living and kind of lived by her principles.

May be we have physic powers and as we speak a screenplay is being written. If not I am going to do a crash course in writing and go to Hollywood etc and the rest will be history....only joking but would be a change from the very dull life I live at the moment.

They were eccentric, or bonkers if you prefer, but what also stands out is their confidence and lack of timidity in going out into the wider world from a very rural and quite sheltered upbringing. An upbringing which gave them a pretty useless education. So I think they are admirable for going out into the world to lead their interesting lives, in a time when so many women would not have dreamed of doing so. In fact, you can still say that is the case today.

It always amazes me when they describe Diana as the beauty.
I always think she has a cold hard look and isn't even that pretty.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Diana_Mitford_Photo.jpg

She may well have been a lot more attractive in the flesh. As for the point about Pamela being the only one toearn her own living, Nancy and Jessica both did that. Nancy was a successful writer from her early 20s and Jessica had lots of jobs in the USA before she also had several bestsellers.

In this picture, Diana (in the middle) looks by far the best looking sister. Although Debo isn't there, and she was always very good looking too.

The comedian Bridget Christie was writing a sitcom about them for the BBC at one point, although I don't know what happened about that. When I interviewed her, she mentioned handing it in to them but I haven't heard anything else since then. I think that would be pretty amazing if it actually went ahead. :)

AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves - sorry I meant Jessica not Pamela.

I've always thought Hons and Rebels (Jessica's first autobiography) could be adapted into an excellent film. Her secret romance with Esmond Romilly, running away with him to Spain, etc. would make for brilliant cinema.

Diana was a horror. She never renounced her Nazi beliefs.

Hope Julian Fellowes ( Downton ) is a Mumsnetter

I loved the letters book, i'm currently reading Wait for Me.

I think it'd be better as a tv series than a film.

Most hollywood screen writers are men and most men don't read female writers so it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of them had never heard of the mitfords.

Cannotchange I agree re Downton. A soap version of the original Upstairs Downstairs

I'm not sure I agree about people not having heard of them. After all, every time the Max Mosley Nazi thing gets dragged through the news again, the papers gleefully point out who his parents were, and especially Unity gets a mention. I think they're just waiting until there's no one living who can sue for libel.

I recommend Nancy's two autobiographical(ish) novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate to anyone who hasn't read them yet. Based on all the non-fictional stuff I've read about the family, there's a lot of truth in there, and it's all completely bonkers! Especially the parents!

I have a soft spot for Debo. I heard her interviewed on (I think) Woman's Hour and she said that she felt intimidated in posh frock shops. I thought it's not just me if they can make duchesses feel like that.
I saw her a few years ago at Chatsworth and thought she was still a good looking woman.

One day I will find the trick needed to convince DP to let me call any future DD Decca. I desperately want a Decca

But they are fascinating. If I was making a show I'd probably do a snapshot of the 20/30s, the girls moving out and starting their lives and then Mosley and the build up to the way.

Though you're right, no one would believe it.

having read 'Wait for Me' I would say I have a soft spot for Debo - she seems to have a very real human side and seemed to be at pains to point out that she was always answerable to the 'board' (or the trust running Chatsworth ?) for all major decisions regarding the running and business development of Chatsworth. I also think that as the youngest she was witness to how the behaviour of her siblings ruined her parents, both themselves and their relationship.

Could imagine Madonna getting into something like that (Wallis etc.) so she could ruin it like she will with Ade, a love story by Rebecca Walker, daughter of Color Purple Alice

Have just been on a google tour of the Mitfords inspired by this thread :)

Oh Christ, please don't let Julian Fellowes get his claws in to the Mitfords! I would hate to see their story get 'Downton'd'. I'm sorry but it would be horrible! Their story is so fantastic they need a writer with a subtle touch.

It seems to be difficult to write well about them, just because it is all so unbelievable. I am still scarred by the 15 minutes of the 2001 series of the Pursuit of Love that I saw, and that was written by Deborah Moggach, who apparently was a fan. I don't know if it was the direction or the writing, really. But they absolutely killed the wit by not playing it straight. They put reaction shots of uproarious laughter in to every joke, slowing the writing to a crawl, when the entire structure of Nm's writing was that there is no reaction at all - most of her jokes are monologues, or throwaway lines, there is never a reaction shown, which is why it moves so fast on the page. I have to believe that they thought the jokes wouldn't be understood, that it's all too brittle and upper class and long ago. Perhaps they were right. I don't know who could write their story and not make it look ridiculous, tbh.

so the sad news today that Deborah has died....i am just near the end of the letters book. It is the end of a very long era. xxxx

:(