Tea at Trianon: The Wicker Man (1973)

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Wicker Man (1973)

A very British horror film about a community which reverts to pre-Christian practices. (Via Joshua Snyder.) Share

5 comments:

Iosue Andreas Sartorius said...: Thanks for the link. I caught the second half of this movie on cable on late night, and found it stunning.

On YouTube I saw the climax of the 2006 remake starring Nicholas Cage, and it seems the Christian faith the protagonist professed in the original was, of course, expunged.; January 16, 2011 at 11:03:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: That figures.; January 16, 2011 at 12:42:00 PM EST
Cottage Way of Life said...: The original version of Wicker Man is chilling & thought-provoking, the Nick Cage version - I kind of think it's not worth watching.; January 16, 2011 at 3:03:00 PM EST
May said...: That is extremely creepy. Some of it, however, is not that far off from our society today. Man's tendencies to evil are always ready to come out of the woodwork (so to speak).; January 16, 2011 at 3:13:00 PM EST
Brantigny said...: I hated that film. I saw it in '74'
While stationed in Sicily. When the remake of it came ot theaters I avoided even thinking about it. I am full of pagans.

3 Glory Be's will get me right.; January 18, 2011 at 10:41:00 AM EST