Showing posts with label Simon Callow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simon Callow. Show all posts

Saturday, November 22, 2025

On this day in movie history - The Man Who Invented Christmas (movie & book):


The Man Who Invented Christmas

directed by Bharat Nalluri,
written by Susan Coyne,
based on the book by Les Standiford,
was released in the United States on November 22, 2017.
Music by Mychael Danna.


Cast:

Dan Stevens, Ely Solan, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Callow, Donald Sumpter, Miriam Margolyes, Morfydd Clark, Justin Edwards, Miles Jupp, Ian McNeice, David McSavage, Bill Paterson, John Henshaw, Annette Badland, Anna Murphy, Jasper Hughes-Cotter, Eddie Jackson, Paul Kealyn, Aleah Lennon, Ger Ryan, Cosimo Fusco, Valeria Bandino, Donna Marie Sludds.

Recommended reading:


The Man Who Invented Christmas:
How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

By Les Standiford.

Published 2008.
Paperback.
Published by Crown.
ISBN 13: 9781524762469
ISBN 10: 1524762466
ASIN: 1524762466

Description:

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how Charles Dickens revived the signal holiday of the Western world.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.

The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.

With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

Friday, September 19, 2025

On this day in movie history - Amadeus (1984):


Amadeus

directed by Miloš Forman,
written by Peter Shaffer,
based on the play by Peter Shaffer,
was released in the United States on September 19, 1984.

Music credits:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mark Adler, Laszlo Heltay, Ling Ling Li, Zdenek Mahler, Neville Marriner, John McCarthy, Simon Preston, Robert Randles, John Strauss, Jonas Thaler and Marc Grauwels.


Cast:

F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, Simon Callow, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay, Kenneth McMillan, Kenny Baker, Lisabeth Bartlett, Barbara Bryne, Martin Cavani, Roderick Cook, Milan Demjanenko, Peter DiGesu, Michele Esposito, Richard Frank, Patrick Hines, Nicholas Kepros, Philip Lenkowsky, Herman Meckler, Jonathan Moore, Cynthia Nixon, Brian Pettifer, Vincent Schiavelli, Douglas Seale, Miroslav Sekera, Cassie Stuart, John Strauss, Karl-Heinz Teuber, Rita Zohar.