On tonight at 11.00 pm on BBC4, 26 November 2017, no TV broadcast repeat times known, but will be available through the internet on the BBC i-player. In late 1943 Norman Lewis was posted by the British Intelligence Corps to newly liberated Naples. He arrived to witness a city devastated by fascism, bombings, Nazi occupation and the Allied invasion. Written 30 years later, his remarkable memoir evocatively captures the resilience and resourcefulness of the city in the desperate months following the Nazis' withdrawal. Director Francesco Patierno combines extracts from this account, read by Benedict Cumberbatch, with powerful archival footage and clips from films set in Naples in the 50s and 60s, to portray a war-torn and once-dynamic city returning to life. Show less Release date: 26 November 2017 1 hour, 20 minutes On TV Today 23:00 BBC FOUR Credits Role Contributor Narrator Benedict Cumberbatch Director Francesco Patierno Producer Davide Azzolini Producer Francesca Barra
I have the book in my library but haven't read it yet, just skimmed through it. My dad was in Naples in 44 also. Looks interesting and will watch it on i-player when it becomes available. Thanks for posting.
I caught the tail end of it last night. Plan to watch the beginning tonight. Thanks for posting about it as would have missed it altogether, otherwise
A friend of mine so likes Norman Lewis's books that he imposed a limit of so many pages a day upon reading the final ( on my friend's reading list ) book, so that the pleasure would last longer. I've read several of which the Naples book and the "old sea" book about a Spanish fishing village were the best. I found the film a good advertisement for the power of Lewis's writing and wished the film industry had never abandoned the 4:3 aspect ratio. Some of the archive footage, the best being the film of the Vesuvius eruption, looked rather flattened. An interesting and unsettling interpretation, my wife enjoyed it more than I did, and I think she's read more of Lewis than I have.
I struggled to watch it to the end and only really found the archive footage of interest. It could have been better presented and most of the contemporary 'action' was an enigma. A hint of things to come - at the very beginning, I eventually said to the tv ' Get a bloody move on' !
My personal zizz rating could be described as about 1 in 40, Mrs. P's nudgeometer kicked in at about one fifth along the track. " Look, if you're not going to watch it we'll have lunch instead." I had recorded it on my DVD recorder so the end is missing as usual, TV scheduling not complying with the programme coding probably due to an advert for "Pure Drama". I rather long for an advert for "Impure Drama". Other WW2 related fare recently has been a repeat of "Wartime Farm" ( about 1615 on BBC2 today and tomorrow for the final two episodes ) which had an excellent demonstration of how to make a hay-box cooker, with real hay, hay-bailers, tile-making, flax-growing, cottage-cheese making, etc., etc. All very useful stuff for when the lights go out. Please don't let the film put you off reading Norman Lewis.
