From 1986 we have A Room With a View, the theatrical release, not the TV movie. Yes, but it was a British TV movie. Doesn't that count for extra? I guess not. The big screen version was nominated for a large handful of Academy Awards, but only three were bestowed upon it. Only three. One of them was for Best Costume Design. Keep in mind, for your next opportunity to gamble on the Academy Awards, if a British period piece is in the running, it takes home a costuming Oscar. Bet the screening room on it.
The film centers on a young British woman's trip to Italy. She and her traveling companion don't like the view from their hotel room in Florence, which is handy, since it relates directly to the movie's title. But it would seem to me that if you're looking out of any hotel room in Florence, you've already got the majority of other hotel rooms beat. Even if it's not facing the Arno River.
In your pensione minibar, you won't find very many exotic choices, but often there are reliable brands in there. If you're staying in a Florence pensione, go Tuscan. You shouldn't have trouble finding Ruffino's Chianti Superiore.
The Bed Sitting Room is a 1969 British black comedy directed by Richard Lester. You no doubt remember him as the guy who directed The Beatles to silver screen stardom in A Hard Day's Night and Help! A clue to the new direction.
In The Bed Sitting Room, he employed a raft of British comedians, like Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Marty Feldman, and Spike Milligan. The movie is nothing if not absurd. Lester called the script, such as it was, "a completely lunatic sketchbook of surrealism." That really sums it up well.
The setting is post-apocalyptic London, after a catastrophic nuclear war. The story, if we can call it that, revolves around one ridiculous idea after another. One critic of the day recommended it to fans of Monty Python's Flying Circus, although not wholeheartedly. It may well be a film representation of Magritte's The Son of Man painting. Offbeat, satirical, weird.
I'll recommend a wine pairing, which should be consumed in full before viewing, so the humor has a better chance of hitting home. Realm Cellars has a proprietary blend called The Absurd. The winery says it may be made from one grape or five, depending on the vintage. It's a Napa Valley product, but the website leans starkly Brit. Their fascination with Shakespeare is clear, although filtered through a Picasso lens. Oh, and the bottle costs more than $150, which may be the height of absurdity.
Let's go back to hotel rooms for the 1938 Marx Brothers classic, Room Service. It's the only Marx Brothers film that wasn't written especially for them. It features two other rarities: Chico doesn't play the piano and Harpo doesn't play the harp. Don't worry, Groucho still works in plenty of his trademark one- liners.
The script was based on a play, and the scribes of the day felt the Marx Brothers didn’t add much to the experience, but admitted they didn’t hurt, either. You can expect the usual round of Marxist humor, by which I mean slapstick and farce, based on plenty of confusion and deception.
Is it worth a viewing? Did you shoot an elephant in your pajamas? How that line got in my copy, I'll never know.
Do Not Disturb Wines won't be hanging on your room's door handle. The Room Service Pinot Noir will, however, connote the laissez faire attitude of the winemaker. The grapes come from a Sonoma County vineyard, on the eastern edge of Dry Creek Valley, if you want to get finicky about it. It sells for a little under $30.
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