I'm doing research for the second Lillian Saxton book--set in England during the Battle of Britain--by listening to the audiobook version of The Few by Alex Kershaw. This book is about the American pilots who violated neutrality laws over here to fly for Britain over there. It's a fantastic book and the narrator--Scott Brick--is by far my favorite audiobook narrator. Win win!
I got to thinking about Foyle's War tonight and reviewed the episodes and the dates each episode took place. "Eagle Day" was perfect for me. It's set in August 1940, more or less the time of my story. I watched the show not for the main story--which is good; what Foyle's War episode is bad?--but for all the talk. I took notes and now have a little bit of slang to use in the book.
Then I got really, really tired so I've decided to throw in a review of Season One that I wrote back in 2008 to make this post just a bit longer. So, here you go. Be back next week with a longer post.
Season One consists of four 100-minute episodes. “The German Woman” is
the first and we are introduced us to Christopher Foyle, a veteran of
The Great War. Now that Hitler has started another war, Foyle considers
his talents could best be used by the government, not in some provincial
police station down on the coast. His requests continue to be rejected.
until, of course, his investigation into why the German-born wife of a
respected Englishman is still free (the rest of the German-born people
having been rounded up and sent away from the coast) leads to a
potentially damaging scandal. When the woman turns up brutally murdered,
Foyle’s doggedness intensifies. As you could expect, his desire for a
military post is now offered as an incentive to stop the investigation.
His character is almost fully revealed in one decision: stay on the
case, knowing he'd never be offered the post again. It is also in this
episode where he is assigned Samantha Stewart as his driver and Foyle
recruits a former policeman, Paul Milner, a man who suffered injury and
an amputation of part of his leg in battle.
Episode 2, “The White
Feather,” is, to date, the most emotionally engrossing entry into this
series. Guy Spenser, played wonderfully by Charles Dance (of Bleak House),
is a Nazi sympathizer who speaks at the Friday Club and awaits the
invasion of England by Germany. He has a few allies, one of which is
Margaret Ellis, who runs a hotel called The White Feather. Ironically, a
white feather in World War I was a sign of cowardice. Foyle comes into
the story when he interviews Ellis’s chambermaid, a Jew, who was caught
cutting telegraph wires. One night, Ellis, Spencer, and a few pro-Nazi
supporters are sitting in the great room of The White Feather when the
lights go out and shots are fired. When the lights go on again, Margaret
Ellis is dead. The suspicion is that the shooter tried to hit Spencer
but missed in the dark. The chambermaid’s boyfriend, a fisherman, is
distraught over her imprisonment and makes a few actions that get him
detained by the police. Meanwhile, the British soldiers over in France
are surrounded by the Germans at the town of Dunkirk. Every available
fisherman with a boat is crossing the channel to pick up as many men as
possible. Foyle agrees to release the boy and work the fishing trawler
with his father. During the evacuation, Foyle discovers the true killer
(in really well-done Sherlock Holmes observational style) and returns to
the beach to let the young man know he’s free. As you might imagine in a
story set in wartime, the young man is killed.
“A Lesson in
Murder” is the third episode of season one. The Germans have begun to
bomb England and many of the children of London have been sent away into
the country for safekeeping. A young boy, Joe, gets into all sorts of
mischief at an estate of a wealthy landowner, a judge who all but hates
that the boy is in his house. When the boy is killed in a bomb intended
for the judge, Foyle and Milner start investigating. This episode has a
good number of historical details woven into the plot. Foyle’s initial
investigation is into the death of a conscientious objector in prison.
Later, we learn the details of how and why the children of London are
evacuated. We get a glimpse of how powerful families were able to keep
their loved ones from being drafted. And lastly, we see the power of
prejudice. Foyle has a long-time friend, an Italian man, who runs a
restaurant. The Italian’s son and Samantha get along well. However, as
soon as Mussolini declares war on England, the townsfolk of Hastings
turn on the restaurateur in a heartbeat. Again, I can’t stress it
enough: it’s the non-investigatory details of this series that allows
Foyle’s War to rise above your run-of-the-mill detective story.
“Eagle
Day” rounds out season one. Foyle and Milner investigate the body of a
man found in a bombed out house with a knife sticking out of his chest
and a locket clutched in his hand. The dead man was a lorry driver for
an art museum in London. The curator decided to move the priceless
artifacts out of London and into the country for safekeeping for the
duration of the war. Milner tracks down the locket’s owner, a young
woman, Lucy, who died under mysterious circumstances months before. As
the investigation continues, Andrew, Foyle’s son, is stationed in
Hastings as part of top secret duty: fly his Spitfire around the area to
help train the British radar operators about the new system.
Eventually, Andrew is accused of treason and Foyle must find the
murderer of the lorry driver, acquit his son, and help convince
Samantha’s father to allow her to remain his driver.
All in all,
this is a splendid collection of stories, made all the more emotional
and dramatic with the World War II setting. The acting is superb by the
main three with Michael Kitchen delivering award-winning work. As a man
of few words, Kitchen must allow Foyle’s emotions to come out in other
ways, usually through facial expressions and his eyes. Milner’s
transition from wounded war veteran who doesn’t know what good he can do
to loyal partner of Foyle is fun to watch. Pay special attention to
this relationship in "The White Feather." And good old Samantha is like
many of us: wanting to do more to help her boss, flubbing it up
sometimes while outshining her two males partners at other times.
If
you haven’t made time for Foyle’s War yet, I can’t recommend these
movies highly enough. Let me put it to you this way: The Dark Knight is,
by far, the best thing I’ve seen this year. Foyle’s War ranks as Number
Two. It’s that good.
2 comments:
A great series.
I find it interesting that you are working on a story about the Americans who signed up for service in Britain during the early parts of WWII. A very good friend of mine, lead guitar and vocals in a week-end band in Windsor and someone who I shot bench rest and pistol with at least once a month was in the Battle of Britain. He and one other Canadian signed up and in their outfit was a British Group Captain and all other pilots - and some of the ground-crew - were American. He told me the story of how he received the name "Deacon" and I fictionalized it on my blog. It was some time ago so, should you be interested, scroll down and click on "earlier posts."
Deac (Harold F. Burns) passed away in the mid 90s.
Dave
www.dmmcgowan.blogspot.ca
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