Willow's Weekly Word

The word of the week, here at the Manor, definitely has to be
swashbuckler. Most of us know that it has to do with sword
fighting, but what is the connection? Well, I did a little research
and here is what I found. A buckler is a small shield and to swash
is what we might now call to swish. A swashbuckler swishes his
sword and rattles it on his shield or buckler. So, there you have it.

swords at Willow Manor

And why, you are wondering, is swashbuckler the word this week?
Because I just watched The Duelists, Ridley Scott's first feature film
and it is positively magnificent. Since it was made in 1977, I was
prepared for some shoddy costume design, slightly off sets and weird
70's hair, but was I ever wrong! This film is an absolute masterpiece.
The fabulous costumes were done by Italian designers, with over
19,000 pounds spent on the two officers' uniforms alone. (And we
are talking 1977 prices here.)

There were no sets constructed for the film; all the filming was done
in gorgeous original structures in rural France. Scott's masterful use
of natural lighting in many of the inside scenes is beautifully soft,
like a fine oil painting. The plot is taken from the story by Joseph
Conrad, The Duel, set during the Napoleonic Wars. It is the story of
two French Hussar officers, Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel,
(love-love Harvey Keitel, by the way) whose quarrel over a minor
incident, escalates into a consuming and passionate contest, ruling
their lives for the following 30 years.

The stunning swashbuckling scenes between the two stars are
completely authentic, with genuine time period swords. And there
is a breathtaking horse riding duel scene that is now one of my
favorite movie scenes of all time. I highly recommend this story of
obsession and honor. This beautiful, beautiful film is a new manor
favorite.