Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Cracked

It's a really interesting phenomenon that has occurred a few times since I started this project where I'll get a hold of a set of clips and just not get around to watching (or posting) them for months, meaning that I have clips on disc or on my computer of things that I still haven't seen since they aired or, in other cases, at all ever. In many of these instances, I'll look over one day and just be floored that I haven't gotten around to seeing them and sharing them with you. Such was the case with this set of clips from the early part of the Brent Lawrence saga from May of 1995. I watched these today only because I wanted to honor a request and put up a clip set of medium length before I start in on a very long sequence from 1989 later in the week. I was floored by how good these episodes were and the wonderful work by Sonia Satra as Lucy, Rick Hearst as Alan-Michael, and especially Frank Beatty as Brent.

Longtime viewers will remember that this was the storyline that contributed heavily to the real life mental breakdown of Beatty in 1996 after his character assumed the female alter ego of Marian Crane. Beatty would eventually be replaced in the role for a few months while he recuperated, returning only briefly at the very end to finish the story out.
This clip set is long before that point though, falling just after Brent's rape of Lucy. It's a very nice look at the power of Beatty's work and the nice, genuinely romantic beginnings of Lucy and Alan-Michael's relationship. It also features quite a few creepy and really terrifying moments with Brent and Lucy that explain why the show wanted to extend this storyline (and Beatty's stay) as long as possible.

clip 1 * clip 4 * clip 7
clip 2 * clip 5 * clip 8
clip 3 * clip 6 * clip 9

4 Comments:

Blogger sosquare said...

I'm so happy that you stumbled upon these Brent Lawrence clips. While Lucy and AM were wonderful in these scenes, Brent, as the villain was right on spot! Good looking and dangerous.

10:25 PM  
Blogger Lady Tiara said...

i didn't know about beatty's real-life breakdown. i do remember him being replaced by another actor later in the story. that's just awful. he was really amazing as brent. watching these clips, i was really impressed with his ability. he's terrifying when he's with lucy, but with alan and alex, he's so charming and bewildered by these accusations, you can almost believe him, if you hadn't just seen him terrorizing poor lucy.

10:28 AM  
Blogger AndiJF said...

I confess that I've never actually seen an episode of Guiding Light, because it has never been shown on Australian television (as far as I know). I have, however, an interest in prosthetic and special effect make-up and disguise in films and television, and have posted a modest YouTube collection on the subject.

The still photographs I have seen of Brent Lawrence disguised as Marian Crane have always struck me as impressive work (especially for TV), and I've always wished I could have watched the show to see how the make-up worked on camera.

12:08 AM  
Blogger ivnkplng said...

I will be posting a clipset sometime this summer that will include Brent as Marian Crane. Thanks for your comment!

2:15 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home