A Wizard in my Suitcase - Saruman the White

 

Towards the end of last year I was able to indulge a passion, long in the planning, to visit Middle Earth, or should I say that Middle Earth envisaged by Sir Peter Jackson with his inclusion of perhaps the star of his trio of films that was The Lord of the Rings, that star being the country of New Zealand.

JJ's Wargames - New Zealand 2022

If you saw the series of posts covering our trip, as well as exploring several of the film locations chosen for the film, we also included a trip to Hobbiton and The Weta Workshops where much of the magic that brought the film so vividly to life was conjured up.

The Lord of the Rings films, and of course I am talking about the extended versions and not those put out in the cinema with cuts, are probably some of the finest films ever made and are well at the top of my list of all time favourites that include, The Shawshank Redemption, The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Master & Commander and Zulu, to name a few.

All these films left a marked impression when I first saw them and they are films that of course have lost some of the magic they had when I first saw them but still have enough to allow me to sit and watch them again when the fancy takes.

With the current state of the film industry and its dearth of talent within the new cohort of script writers, directors and producers, seemingly determined to bore the pants of most folks with their own politics rather than focussing on entertainment, and a wilful disregard to work faithfully with source material, be that fiction or history, it is hard to see the like of the films mentioned ever being made in the near future; but hope springs eternal and I'm sure the pendulum keeps on swinging and the economic demands of producing stuff that the majority of customers want to consume will win out in the end.

No not another disappointed film watcher, but I think his look sums up the reaction
 the majority of us have to the rubbish that is being churned out in cinemas and TV,
Top Gun: Maverick excepted. Oh no! I'm starting to sound like my Dad!

Along with New Zealand, Sir Peter Jackson also managed to recruit a stellar cast of actors to play the characters so masterfully described by Professor Tolkien with one of the most memorable performances being that of the late Sir Christopher Lee, an actor of remarkable ability to hold centre stage, be that as Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, a classic James Bond villain or as I first came to know him, as Count Dracula in the Hammer House of Horror series of films produced in the 60's and 70's.

As I first came to know Christopher Lee, as Count Dracula in the Hammer House of Horror

An interesting man of great depth, Christopher Lee volunteered in WWII for flight training with the RAF, which he was unable to complete due to poor eyesight, only diagnosed nearing the completion of his training.

Saruman the White, so gloriously portrayed by the late Sir Christopher Lee

He would later move into intelligence and planning work achieving the rank of Flight-Lieutenant before demobilising in 1946, having worked in Allied Command through North Africa and into Italy, with work carried out with Special Forces that he never disclosed.

During his time in Italy, he took the opportunity to climb Mount Vesuvius which erupted three days later and for the final few months of his service he was attached to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security, tasked with tracking down Nazi war criminals, no doubt making good use of his language skills, being fluent in French, German and Italian.

Of course his role in Lord of the Rings as the conniving and deceptive Saruman the White, the wizard that became corrupted by power, brought his talents to a new generation of film goers, and the fact that he was an avid fan of the books no doubt fed into his brilliant portrayal, even though had he been younger he would have been very keen to have played the role of Gandalf, equally masterfully played by Sir Ian Mckellan.

Keen to bring home a souvenir of our trip with something that would bring back lots of amazing memories, and not willing to have a conversation with airport security about the Orc cleaver that would have looked great on my man-cave wall, I determined to find something more suitable.

The figures and associated artwork produced by Weta are readily available in most places these days, and the company seems to be becoming more and more innovative in some of the sculpts it has produced which can attract a prince's ransom of several hundreds of pounds, but not being in that market I thought to see if I could pick up something more modest but no less appealing, and known to have come from Weta.

This particular sculpt immediately drew my attention, purely because of how well the figure captured the look of Sir Christopher Lee in the film, complete with the detail on his gown, the shading of his beard and the obligatory wizards staff and the determinedly clutched Palantir, with the Eye of Sauron blazing forth from its depths.

My figure had to be carefully stowed once we had picked it up at Weta and travelled with us through the rest of New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, arriving in the UK unscathed by his adventure, but needing some thought as to how best put him on show and where.

The answer was my brand new glass display dome that fits perfectly and allows Saruman the White to take his place next to another wizard, all be it an historical one, The Duke with his piece of rock from the Salamanca battlefield, brought back from another adventure, and I noticed he seems to be admiring the great man from his lofty position.

Saruman in his new home next to the Duke, and that wall paper reminds me which is the next room due for redecoration!

Next up, the adventure in the Antipodes continues with a look at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, and the work continues with Jack and Bob's naval fleets.

More anon

JJ