The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

I saw Powell's The Edge of the World on Tuesday. Utterly brilliant, utterly beautiful. Shot almost entirely on location in an almost Mass Observation style but with a Thomas Hardy-esque plot. Like all of his movies he puts the emphasis where you least expect: landscape and the everyday, rather than melodrama. See it.

has ne1 read MP's autobiog? was he a ballet fan way back, ie in the teens and twenties?

I wouldn't know- I only got to page six hundred.

Watching Black Narcissus again, I'd forgotten that every inch was shot in England.

And I know it's a melodrama, but nearly everything about Sister Ruth (esp in the last half) is indeed WAY TOO MUCH.

[image of Lou Reed and VU here]
You know it's just too much

Watching Black Narcissus again, I'd forgotten that every inch was shot in England.
They didn't have to go far to get to the Army Navy store to get the Black Narcissus.

Nor the sausages to eat.

i'd forgotten BN is cheap cologne too!

You obviously didn't read the RIP Deborah Kerr thread too carefully.

i seldom read entire threads carefully.

At this point, me neither.

Guy who played three roles in Canterbury- Narrator/Lantern Show Brit/Village Idiot - was British character actor Esmond Knight, who had been blinded in the war, and also played the Old General in Black Narcissus, of which Powell said something like "he thoroughly enjoyed playing the Rajah, but I don't think he was a very convincing one."

And he's still alive. And he was in I, Claudius. Sweet.

My info says he passed in 1987, after appearing in Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.

Hm, I didn't know Jack Cardiff worked on a Rambo movie.

Ah, I misread his IMDB entry. ah well.

"You can't hurry an elm!"

"I give it 'til the rains break."

Esmond White and Jean Simmons were both in both Blank Narcissus and Sir Larry's Hamlet, the fight over the use over the latter becoming almost a Pinewood-Denham "frontier war," according to Powell.

I have an advance Criterion 2-disc Thief of Bagdad, and I'm not sure I've ever looked forward to spending 8-10 hours with a set before.

I can't be objective about <i>A Canterbury Tale</i>; it's a brilliant film which manages to be simultaneously comforting and unsettling - and Kubrick obviously thought so too, since the bird/Spitfire cut at the beginning is definitely "hello <i>2001</i>."

And Eric Portman as the glue-pourer really was the business; sad that he's largely forgotten now as an actor, or remembered only for his appearance in <i>The Prisoner</i>, since I never saw him give a performance which was anything less than arresting, even if the film itself wasn't much cop.

I have an advance Criterion 2-disc Thief of Bagdad, and I'm not sure I've ever looked forward to spending 8-10 hours with a set before.

-- Dr Morbius, Friday, May 9, 2008 2:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

awesome. report back!

Just watched A Canterbury Tale again. That scene on the hill with Allison and the Glue Man ("Glorious, isn't it?") might be my favorite Archers moment (from what I've seen).

canterbury tale is amazing.

Blimey. That 10-film DVD boxed set is now only £9.99 from HMV with free delivery!

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=389105

9-film, rather.

Ordered that quick sharp.

just got the thief of baghdad in the mail today, surprise review copy! WOOHOO!!

The Small Back Room from Criterion next week, very underappreciated, esp the two leads.

Radio 4 had a programme about the book's author, Nigel Balchin, recently. It prompted me to buy The Small Back Room, but I haven't read it yet.

I'd like to read it, Powell second-guessed how they did the adaptation.

what does that sentence mean?

new set from sony — kind of random 2-film collection with "a matter of life and death" and "age of consent."

i'd never seen either before... just watched the former last night. pretty great. the opening scene with them meeting over the radio as david niven's plane is going down really won my heart...

It's a pretty fine movie, cept the whole trial thing is weird. Best understood in terms of US-UK postwar vibe apparently (ie, changing of the Imperial Assholes guard).

Age of Consent benefits from Helen Mirren, a Lolita who can act better than Sue Lyon!

I've had Age of Consent sitting in my queue for a week. Netflix is showing signs of holiday wear.

ya the trial kind of stopped me in my tracks a bit--at least stopped it from becoming a major revelation, especially the way it kind of abruptly ends

definitely makes an interesting companion piece to a canterbury tale.

Age of Consent[ tonight!

big screen or home?

don't get too excited...

peeping tom on tonight though, 12:05, itv. (this being the uk)

The DVD, after a loooong wait.

I Know Where I'm Going still my favorite.

big fan of that one.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/martin-scorsese-the-movie-that-plays-in-my-heart-1685003.html

did not know or had forgotten that jim mcbride was at college with marty.