The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

don't have anything to add to the discussion about A Canterbury Tale except to say that I just saw it now for the first time and enjoyed it

liked hearing the Toccata and Fugue in the cathedral near the end

I rewatched A Matter of Life and Death and had no memory that the first person Niven meets after his bailout is a nude shepherd boy (cut for US release btw).

My favorite detail of that great first Niven-Kim Hunter scene is that he's cracking bad jokes while he's using his last moments to quote every poet he can think of. "Andy Marvell, what a marvel!"

My only caveats are that all that US vs UK stuff in the celestial trial is just weird now (apparently the film office asked them to make a film about Yank-Brit unity), and

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you can see Roger Livesey's death coming from his second scene.

Bbc2 have been showing a few of these as matinees (and a bunch of other decent b&w films as well *)

Life and death today
River plate on Saturday
Blimp on Monday

(* Wooden horse, 633 squadron, triple cross, Odette, man who never was)

nude shepherd boy, hmm

haven't seen it yet

The number of nude shepherd boys I was exposed to my fully clothed boy life astonishes me to this day.

lol

(apparently the film office asked them to make a film about Yank-Brit unity)

really liked Peeping Tom

Talking Pictures TV
Thu 16 Apr 2020
02:20
The Wild Heart 1952. Drama.
Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. Stars Jennifer Jones, David Farrar & Cyril Cusack. Hazel, a child of nature, turns to a book of spells and charms when she has problems.

(this, is turns out, is Gone To Earth, which is one i haven't seen)

A different cut of Gone to Earth iirc. It's been on Talking Pictures before so there's a good chance it'll be on at a more reasonable time in the future. Haven't watched it right thru either.

Consequently, Selznick had the film re-edited and some extra scenes shot in Hollywood under director Rouben Mamoulian to make the version known as The Wild Heart (1952). Selznick's changes were mostly additions to the film: a prologue; scenes explaining things, often literally, by putting labels or inscriptions on them; and more close-ups of his wife, Jennifer Jones.

There's a bit more, but spoilers so I left it out.

the accents in that film are both charming and all over the place

watching The Battle Of The River Plate on bbc2. they are issuing commands on the boat using a bugle, different tunes for different commands.

Kathleen Byron's birthday today.

Well, had a chance to see -- for the first time even -- the restored Red Shoes just now at the local Alamo as a one off. Hell of a thing.

:)

Every time I watch it, it gets better

and for a while it was my least favorite P&P.

That’d be 49th Parallel for me (a perfectly good movie)

Oh! Right. Olivier.

Saw Thelma Schoonmaker talk Powell at the BFI yesterday - she showed a few clips, including one from an adaptation of Bartok's Bluebeard, upcoming on blu and BFI Player, which Powell did for a German company after Peeping Tom and which looks absolutely stunning, a real Mario Bava/Hammer horror colour palette and fascinating to see them reach for the same sumptousness of their big productions on a shoestring budget.

There's also a book out, an exhibition (Scorsese loaned the Red Shoes!) and of course they're showing tons of their movies, including a lot of early quota quickies.

RYNOX?

What?

It's showing on 10 Nov https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=rynoxhotelsplendide

RYNOX was the quota quickie you always seemed to hear about, believe it was thought lost until the nineties. I seem to recall it popping up on television once while I was in a hotel but I didn’t have the time or sense to watch it.

I think it's on the bfiplayer too, if that's available outside the UK?

I see a streaming channel called BFI Player Classics which has some kind of more limited selection.

Dunno if a VPN will work with this? https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-rynox-1932-online

https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/cutting-edge-thelma-schoonmaker-on-powell-and-pressburger-scene-by-scene

thanks for that James, good read. also alerted me to the fact that a restored I Know Where I'm Going is on at the NFT today. fortunately it's sold out. i say fortunately, because i really i ought to be doing a load of work, and a 12:30 showing of one of my all time favourite films would not have been conducive.

On the bonus features to Bluebeard's Castle there's a short piece about him making a prototype of Earthsea
https://www.murrayewing.co.uk/mewsings/2011/01/23/michael-powells-wizard-of-earthsea/

Really hope Gone To Earth will get a bluray soon.

It had one on Kino Lorber that seemed to quickly go out of print!

I guessing the BFI will do it eventually, but Bluebeard's Castle must have been a higher priority because it was so rarely seen

Major retrospective on now at MoMA.

So far I’ve seen two.

Really hope Gone To Earth will get a bluray soon.

Jerry is no gentleman

I’ve seen Black Narcissus and Gone to Earth in nitrate. The latter was David O. Selznik’s own print, while the former is probably the best theatrical viewing experience of my entire life. It looked absolutely resplendent in a way that digital and even safety film cannot replicate

The latter was retitled and recut by Selznick, with additional new footage by Rouben Mamoulian, I think

*The Wild Earth*

Heh, that’s way all caps is just easier

Watched the Small Back Room, and while it had potential, the romance and the thriller aspects were both somehow underplayed? The bomb defusing scene felt like it dragged to me, and the protagonist is such an absolute manchild it make it hard to buy the romance aspect. I think the only relatable part might be the depiction of alcoholism, and EVEN THEN.. the scene with his delireum didn't feel real to me, given his seeming prolonged abstinence from the hard stuff. Oh well.

The book's good, as I recall

Movie is good too.

But you don't need to take my word for it: https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-small-back-room-dvd/

it's definitely on the minor list for me—I still haven't gotten around to The Tales of Hoffmann, but otherwise SBR would be bottom of my personal P&P rankings—though I remember the defusing scene being the brilliant high point

Xpost - bills review is why I went to see it in the first place! It wasn’t like, awful, but I was pretty underwhelmed.

Did you like BLACK NARCISSUS?