The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

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.

Need to read that thru properly when I'm at home. OTM about Moira Shearer for real.

Interesting article, thx for link.

I read elsewhere that the restored version of The Red Shoes is out on dvd and blu-ray in June; given the work done on the print it sounds like the blu-ray will be even better than that of Black Narcissus.

he pretty much says "i was coked off my nuts first time i met mickey p."

xpost

the one i most want to see is 'a canterbury tale'. tbh the dvd i have of 'the red shoes' is already amazing. but the 'canterbury' one isn't, and that's on criterion now.

Still probably my favourite, Canterbury Tale. Also Sheila Sim is uber-radiant in that one. But it's probably their funniest and most inscrutable flick.

the one i most want to see is 'a canterbury tale'. tbh the dvd i have of 'the red shoes' is already amazing. but the 'canterbury' one isn't, and that's on criterion now.

― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Friday, May 15, 2009 8:35 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

are you saying the criterion canterbury isn't good, or that there's a different version where you are?

There has been a different, cheapo one available in the UK.

ahh. crit cant is great.

My order for blu-ray of The Red Shoes just shipped from hmv.com - hopefully will be here before the weekend...

is it the new cleaned up version?

Yes, it's the restored version as shown at Cannes this year. According to the press blurb it's exclusively available from HMV, I don't know if this will remain the case.

bizarre!

ah. found it on the hmv.com site, which completely crashed firefox. apparently it comes out on monday, so you won't have it in time for the weekend i'm 'fraid.

Lots of things crashing firefox lately.

ya, this is supposedly the hot new 3.5 too

Well, I got their confirmation that it has shipped - hopefully, this is the same as Amazon and means it's actually in the post so there's a chance (assumming teh Royal Mail do their thing properly).

Hmm, firefox ok on mine on that site (3.0.10 on XP). Weird.

i'm your biggest fan i'll follow you until you love me - Roger Roger Livesey
Baby there's no other superstar you know that i'll be - Roger Roger Livesey

Don't believe I waited this long to watch A Matter of Life and Death. What a gorgeous movie. Think I'll watch another one later, Black Narcissus maybe?