The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

Destroy: Powell's autobiography, rivaled only by Isaac Asimov's in length and tediousness.

The Pressburger bio that came out several years back was pretty good though. Maybe the guy who wrote it was his nephew or grandson?

And has anybody seen any of Powell's quota quickies? I have this strange memory of being in a hotel and a movie called something like Rynox came on the television and then it said "Directed by Michael Powell," but I had to go out so I didn't watch it. The beginning was nothing special.

http://telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/08/13/bfdvds13.xml&menuId=564&sSheet=/arts/2005/08/13/ixfilmmain.html

The Powell & Pressburger Box Set:
Battle of the River Plate;
A Canterbury Tale;
49th Parallel;
I Know Where I'm Going;
Ill Met by Moonlight;
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp;
The Red Shoes;
A Matter of Life and Death;
They're a Weird Mob
Granada Ventures, DVD (9 discs), £17.99; only in HMV

18 quid is a good deal.
"only in HMV"?

I saw A Canterbury Tale last year, then went to Canterbury with the Vicar and Rener! It was a bit like, in the film.

I seem to have had half an eye on I Know Where I'm Going so many times.

A Matter Of Life and Death will always be the central picture for me.

including the HMV website (where it's still 40 quid). i guess this is an instore deal or the website's old. (or the guardian and the times were both wrong)

I saw a (WWII?) lifeboat movie that was shot by Jack Cardiff once that was pretty interesting- google tells me it was called Western Approaches.

Is it only £17.99 if you pick it up "in store"? I'm not familiar with HMV as I'm not from the UK. But damn, I want this.

No, the radio subplot involves her fiancé. Checking up on this led me to discover that Petula Clark has a small role in the movie.

not even then according to starry who popped out at lunchtime. appears both papers were incorrect.

Next Sunday is The Red Shoes and the TCM premiere of- they said it couldn't be shown on television - Peeping Tom.

have seen Peeping Tom at least twice on english tv, last time was as recently as May.

However, Matter Of Life & Death is flawless. Wonderful in every way. I liked Peeping Tom but still, it pales next to most Hitchcock.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033627/

Saturday 29th

9:00 pm
In Which We Serve
Classic drama starring Noel Coward and John Mills. Adrift at sea after their Royal Navy destroyer is attacked and sunk, the surviving crew members recount their stories in flashback. [1942, b&w][S]

10:50 pm
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Powell and Pressburger's masterpiece of British cinema chronicles the extraordinary life story of British army officer Clive Candy, beginning with his early career in the Boer War. [1943][S]

Sunday 30th

7:00 pm
The Colditz Story
John Mills stars in the true story of the notorious German POW establishment and the officers who tried to escape from it. [1955, b&w][S]

8:35 pm
A Bridge Too Far
Star-studded epic war film recounting Operation Market Garden, the daring Allied plan to parachute 35,000 troops into occupied Holland to capture a strategic line of bridges. [1977]

Monday 1st May

7:20 pm
The Man Who Never Was
Spring 1943. As the Allies plan to invade Europe through Sicily they must deceive the enemy into expecting the attack elsewhere. Two British officers propose a daring and ingenious plan. [1956]

(which is a nice little selection. needs more submarines though)

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