Mr Martin

Hello everybody -

I am not referring to the Ealing Feature comedy of 1952, but the record of the making of this famous film on location in 1952 by Douglas Slocombe. I think this is the earliest record showing behind the scenes footage of a British movie. Does anybody know the length of footage taken ? and does it still exist in a complete form ? So far I have only ever seen short clips on Channel 4 etc. Whatever still exists, along with other out-takes available would help to make a good DVD release (if the producers are willing to make a little effort).

I think there is also quite a lot of other material that should be included with all the Ealing Comedy DVD's - but will we ever be allowed to have these items remains to be seen. I better stop now before I get too irritated concerning British Film DVD releases.

Hope someone out there can answer these questions.

Thanks

alan gowdy

If anyone has the right contacts could they chase this up? What I've seen of Slocombe's "home movie" suggests that it would be well worth viewing in its entirety.

D Cairns

Try contacting Slocombe? I believe he's still alive, though last I heard he was tragically blind. His old camera operator Robin Vidgeon still calls him up regularly, so contacting him through Vidgeon might be possible.

Mr Martin

A bit more info
Short clips from the 'home movie' footage were included in the following :

1. Omnibus - Made in Ealing - <BBC (1986)>
2. Introduction to TV Broadcast of Titfield Thunderbolt by T.E.B. Clarke -
<Channel 4 (date N/K)
3. Cinema Film shows with John Huntley

I have tried looking on the Huntley Archives Website a while ago, but could not find any mention of this Douglas Slocombe film.

billy bentley

Looking through some old posts, I read about a documentary about the making of the "Titfileld Thunderbolt" that featured Douglas Slocombe's home movies. Does anyone know if the is avaiable ? A DVD extra perhaps ?

CaptainWaggett

Memory (which often cheats) tells me that there are some Titfield Thunderbolt behind the scenes shots on the Made in Ealing documentary that can be found on the Criterion 2 disc Kind Hearts and Coronets. I could be wrong about this but it's a very good documentary anyway and well worth getting.

ETA - this is in fact the Omnibus 1986 documentary mentioned upthread.

maturin

Is there anything in the Forever Ealing documentary which comes with one of the Ealing comedy boxed sets?

Lord Lucan

Better late than never...

In answer to the question, not really! I have the box set in question (and superb it is) the bonus disk Forever Ealing mentions all eight films in the set including The Titfield Thunderbolt but doesn't go into any great detail about any of them. An interesting extra DVD none the less which tells a little of the history of Ealing and the people who passed through that great studio over the years.

DB7

This popped up on Timeshift: Between the Lines. It is described as a BBC newsreel filming behind the scenes of the production. It must exist as a few scenes were shown.

Mr Martin

I think the scenes shown on this programme are additional to the clips of film previously known. The Newsreel is Black and White whereas all the other shots in Documentaries etc have been colour. Also the shots used in Timeshift I had never seen before. So the question has to be asked- How long is this Newsreel Footage ?

If only someone can assemble all the Titfield Thunderbolt associated film and then release a DVD version - perhaps one day, hopefully, this may happen.


.

Mr Martin - Mrs Barrows we never open the windows !