documentary on Walter Percy Day (Poppa Day)

[Dennis Lowe]

I've just uploaded a documentary on Poppa Day which is now on my website here:

Dennis Lowe Website



Percy's grand daughter Susan Day talks about the personality and career of this man that produced matte paintings or foreground miniatures for films such as:

Nana(1925)-Napoléon(1927)-The Chess Player(1927)- Au bonheur des dames(1929)-La Fin du Monde(1931)-The Private Life of Henry VIII(1933)-The Scarlet Pimpernel(1934)-A Tale of Two Cities(1935)-Rembrandt(1936)-Things To Come(1936)-Fire Over England(1937)-The Drum(1938)-Wuthering Heights(1939)-Jamaica Inn(1939)-The Four Feathers(1939)-The Thief of Bagdad(1940)-Major Barbara(1941)-The First of the Few(1942)-In Which We Serve(1942)-The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp(1943)-Henry V(1944)-A Canterbury Tale(1944)-I Know Where I'm Going(1945)-A Matter of Life and Death(1946)-Great Expectations(1946)-Black Narcissus(1947)-Caesar and Cleopatra(1948)-Oliver Twist(1948)-The Third Man(1949)-Gone To Earth(1950)

Look out as it is 77 mins in length and I only wish I could have included half of the material that Susan has in her collection.

[Steve Crook]

Thanks Dennis,

Ffor those that don't know the name, Poppa Day was of course, along with his adopted son Peter Ellenshaw, the master of matte painting and hanging miniatures that were used to such good effect in many British films, especially all the major films for Powell & Pressburger.

Like a good editor, a sign of a good matte painter is when their work isn't obvious. But it's there all the same, and it makes a huge difference to the film

Steve

[alan gowdy]

I watched Black Narcissus again on 'telly the other day and I must say it's hard to believe that they did not venture beyond Pinewood and Leonardslee, the atmosphere is so convincing, thanks partly to Mr Day's work. The sequence leading to Sister Ruth's death especially is very powerfully realised - worthy of Eisenstein.

[Steve Crook]

I watched Black Narcissus again on 'telly the other day and I must say it's hard to believe that they did not venture beyond Pinewood and Leonardslee, the atmosphere is so convincing, thanks partly to Mr Day's work. The sequence leading to Sister Ruth's death especially is very powerfully realised - worthy of Eisenstein.

I watched Black Narcissus at The Arts Club in London. They all knew that all the backgrounds were paintings and most of them got murmur's of approval. But the vertiginous shot below the bell tower as Sister Ruth rings the bell near the start of the film, that got a round of applause.



Simply stunning

Steve