Davy (1957)

[CaptainWaggett]

Amazon are selling Davy on a DVD for £35 on a double bill with Milligan's Postman's Knock. No mention of who has released it so am suspicious

You can get the same package on Ebay rather cheaper!

[vanmunchen]

This brings back memories because I also saw DAVY when it was first released, which surely was 1958, not 1957 (when I was 12) - I particularly remember the very wide screen and noticing the Technirama credit for the first time. I don't think I've seen the film since. It seems to have completely disappeared.

[Windthrop]

You can get the same package on Ebay rather cheaper!

Yes and 'digitally restored'

[CaptainWaggett]

Yes and 'digitally restored'

I believe that's the technical term for 'recorded off Aussie telly' That particular set of bootlegs tend to be on excellent quality though.

[darrenburnfan]

This brings back memories because I also saw DAVY when it was first released, which surely was 1958, not 1957 (when I was 12) - I particularly remember the very wide screen and noticing the Technirama credit for the first time. I don't think I've seen the film since. It seems to have completely disappeared.

Yes, vanmunchen, it was made in 1957 and released in January, 1958, which is when I went to see it. As to when in 1957, a photo in an ABC Film Review of the time showing Harry Secombe fooling about with a clapper board on the set shows a date on the clapper board of May 2nd, 1957. So it was probably before the cameras in the early summer of that year.

[julian_craster]

Has DAVY been shown on TCM in the USA /Canada ?

I viewed the Davy trailer (which has no UK voices at all !) on the TCM website, so it could have been taped from TCM USA

Incidentally, I cannot think of any other UK produced film that was produced in Technirama (Technirama 70, yes) which makes Davy unique. Do correct me if I am mistaken....

[darrenburnfan]

Just had a look at that trailer, Julian and its an American teaser trailer running one minute and five seconds (I noticed they'd changed the words "Music Hall" to "Vaudeville"). The British trailer would have run about three minutes or so and would have had spoken dialogue in it. I'm not sure if there was any difference between Technirama and Technirama 70, except that Technirama 70 was probably shown in first runs as a 70mm non-anamorphic wide screen presentation and Technirama was reduced to 35mm anamorphic CinemaScope prints for general exhibition. As for Super Technirama 70, perhaps someone on the forum could explain the difference between that and the other two.

[Film Man]

Technirama was the 35mm horizontal process used to film the subjects...Technirama 70 were the 70mm prints made from the Technirama negs for 70mm Cinema presentations...and Super Technirama 70 was just added to promotions to make it sound grander and they didn't have to pay Todd AO for copyright. In other words Technirama was from the same negative, whatever it was called. Other British productions using the process were The Trials of Oscar Wilde...Zulu and parts of The Queens Guards...I'm sure there were others including many shorts to go with the features...including Shellarama.
Film Man.

[darrenburnfan]

Many Thanks for clearing that up, Film Man.

[TimR]

Has DAVY been shown on TCM in the USA /Canada ?

Yes, it has been shown here for at least a decade. It is usually part of a series of British films from the 40s and 50s. Six or seven will be shown at a a time. I have not seen it.

I viewed the Davy trailer (which has no UK voices at all !) on the TCM website, so it could have been taped from TCM USA

That is standard regarding the films made at MGM's studio in Britain during that time. TCM shows trailers and promos all the time every day, and they use the original trailers that were shown in US theatres for the US release. They are intriguing to me because they use US vocabulary and references to promote films from other nations.

[darrenburnfan]

Amazing how they show a British film such as Davy regularly on American television, yet it hasn't been run on British television since 1964...an incredible forty-seven years ago! More than overdue for a repeat showing, methinks.

[TimR]

Amazing how they show a British film such as Davy regularly on American television, yet it hasn't been run on British television since 1964...an incredible forty-seven years ago! More than overdue for a repeat showing, methinks.

Yes, we are very fortunate to have TCM. They give special attention to British films, and we do have a regular and wide selection covering the spectrum from the 30s to the 70s.

[JamesM]

Amazon are selling Davy on a DVD for £35 on a double bill with Milligan's Postman's Knock. No mention of who has released it so am suspicious

You are right to be suspicious. It is a bootleg, not an Australian release as it is often claimed.

[JamesM]

This is a bit of a puzzle, Nick. It seems that there may be two Peter Frampton's...both born in 1950...and that one became a recording artiste and the other became a film makeup man. IMDb gets confused by two people with the same name born in the same year (and who wouldn't?). Perhaps the Peter Frampton from Davy will drop by and tell us if he later became a rock star.

I believe that Peter Frampton in Davy must have been Ealing Studios makeup artist Harry Frampton''s son (with Daphne Heathcote?) who moved to Australia where he set up a makeup training institute.

[Steve Crook]

I believe that Peter Frampton in Davy must have been Ealing Studios makeup artist Harry Frampton''s son (with Daphne Heathcote?) who moved to Australia where he set up a makeup training institute.

That's how it's currently shown on the IMDb. As Harry Frampton did the make-up for Davy it's a reasonable assumption

As you've raised darrenburnfan's post from a year ago; The IMDb database can allow for two people with the same name who were both born in the same year, or even on the same day. But it's only as good as the data submitted to it by film fans like us. It's the people submitting the information who got confused, not the IMDb

Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

Dr Keith M Johnston: The Great Ealing Film Challenge 34: Davy (1957)