Harbottle

I agree I'm trying to ration myself, watched S06E04 Mrs Podmore's Cat last night, what a superb series this is. I noticed that Dudley Foster was looking quite unwell, sad that this was one of his last performances.

ChristineCB

Wednesday night, TCM had 4 of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock films anchoring their "Detective Night". My unborn daughter decided that her appearance was ready by the third film - darn. Voice Of Terror. One of my favorites. Oh well... I suppose this marks her for life. She's lucky I didn't name her "Moriarty" to match her fiendish timing. And if she'd arrived as a boy, I know "Basil", "Nigel" or "Lionel" (Atwill) would been at least one of his names. Darn that FAWLTY TOWERS, though!

Thursday night, TCM gave us I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, and that film always makes me think that "archers" is their wrong moniker. "Weavers" should be the better one. P&P deliver some finest woven stories I've ever seen. Rich, textured, and seemingly better with each close examination.

Fellwanderer

"Apart from that, did you enjoy the film Mrs CB?"

Congrats

I never fail to find something new in each viewing of their films

..and I never mentioned...

batman

just watched a recording of the first part of the bbc's 'wild west' trilogy which was on the other week. 'custer's last stand' was the subject and it was excellent. toby stephens of all people played custer and jolly good he was too. i am looking forward to the next two, 'billy the kid' and 'ok corral'.

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

Steve Crook

Congratulations. We knew you had it in you


I always think of that line from the original (and the better) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film. "We are the music makers, the dreamer of dreams". That was particularly applicable to The Archers.

IKWIG is a magical film. And Emeric wrote the whole thing in under a week!

Steve

ChristineCB

This was far better than my first experience! Our first child interrupted nothing - everything doted on his arrival. But on this one? Well, it's not as if I haven't seen all those Sherlock films many dozens of times, and will again. Even as stuperous as I wanted to be, "Moriarty" never seemed quite fitting for a lass. If if she was a Miss M, I think it'd be a shame to have her forever avoid green dresses.

ChristineCB

Yet it feels like it takes that week or so that we're sitting there, or walking alongside. I'm not sure how they transition scenes and timespans so effortlessly as to make us float along with them.

The "writing within a week" seems quick to my uneducated self, but there isn't anything hurried or abbreviated in it. Of course, I realize that "five seconds" in one circumstance can be evaluated differently than others. And the camera's lingering on characters that walk away and then stop, then turn, then turn back again - that feels more like half of their lives than the few actual seconds of screen time.

This ability to draw me into their stories isn't exclusive to P&P, but they are probably the standard bearers of this. I'm glad they never did a 20-minute short of a crackling fireplace - we could all still be there, sitting, watching.

Steve Crook

That's the underlying beauty of a P&P film. Many people (including film studies lecturers) concentrate on Powell's work. While that was remarkable, he was the first to say that he couldn't have done it without the stories created by Emeric.

Emeric really was a master story teller. I don't just mean the words but the whole structure of it. As you say, they flow beautifully. They're detailed and complex without being over complicated so there's plenty in there which you can appreciate on each of the repeated viewings but they're still easy enough to understand at a first viewing.

And don't forget that all their films from Contraband (1940) to AMOLAD (1946) were original stories by Emeric. Actually The Red Shoes was originally Emeric's story as well. Based loosely on the Hans Christian Anderson story and written for Korda to make a film starring Merle Oberon. So that's 7 or 8 world class films in as many years, all based on Emeric's original work.

Most writers say that they're lucky if 30% of their work finishes up on screen. They just have to hand it over as a completed script and that's the end of their involvement. After the director has altered it to suit his style, the actors and even the producer also have their say. Emeric was in a very rare position because of his close working relationship to Micky Powell. Micky would have his say as the story was being developed, they were their own producers and although they took note of what the actors and senior crew members suggested, Emeric was usually on the floor, or in close contact, so that any changes could be properly integrated into the final film. Because of all of that, it remained Emeric's film much more than with most writers.

Then he would also help out when the film was being edited, especially the music as he was a musician before he started writing.

He is too easily forgotten, or overshadowed by the powerful presence that was Michael Powell, but without him it would be a totally different result.

Steve

ChristineCB

I have not studied their dialog, word by word, so I'm just spouting off for the moment, probably begging for more education from you.

Do the P&P films stand on special lines of dialog? I am not recalling lines of dialog.

This isn't a positive or a negative. Some films have LINES in them - a character says a phrase and it's cemented or fused into my memories of that one scene or that one film. "The stuff dreams are made of." "Here's looking at you, kid." Nothing special, actually, but well-placed lines that forever conjure one scene or one film or one character.

P&P films don't strike me like that. And this makes me wonder about Emeric's lack of singular English Language skills, but rather his multi-language background.

I get the feeling dialog wasn't The Only Element in his scenes or films. Maybe that's why I don't notice his dialog as "outstanding" (or "weak" or "lacking" either). It's just part of the fabric, I think. Unseparable, or so interwoven.

I'm mostly recalling their tapestry of the story, the characters, and the quality of photography and sound.

And "dialog" is in there somewhere, but right now, I don't recall "lines".

So, do you think of "lines" when you reflect on P&P films? And if you don't, why not? Is Dialog not used as a blunt force like it is in other films?

Steve Crook

I think that the story is more important then just a few clever, quotable lines.

There are some beautifully quotable lines in some P&P films, but usually they do rely more on the overall story, and of course the pretty pictures, to get the message across. They both worked in silent films so they knew how to get a message across without words.

Think of the scene in IKWIG where Bridie is begging Joan not to let Kenny take the boat out. It's a powerful performance from two great actresses. But if you watch carefully, the best one is really Pamela Brown as Catriona who just stands there and says nothing. Or rather she doesn't say any words.

There are some deliberate gags like Conductor 71 saying "Ah, one is starved for Technicolor, up there". Thelma described that as a gift to the audience, a breaking of the fourth wall. In effect they're saying "Yes, it's artifice. We know it is and you know it is, and we know that you know it is. But now let's sit back and enjoy how well it's done"

There are some that have become special although they weren't intended to. Fans of ACT like to remind each other to "Plank it out at Christmas"

But generally, they did tend to just use a few well chosen speeches to get their major points across. Think of Anton as Peter the Hutterite in 49P or as Theo in Blimp or Roger as Doc Reeves in AMOLAD.

Remember that Emeric was born in Hungary and that part of Hungary became Romania when he was just 18. They all had to speak Romanian. Then he went to University in Germany and started working as a writer in Berlin having learnt enough German to write short stories and film scripts. Then the Nazis came to power and as he was Jewish he thought it'd be best to leave Berlin. He went to Paris where he learnt French well enough to write a few sctipts in French. But then the Nazis followed him there so he came to England where he learnt English well enoug to write scripts in English.

He never lost his accent and it was Micky who added a few of the idiomatic touches. Emeric knew what he wanted to say, he just sometimes didn't know the best way to express it in English.

Steve

samkydd

I tried to watch this for the third time last night and for the third time I fell asleep. I think too many characters makes it a bit tiresome, and there's so much incidental stuff going on that proved to be totally meaningless that you are just waiting for something interesting to happen and it never materialises. The Inspector character of Stephen Fry was totally baffling, the enormous number of servants, the many leading characters all played by famous "ack-tors" trying to out ham each other!

I spent most of the time "star spotting". "Oh look there's Alan Bates, it must have been one of his last films!" and "Oh look it's that bloke who plays DS Hathaway in Lewis!" and so it went on until boredom took over and I just didn't care a damn about who killed Michael "Beecham's Pocket Packs" Gambon, and I drifted off into that surreal world between consciousness and sleep!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

penfold

I have to agree with Steve...yes there are some great oneliners in P&P films...like "We're having the bishop for lunch" "I hope he's tender" from Blimp....but it's the speeches, the dialogues, that stick in the memory. Steve's mentioned the scene at the wheelwrights in ACT where Sgt Johnson of the US Army, and Kentish wheelwright Jim Horton gradually discover a mutual language - and respect - through wood-seasoning techniques.. "You was well brought up" or the lantern show speech ...the thrumming of the hooves...that was used on a track by Dreadzone a few years back, as an expression of an essence of Britishness, alongside some Vaughan Williams, heard it again on the radio last week ........ then there's the aliens board interview in Blimp, almost a monologue by Anton Walbrook, intensely moving and in a sense a love letter from Emeric to Britain....the way that they use highly emotionally-charged speeches and then undercut/underline them with a bit of humour....Candy's "You could say that she was my ideal.......if I was some awful long-haired poet" Peter Carter's paean of love to June, addressed to the court...followed by a 'Sorry', and a bashful smile....I could (and do) go on and on....their films are a joy.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Jim

Excellent series - did you notice that there are a lot of Brits in these films? Liam Cunningham as Wyart Earp; Toby Stevens, as you say and that chap who plays June's boyfriend in 'The Bill'; and a good many others - now, what is that all about?

We often have Americans playing Brits and we always say "why couldn't they have chosen a real Brit to play the part?" - but this is the other way around, we have lots of Brits playing Americans!!!

Good morning boys.

penfold

England beating France at Rugby for once.....with a starring role for debutant Toby Flood, with a try and three kicks..... who happens to be Grandson of not only Gerald Flood but also Albert Lieven ......

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

smudge

NEIL SIMON'S LONDON SUITE - U.S. tv film shot at Shepperton and (unsurprisingly) on location in London...

Take a bunch of middle range US actors, ship them wholesale over to England and what happens ? A handful of them seem to think they can portray characters from other parts of the UK with credibility. Do me a favour ! Kelsey Grammar trips through this nonsense giving us (what he must think) a 'passable' Noel Coward impression - with Sideshow Bob just beneath the surface. SOAP's Richard Mulligan snorts and twitches his way through a performance which wavers (mainly) between Irish and Scottish - with other gargled variants inbetween.

The whole piece shows it's basic roots as a play and is generally pretty tedious. Waste of William Franklyn as good comic support, playing the hotel's maitre d'.

CRESCENDO (1969) Hammer's first psycho-thriller since THE NANNY is immediately predictable, due to the way in which the flashback scenes are handled by first-time director Alan Gibson. On it's release the film was an unmitigated failure, but revisiting it after a long gap, I think it does have some redeeming features.

The first of these are the strong central performances by Stefanie Powers and James Olson. The rest of the cast perform well too as their limited number (just 5 players all told) manage to keep the film moving.

The twin-in-the-basement plot had, even at the time of release, been done to death (no pun intended!). Yes, the film does come across like a longer episode of THRILLER, but there are some nice touches here and there.

Top marks to Art Director Scott McGregor in converting Elstree's No1 Stage into an amazing self contained set, as Olson's Camargue hideaway. The photography by Paul Beeson fully exploits what little time they had in the genuine Camargue locations. Powers' drive in from the railway station is a wonderful little piece of travelogue, capturing that unique quality of light and perfectly conveying the character's feelings without a single word of dialogue.

Add to this a nice little score by Malcom Williamson, based on a single theme, with the bonus of some lovely solo sax work by the late, great Tubby Hayes and you might find that, whilst not exceptional in the thrills department, this one is worth another look ; it passes the time adequately.

In closing, a nice little scene in the basement with the twisted twin ; more exposition than threat, but well played by Olson and it brings in a lot of sympathy for the character's plight.

SMUDGE

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