Steve Crook

The NFT in London is holding a season of Powell & Pressburger films in August. Sadly that's the month when they're refurbishing their main screen, NFT1. So all of the films will be shown in the smaller screens, NFT2 & NFT3.

The full timetable is available at the PaPAS website.

As well as the films at the NFT there is a special screening of AMOLAD in the courtyard of Somerset House on Aug 17th.

If you come along to any of them and see me there, do come and say hello.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

Steve Crook

What an amazing event the AMOLAD screening was. In the courtyard of Somerset House, organised by FilmFour. There were over 2,000 people there! They had to turn some people away. That's pretty good for a 60 year old film. Even more so because most of them were quite young (25-30).

And a very appreciative audience they were as well. Laughing at all the gags (and when Peter says "My head feels queer", how language changes in 60 years). There were a few ripples of applause after some of the most impressive scenes and a huge ovation at the end.

The screen was about 3 storeys high (40ft?) and everyone sat around on blankets (available free with a deposit). The audience was entertained by "DJs from 7:30" but I had taken Lady Ivry Freyburg along, she's an old friend of Emeric's, and we didn't fancy the DJs so we went for a meal at Rules in Covent Garden first. Apparently the DJs were pretty good, playing a medly of film music. But a meal at Rules is always wonderful as well.

The print they showed was very good although I have seen prints with brighter colours, but not often. The sound was also a tad too loud for my taste, it distorted fractionally in the louder passages but there aren't many of them and it echoed wonderfully around the courtyard.

But apart from those very minor niggles, what a wonderful experience. I'm sure the films hasn't had an audience anywhere near that size since the days of the 'super cinemas' of the 1940s.

Steve

noglea

I've finally made it to a couple of screenings in the Michael Powell screening at the N.F.T. I was on holiday for the first part of the month so I missed several films I would love to have seen on the big screen including 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'. When I got back I decided I would see as many films as I could starting off with 'The Red Shoes'. However when I got there I discovered it was sold out. Despite being slightly gutted I was also quite pleased that it is still so popular all these years after its original release. Especially considering the way the Rank organisation treated it at the time as Powell describes in the first volume of his autobiography. I am sure it will be shown again before too long. It was being show again the next day but I was filming that evening so I had to give it a miss. I did manage to see a screening of 'The Small Back Room' on Thursday and yesterday I saw 'Age of Consent'. The latter I had only seen one time before (on video) and the big screen really added to my enjoyment of it. The colours and the landscape looked amazing. Anyway there are a films left in the season so I hope to see a few more. Time (and money) allowing.

Steve Crook

It's a shame you can't see them on the really big screen (they're refurbishing NFT1) as they were intended but try to see them in NFT2 wherever possible.

If you spot me there (see photo) do say "What ho".

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

JamesM

Margot Fitzsimons (who played Bridie) shall be introducing "I Know Where I'm Going" on Friday at the NFT (8:39 showing).

Clinton Morgan

I'm skint and thus unable to see any of the Michael Powell Hundredth Anniversary at the NFT so I shall be shortly holding my own mini-Powell festival via the medium of videotape, DVD and television set. Commencing with 'Lazybones' and concluding with 'Peeping Tom'*.

Incidentally were the NFT screenings bona fide film projections or might-as-well-watch-it-on-DVD digital projections?

I want to see 'The Red Shoes' on life-threatening nitrate stock.

*Actually make that 'The Return To The Edge of The World' (nice way to round things off.)

Steve Crook

They're all real projections, on safety film, but only on the small or medium sized screen. They're refurbishing the main screen (NFT1) this month.

I've seen The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus on life-threatening nitrate stock. You're right to have it as an ambition. There's nothing quite like it.

Steve

catflap

Just a heads up for any Australian members, it looks as if this season is coming to your local Cinematheque.

'All Art Is One': The Visionary Cinema of Powell and Pressburger

Featuring many recent archival restorations and films long unseen in Australia, 'All Art is One' marks the 100th anniversary of director Michael Powell's birth with a retrospective of his own work and his collaborations with writer Emeric Pressburger

'The Archers' - as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger called themselves - are amongst the greatest collaborations in the history of cinema. Their romantic films explore the power of vision and artistic creation, combining music, dance, painting, literature and photography with the most cinematic of imaginations. Aesthetically singular, their films melded a quintessential Englishness with a baroque, often dark European sensibility. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Powell's birth on 30 September 1905, this season of imported 35mm prints presents many Powell and Pressburger films rarely seen in Australia, together with films from Powell's solo career, including landmarks (The Edge of the World, The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann) underrated works (The Small Back Room, Contraband), reconstructed masterpieces (Gone to Earth, Peeping Tom), and Powell's Antipodean odysseys (They're a Weird Mob).

28 September - 12 October

Sessions to be confirmed, please check the website closer to the screening dates for details.

Further info can be found at their site - http://www.afc.gov.au/cinematheque/site.htm

Steve Crook

Thanks catflap, I've added the details to the Events list at the Powell & Pressburger website and told the email list. Looks like there'll be fun times for Melbourne cinemagoers.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

catflap

No worries Steve.

Dunno whether you are interested or not, but the annotations for a number of films being screened in the Cinemateque retrospective are now online, towards the bottom of this page -

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/index.html

Steve Crook

Thanks, I'd already got those articles as links from the page about each film from the PaPAS site reviews.
But it's always better to be told these things twice than not at all.

They're a good set of articles.

Steve