Val Guest

[Holland]

"Hell is a city" is a great film. Stanley Baker, grimy Manchester, windswept moors. There should have been more British films noir.

[AndrewLA]

(Holland @ Nov 30 2005, 03:53 PM)

"Hell is a city" is a great film. Stanley Baker, grimy Manchester, windswept moors. There should have been more British films noir.

Almost agree. I'd rate it half great, though. Everything's in place for a terrific movie, and where Guest takes Baker (who is absolutely real and charismatic) and the wide screen out into those grey streets and moors, it all clicks into gear. But there are too many leisurely chat scenes in obvious studio sets which dissipate the tension. Not a whole lot actually happens in the middle. And much as I like John Crawford as a villain, you never believe that he and Baker grew up together. They never explain his American accent, which really sticks out (or did I miss it?). Still, I bought the DVD immediately, and place it very high in the Guest canon...

[sanndevil]

(AndrewLA @ Dec 2 2005, 02:32 AM)

Almost agree. I'd rate it half great, though. Everything's in place for a terrific movie, and where Guest takes Baker (who is absolutely real and charismatic) and the wide screen out into those grey streets and moors, it all clicks into gear. But there are too many leisurely chat scenes in obvious studio sets which dissipate the tension. Not a whole lot actually happens in the middle. And much as I like John Crawford as a villain, you never believe that he and Baker grew up together. They never explain his American accent, which really sticks out (or did I miss it?). Still, I bought the DVD immediately, and place it very high in the Guest canon...

It does contain an extremely bizarre hilltop 'tossing school' scene, the likes of which I have never seen before in any movie. Did those sort of things actually happen?



I have a soft-spot for Guest. I wrote one of my Masters essays on his early 1960s output when I thought he was at his best - Hell is a City, The Full Treatment (so rare I had to arrange a special screening at the NFT), The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Jigsaw, 80,000 Suspects, and my personal fave (because of Janette Scott) The Beauty Jungle. Unfortunately my lecturers didn't agree - they were very sniffy about his output and I barely passed. It pushed my scores down so much I missed out on an overall distinction. I think this is indicative - an underappreciated director.

[catflap]

(sanndevil @ Dec 2 2005, 07:57 PM)

It does contain an extremely bizarre hilltop 'tossing school' scene, the likes of which I have never seen before in any movie. Did those sort of things actually happen?



I have a soft-spot for Guest. I wrote one of my Masters essays on his early 1960s output when I thought he was at his best - Hell is a City, The Full Treatment (so rare I had to arrange a special screening at the NFT), The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Jigsaw, 80,000 Suspects, and my personal fave (because of Janette Scott) The Beauty Jungle. Unfortunately my lecturers didn't agree - they were very sniffy about his output and I barely passed. It pushed my scores down so much I missed out on an overall distinction. I think this is indicative - an underappreciated director.

I had a lecturer who is quite a fan of Guest and may be covering him for Manchester University Press's British Filmmakers series.

[jmn]

Val Guest's - So You Want To Be in Pictures : From Will Hay to Hammer Horror and James Bond"?


I am reading it at the moment. It is great fun and is a high-speed rollercoaster ride through classic film history. One of my favourite bits so far was his story about Peter's Sellers' early work as a voice-over. Another is one of the pranks he played on Alfred Hitchcock. I won't ruin either of these anecdotes by providing the details.



J.M.N.

London

[sanndevil]

(jmn @ Dec 4 2005, 05:34 PM)

I am reading it at the moment. It is great fun and is a high-speed rollercoaster ride through classic film history. One of my favourite bits so far was his story about Peter's Sellers' early work as a voice-over. Another is one of the pranks he played on Alfred Hitchcock. I won't ruin either of these anecdotes by providing the details.



J.M.N.

London

Yes - the book is a fun read, although you have summed it up well - very anecdotey and name-droppy! Not much in the way of analysis of his output at all, and some films get virtually no mention.

[jmn]

(sanndevil @ Dec 4 2005, 06:40 PM)

Yes - the book is a fun read, although you have summed it up well - very anecdotey and name-droppy! Not much in the way of analysis of his output at all, and some films get virtually no mention

You are right that it isn't to be read as a work of film history but it does have lots of interesting and funny stories in it which would probably remain undocumented if Val Guest had not put pen to paper.



I hope that he will make this book available as a "talking book" because his writing style is very informal and conversational and would probably work well as audio.



My only gripe with the book was the typeface and font size which make it hard to read.



This also makes it difficult to give as a gift to many of my friends of advanced years who would appreciate this whirlwind tour of the early British film industry.



J.M.N.

London

[JamesM]

I know he is recording audio commentaries for 'Expresso Bongo' (with his wife Yolande) and 'Oh Mr Porter!'.

[Marky B]

When you look at all those great films,and then to think his last cinema film was The Boys In Blue starring the Morecambe and Wise wannabes,Cannon & Ball,who turned out to be neverbes.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Cheeky Bob]

I caught a very rare big-screen outing of Jigsaw back in 2002 or thereabouts at the Duke of York's Cinema in Brighton, so quite aside from the delights of seeing it in glorious black-and-white CinemaScope on the big screen, I also got to hear regular chirrups of pleasure from the audience as they recognised location after location.



Val Guest himself was supposed to be present, but there was some last-minute hitch. But apparently this was one of his favourite films, and for good reason - it's a fascinating piece of social history quite apart from its merits as a thriller. In fact, is there any other film of its era that's quite as detailed in its depiction of police procedure - even the really tedious aspects?

[wearysloth]

Dangerous, well Cribbins is perfect and the film has a wonderful melancholy about it capturing the flavour of Leslie Thomas' book perfectly.



Abominable snowman has the ripping through the tent bit which I'd still pick as one of the scariest moments on celluloid.



WDRE has no redeeming features really, but I recall watching it hormones ablazing at the time which counts for a lot.

[DB7]

The poll closes in a dead heat, both fine films but imho The Day the Earth Caught Fire just edges it.



The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) - 26.9%

The Abominable Snowman (1957) - 26.9%

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) - 10.4%

The Runaway Bus (1954) - 7.8%

Jigsaw (1962) - 7.8%

Hell Is a City (1960) - 5.2%

Expresso Bongo (1960) - 4.3%

The Shillingbury Blowers (1980) - 2.6%

Quatermass 2 (1957) - 2.6%

Toomorrow (1970) - 1.7%

The Beauty Jungle (1964) - 1.7%

Mister Drake's Duck (1951) - 0.8%

80,000 Suspects (1963) - 0.8%

[ChristineCB]

I'm unfamiliar with EXPRESSO BONGO. Could some of you jot out your thoughts on this film? I've got it on a want-list because I think I'm going to start collecting Beatnik-Brit Rock films.

[Mr Cosmo]

I remember being taken to see EB when it came out and the girls all screamed at Cliff Richard, but I also remember being disappointed that his role is quite minor.

I watched it again last week. It's a nice cosy piece of work and very 50s. The plot is a little simple, but great to see people like Gilbert Harding who the world has forgotten about and it captures some of the Soho coffee bar scene - or at least how I imagine it was. The songs still hold up well (A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS / SHRINE ON THE SECOND FLOOR / LOVE / BONGO BLUES ) - Cliff looks kinda chubby, Sylvia Sims is sexy and Laurence Harvey is maybe slightly over the top with his performance, but overall I am glad I watched it.

The DVD is out at mid price and is worth checking out.

[smiffy]

I remember my Gran telling me all about "THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN" that she'd seen at the pictures and the next day at school we were asked to write a story in our english lesson,open subject,guess what I wrote about? from my grans film review and my fertile imagination (I wonder if Val would have considered it a better screenplay ) guess what I got the next day GOLD STAR!!!

Having watched the film for myself now,I would have voted for it over "THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE" purely on sentimental reasons

[smudge]

The poll closes in a dead heat, both fine films but imho The Day the Earth Caught Fire just edges it.



The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) - 26.9%

The Abominable Snowman (1957) - 26.9%

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) - 10.4%

The Runaway Bus (1954) - 7.8%

Jigsaw (1962) - 7.8%

Hell Is a City (1960) - 5.2%

Expresso Bongo (1960) - 4.3%

The Shillingbury Blowers (1980) - 2.6%

Quatermass 2 (1957) - 2.6%

Toomorrow (1970) - 1.7%

The Beauty Jungle (1964) - 1.7%

Mister Drake's Duck (1951) - 0.8%

80,000 Suspects (1963) - 0.8%

I am quite surprised that Snowman came so high and Quatermass 2 so low ! I wouldn't call Snowman one of VG's finest (although there is some cracking photography in there!) as I feel it does somewhat drag.



Q2 has some wonderfully iconic moments and, for the most part, maintains the pace fairly well.



Never seen Toomorrow, so can't comment ; but if anyone has a copy I'd obviously welcome one...



SMUDGE

[orpheum]

O Kay For Sound

[Moor Larkin]

Val Guest 'discovered' Belinda Lee and sent her to Cornel Lucas, for a photo-session. Lucas married her barely three months later and her life was permanently changed.



There was a lot of publicity about Val Guest's search for the right girl to play the small but vital part of a cockney beauty queen The Runaway Bus, her first film. Val Guest recalled how one evening there was a ring on his frontdoor bell - and standing on his doorstep was this pretty young girl he had never seen before. It was Belinda. She said she had come for the part. She thought she could manage the accent.

"I gave her an audition and she did it wonderfully. She could do any accent. She tried about eight there and then. I decided that I would use her."

There were two problems. One, getting RADA where she was still a student to release her and Two, even more difficult persuading Belinda's mother to let her daughter make this first foray into film business.

"Belinda took me to see her mother. From the moment I entered the flat she spouted a whole tirade at me. She imagined that her poor daughter was going into whoredom. But I managed to convince her that some guys in the film business are decent blokes - and in the end she said yes.

RADA also gave their consent and aged just about eighteen Belinda made her first film.

Val Guest introduced Belinda to Rank's still photographer Cornel Lucas who took some glamour publicity photographs for The Runaway Bus. Cornel Lucas was 14 years older than Belinda. They fell madly in love and became engaged and married in June 1954

"She was a very sweet person. She had not lived at all a varied or worldly life because of her mother's natural concern to protect her."

Belinda never went back to RADA. She made another film for Val Guest. Then when the Rank Organization offered her a seven year contract, she readily accepted.



Belinda commented in one interview that she gave up any theatrical ambitions after her marraige, because she would be unable to be a good wife. If she did Plays she would have be working every night, whereas if she did films, she could work during the day and could then be at home with her husband in the evening. The ironies of life.......

[john audley]

I do not wish to criticize Val Guest - he is a favorite of mine But:

I have a copy of 80 thousand suspects and found that the starting 20 minutes or so with the dancing and the swimming pool and the intro stuff is a bore so I cut (via re-tape) from the credits to the point when Johnson walks up the steps of the hospital to find that there is a huge health problem and by doing this the film is much sharper, makes quicker sense, the script unfolds just as convincingly and the point is maintained. Do you think he would approve?

[batman]

I do not wish to criticize Val Guest - he is a favorite of mine But:

I have a copy of 80 thousand suspects and found that the starting 20 minutes or so with the dancing and the swimming pool and the intro stuff is a bore so I cut (via re-tape) from the credits to the point when Johnson walks up the steps of the hospital to find that there is a huge health problem and by doing this the film is much sharper, makes quicker sense, the script unfolds just as convincingly and the point is maintained. Do you think he would approve?

Probably not .... I certainly don't.



The introduction to the film is just as important (often more so in some cases) as any other scene in the film. I cannot see how lopping off the first twenty minutes makes the film 'sharper' if what you have done has made no significant impact on the rest of the film. Also, why the necessity for it to make 'quicker sense', for me part of watching a film is to see events unfold and see how the characters react to them. To simply drop Johnson into the situation is to take him out of his personal context, thus robbing the viewer of seeing possible character motivations that might have been subtley placed in the introduction by Val Guest.



It's a bit like taking the scenes of Insp Martineau's home life and the backstory with Don Starling out of Hell Is A City, or removing the introductory scenes in the house from Jigsaw. It wouldn't disrupt the plot too significantly but would lessen the viewer's knowledge of the characters and their context therefore reducing their enjoyment of the film



Bats.