Rennie

Hi Brooksey:

Don't despair, I am sure I can arrange another session of Q&A's with him later in the year. He's such an affable guy, who never forgets his roots. I had hoped we would have had more questions, but from BF's little note, attached to the answers, perhaps we got the number just right.

Part 2 will be posted on 10 March.

Regards

'Rennie'

Brooksey13

.....great news Rennie. what a corking chap Forbsey sounds - the kind of bloke you'd love to go on the piss with. imagine the (uncensored) stories!

Fellwanderer

Thanks a lot, Rennie - and to BF as well!

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

s20076037

Wonderful. Can't wait for more parts of the interview. Forbes is an excellent director. I recently saw the original THE STEPFORD WIVES and was blown away at the subtlety of his direction. Masterful.

I haven't had time to read the whole thread, but does anyone know the nature of Mr. Forbes' illness, and how long has he been ill? I had no idea he was ill.

susanduic

Yes, thank-looking forward to the rest!

HitchcockScholar

I would like to say Thank You to Bryan Forbes for answering our questions.And to you for sending them.
I've been thinking to ask Bryan Forbes if he might be interested in a copy of the 1969 interview with Alfred Hitchcock at the NFT.
Reading his comments,I'm afraid this would not be a good idea! -:)))
A.K.

Rennie

From his comments, I doubt if he would be grateful!

Any chance the text of the interview could be posted here?

orpheum

Funnily enough i was present at that guradian lecture with Hitch.I have to say that i do not remember any friction between him and hitch.It may be that i have a sound recording of this .However it would be on a reel of tape and i no longer have a machine that can play this.

Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

Windthrop

It would not necessarily have manifested itself in front of the audience. In his book of interviews on with AH Francios Truffaut Hitch seems unaware of other directors or important films. By that stage in his career AH was lionised and along with Chaplin and others was seen as one of the indisputable greats and possibly it made him feel unassailable which affected his social skills - though Topaz should have brought him back down to earth with a bump !

BF can be quite sharp about people with poor manners in his bios (Paul Henried, Jose Ferrer etc.) as well as generous in his praise to the talented and kind.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

Dame Starry

See: Forbes/Hitchcock Interview

YDSL x.

Merton Park

Priceless!

Thank you.

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Terrific stuff - very entertaining. How good of him to take time to answer the questions - and how perceptive to block any remake of The League of Gentlemen

stevie boy

How can you improve on perfection?? Agree Wee Sonny

Rennie

Dear Barry, Whew! I did not know that I was to be faced by so many intelligent questions from your members, but I will have a go at answering them all, listing them in the numbers you have given.

Bryan Forbes.


8.

To Bryan Forbes:

I would like to ask about "The Man Who Haunted Himself" First of all great film as we all know, its rightly held in high esteem here at Britmovie, and I really enjoyed the DVD commentary. As unaccredited writer producer I would be interested to know of the scale of your involvement and contribution or any background information you wish to share about the film. Why no credit? ('Trumpers" as featured in the film is in Curzon Street BTW though there is a small version in Jermyn Street and next time you see Roger remind him it was a Lamborghini not a Masserati. )

Also any thoughts on Deadfall, the photography is superb, good performances and music, an underrated sixties film in my opinion. What was it like working with Eric Portman, there have been discussions here about what little is known about him as a person and a lack of biography, any comments or thoughts on that? Thanks very much.


8. I was head of production at EMI Elstree when The Man Who Haunted Himself was made - so the scale of my involvement is that I gave the film the green light and indeed did a rewrite (uncredited) on the script. See my comments on 2b) above re Eric Portman

9.

Bryan: I am a great admirer of your work and could ask many questions, but I will stick with one.

Your screenplay on the League of Gentlemen was superb in its entirety. But focusing on the Bunny Warren entrance what came first, the casting of Coote or the words?? You cannot imagine anyone else playing that role??. What a cast and what a time you must have had filming this classic.

Keep well

Steve

9. The words came first, then Robert Coote. Yes, it was a very happy film and a turning point in my career.



10

a) Did BF experience any difficulties dealing with the so many large (and sometimes disruptive; Sellers, Pete n Dud, Hancock) ego's on the set of The Wrong Box? Also, was he satisfied with the finished film? I do love it for all it's strengths and weaknesses, but it's as if the train wasn't the only thing struggling to remain on the tracks.

b) Also, returning to an earlier post, what was the inspiration behind The Raging Moon? Had he read the novel or was he approached to direct

10.


a) No, I did not suffer any temperaments from Pete and Dud, Peter Sellers or Tony Hancock on The Wrong Box. They were all a joy to work with. The film became a cult in the USA but was not universally liked by the critics here.



b) As to the Raging Moon it was brought to me as a subject by the producer bruce Cohn Curtis and I decided that i would direct it.


11.

Michael Powell has a reputation for being a bit of a martinet onset..... How did he find working with him as a very young actor in a tricky scene to get right, in The Small Back Room.


11. Micky Powell could be a martinet, I believe, but i did not experience this and was always fond of him. he did, after all, give me my first feature film role.



12.

Hopefully these are not too onerous, though they might test his memory a little:

a) Question on Deadfall. The casting of Shirley Bassey to sing "My Love Has Two Faces" was an inspired one, the song is very underrated in the opinion of many. Whose idea was this?

b) On the same topic, the lyricist was the American, Jack Lawrence. Up until then John Barry had worked only with British lyricists such as Trevor Peacock, Lionel Bart, Leslie Bricusse & Don Black. How did Lawrence become involved in the project?


12.

a) The idea of using Shirley came from the composer John Barry.

b) I don't know why John chose Jack Lawrence, it was nothing to do with me and present as a fait accompli.


13.


Question on The Wrong Box. The soundtrack LP was only issued in America, although there was a catalogue number for a UK release, suggesting it might have been cancelled. There is a story that such a UK release would have included a song, Julia, presumably relating to the character played by Nanette, sung by Julie Andrews. Do you know if that is accurate?


13. This is the first time I have ever heard of a song called Julia to be sung by Julie Andrews - maybe it's true - but I doubt it since I was the producer of the film and it would have had to be put to me first.

Windthrop

Roll on part three, this is good stuff

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !