Biographies

[batman]

There is a play called Hancock's Last Half Hour by Heathcote Williams about the events leading up to his suicide but I don't think it has been produced for TV.

I remember the BBC play but can't remember what it was called.

Bats.

[Windthrop]

Originally Posted by batman There is a play called Hancock's Last Half Hour by Heathcote Williams about the events leading up to his suicide but I don't think it has been produced for TV. I remember the BBC play but can't remember what it was called. Bats.

Richard Briers did it on Radio 4 long ago and got the voice very well.

[rskershaw]

The problem with these docudramas is that they wallow in the sensationalist parts of their subjects' lives. I didn't see the Hancock drama, but for example, Fantabulosa and Not Only But Always, made their subjects look like grotesques. Ken Russell used to do this sort of thing 30 years ago in films like Valentino. Similarly, Andrew Davies adopts the same approach to the literature he adapts for T.V., often inserting controversial scenes of his own if he doesn't find the material sensational enough!

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by rskershaw The problem with these docudramas is that they wallow in the sensationalist parts of their subjects' lives.

That's possibly because they're all actors and apart from their sensational bits they're pretty boring. A biographical film of some of the key 'movers and shakers' might be more interesting. People like Asquith, Balcon, Powell & Pressburger, Korda, J. Arthur himself maybe. The biographical films could simultaneously expose the strange world of the British film industry as it was swallowed by the Hollywood whale....... over and over again and its fraught relationship with the British Exchequer.....

[batman]

Originally Posted by rskershaw The problem with these docudramas is that they wallow in the sensationalist parts of their subjects' lives. I didn't see the Hancock drama, but for example, Fantabulosa and Not Only But Always, made their subjects look like grotesques. Ken Russell used to do this sort of thing 30 years ago in films like Valentino. Similarly, Andrew Davies adopts the same approach to the literature he adapts for T.V., often inserting controversial scenes of his own if he doesn't find the material sensational enough!

The Molina Hancock was a very well written and quite affectionate portrait of The Lad and did not portray him in an unduly 'bad' light, but did expose some of his insecurities and failings as a human being. I didn't enjoy Not Only... because it struck me as being very negative and IMHO the less said about Fantabulosa the better.

Bats.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by Moor Larkin That's possibly because they're all actors and apart from their sensational bits they're pretty boring. A biographical film of some of the key 'movers and shakers' might be more interesting. People like Asquith, Balcon, Powell & Pressburger, Korda, J. Arthur himself maybe. The biographical films could simultaneously expose the strange world of the British film industry as it was swallowed by the Hollywood whale....... over and over again and its fraught relationship with the British Exchequer.....

Now there's a thought, a dramatisation of Michael Powell's life
His autobiographies are very detailed (if not always 100% accurate). But they cover the time from when he first became interested in films, in about 1910 and then through most of the history of cinema. And a very well written history of the cinema they make.

And they're not just self-promoting, quite often he admits to mistakes in character or actions. He certainly dealt with enough movers and shakers, royalty, governments of more than one country, all the big names are there.

But who would play Micky, and who would play Emeric?

Steve