julian_craster

WRITTEN ON THE WIND and MAGIFICENT OBSESSION (both on UK
Channel Four this week) with the great Rock Hudson and (in the latter) Jane Wyman [Mrs Ronald Reagan].

Both melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk.

I managed to get through half a box of Kleenex man-sized tissues
viewing these two.....especially MAGIFICENT OBSESSION which was a real weepie....

theuofc

Hello, Terry,

It truly is a heart-warming story and as you say, one that reminds us of eternal values.

Best,

Barbara

samkydd

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img]

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

Rob Compton

I've now had a chance to see The Road Home, courtesy of a very kind Britmovie member - what a fabulous community this is! - and the film is everything you said it was, Barbara and Terry.

The colour and monochrome photography is stunningly good, the acting (especially from the two young leads) is just right, and the direction is so sensitive.

You put it more poetically though, Barbara!

Thank you so much.
Rob

theuofc

Hello, Rob,

I am so very glad you were able to see the film! We are all busy, but I had my fingers crossed that you would because I knew that you would pick up on the nuances of this little gem. No car chases, no violence, not a big budget, but it speaks volumes to the right reader. You're correct about the gorgeous photography and the fine direction. All aspects of the film are well done. Thanks for liking the review; words always flow easier when one feels them in the heart.

Yes, this is a fabulous community, and thanks to you for being part of it. This community makes one feel that time is well spent in it.

Best,

Barbara

djdave

There's a cracking Australian film called Emerald City, starring a then-unknown Nicole Kidman.

As for America, it has to be Robert de Niro's Midnight Run.

penfold

OT for this thread, but if you have an interest in the English Civil War you must find this film...it's breathtaking... Winstanley on imdb

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Rob Compton

Interesting, thanks penfold - I'd never heard of this film before, though I am of course familiar with Kevin Brownlow's work - or thought I was!

rgds
Rob

penfold

It's possibly the most personal film he made - it's not generally known that Brownlow is quite left wing/liberal in his views....it's made along the same lines as 'It Happened Here', ie, extraordinary attention to detail with script and costume, the best quality B&W photography - and an all-but-one amateur cast in the best-looking locations, and nil budghet. The script - or Winstanley's lines at least - are derived from the real Gerard Winstanley's pamphlets...he was a proto-socialist, his writings the philosophy behind the Leveller and Digger movements...and he lived that life, subsistence farming in co-operative communities on common land in the wake of the English Civil War.
The prologue (dealing with the Civil War) is made along silent film principles - actors casted for their faces, mostly dialogue free (but with effects) against a powerful score (From Prokofiev's score for Alexander Nevsky - honestly, he uses it better than Eisenstein did!!) and using close tight angles to hide the lack of numbers...and, unlike Hollywood, or The Sealed Knot, the weapons and armour look as real as the troops...but then that's because they were real, borrowed from The Tower of London Armoury!!!
Any livestock seen are rare-breed, all clothes hand sewn, all implements correct....in the living history movement, it's something of an eureka moment, made as it was in the early 70's.
Go seek!!

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

theuofc

After your wonderful critique, I did seek! Kevin Brownlow in conjunction with Andrew Mollo, well, with that team the authenticity would be superb. I read with fascination IMDB's credits for Mollo and his brother John: Andrew wrote several books on WWII uniforms; he was a military and historical consultant on Doctor Zhivago, The Downfall: Hitler, and other films; and a production designer on Sharpe's Regiment, Hornblower, et al. His brother John Mollo is the well-known costume designer who did the period/military dress for Hornblower, Sharpe, Gandhi, etc. What a family, eh?

I definitely will track down "Winstanley". Thanks, M.

Best,

Barbara

Rob Compton

Me too, Mark - many thanks

rgds
Rob

theuofc

Hi, Rob,

I just found it in my library system. Maybe you can also. We won't own it, but we can at least view it and then put it on our Christmas lists.

Happy searching,

Barbara

penfold

Did I mention that Film Comment called Winstanley 'the most mysteriously beautiful English film since the best of Michael Powell'??

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

theuofc

Very high praise, Mark. If it arrives in the next few days, it will be wonderful to watch over the weekend. Thanks again.

Barbara

Pip

A couple of foreign gems to throw into the pot:

Un Couer En Hiver (great music and starring the bewitching Emanuelle Béart)

Roseanna's Grave (this is English language - brilliant comedy starring the always excellent Jean Reno - if you haven't seen it, enrich your life and do so soon!).

Pip