CaptainWaggett

It seems they're doing a week per genre - not sure what the next one is.

charliekane

Saw a trailer this evening - looks like war movies, courtroom dramas but don't know which order they're coming in or how many others there might be. A bit vague really - westerns, then British 'b' pictures ? where will it all end ?

CaptainWaggett

A season of Basil Radford films, or so I fondly hope

Steve Crook

There's a great court room denouement in The Night of the Party (1935)

Steve

charliekane

The trailer showed snatches of Twelve Angry Men and Inherit the Wind, so I'd be surprised - but delighted - if they were to include something as relatively obscure as one of Mickey's quickies. But you never know ....................

Steve Crook

I doubt they will either. And The Night of the Party isn't one of the best. It's a fairly standard "murder in an English country home" type of thing. Everyone there has reason to dislike the person killed so you go through all their motives like in a standard whodunit.

The courtroom outburst by the wonderful Ernest Thesiger is the only bright spot in a very average film

Steve

CaptainWaggett

"I only married you to stop people talking"

penfold

Well, I did mention it to the researcher for this, but whether it gets in is another thing....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

Didn't work, did it?

Steve

charliekane

As I recall, Mickey felt he'd been tricked into making this by Michael Balcon who convinced him the studio would stand idle otherwise. Although he was able to have his pick of available actors, he later declared himself 'bored to death by it.'

(This was one of those 'finds' that resurfaced in the 80s/90s met with mock horror by Powell - 'my reputation can't take any more rediscoveries' !!)

CaptainWaggett

I quite like Night of the Party - it's by no means the worst of the quota quickies (that title goes to either Her Last Affaire or Crown vs Stevens). It's not bad for a country house thriller and the gay interest makes it seem a bit like one of those new ITV Poirots or Marples.

orpheum

As an afficianado of quota quickies i cannot agree with your views on Crown V Stevens or Her
Last Affaire.I think that The Tell Tale Heart directed in 1934 by Brian Desmond Hurst is virtually unwatchable.To me it was a source of great irritation that this was shown as part of the season at the NFT a couple of years ago.

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Merton Park

Unfortunately, most of the British films of the 1930's I find very difficult to watch, unlike the late 1940's and 1950's which are good entertainment.

Steve Crook

I think that you have to make the distinction between the vast majority of the quota quickies - and those made by Michael Powell. I may be a bit biased but I think that even the worst of the ones by Powell is well above the standard of the vast majority of the rest of them.

He may have been bored by having to churn out yet another film that held no real interest for him. But you can sometimes see him trying out different techniques, some of which will be used again (done much better) in his later films. And some techniques he never used again

And even given the very low budget and the speed of production required, he does turn out some very good films.

Crown v. Stevens and Her Last Affair are probably the worst of the quota quickies - made by Powell. But they're still a lot better than many of the other QQ films.

And others, particularly The Love Test and His Lordship are really quite remarkable

Steve

Steve Crook

The 1930s was the period when the quota reigned supreme. They had to churn them out very fast and on a very low budget. And they were paid per foot of completed film. There was no criteria for anything like quality so any old rubbish would do

Steve