Powell and Pressburger

[Windyridge]

Apart from A Matter of Life and Death which is the best film ever made in any country

This publicity for Blimp is due to the digitally restored print beginning its world tour. It's being shown at various places in the UK and Europe (mainly France), probably to be followed by most other countries as they did with the digitally restored print of The Red Shoes. That world tour will then probably be followed by a Blu-ray & DVD made from the new print

These aren't just a new print made from the same tired old internegs. They went all the way back to all the original negatives, which were in a bit of a state. They digitised each frame at a super-high resolution and cleaned them all, filling in scratches on the film itself and on the optical soundtrack, removing any dirt, mould and other things. Realigned them to deal with the problem where some strips of the three strip Technicolor had stretched or shrunk by different amounts. Then they re-combined them, balancing the colours to match the original Technicolor palette. The process takes years and costs a medium sized fortune. But the result is well worth the effort

Steve

Thanks Steve. I went to see it at the BFI a couple of years ago - I thought that was a restored print, but obviously not. Deborah Kerr's family were there - at least her daughter Francesca, son in law John and three grandsons with their partners. It was as enjoyable as ever, but I thought they could have shown it at NFT1, rather than the smaller cinema.

[Steve Crook]

Thanks Steve. I went to see it at the BFI a couple of years ago - I thought that was a restored print, but obviously not. Deborah Kerr's family were there - at least her daughter Francesca, son in law John and three grandsons with their partners. It was as enjoyable as ever, but I thought they could have shown it at NFT1, rather than the smaller cinema.

What you saw would have been a new print taken from the same tired old internegs that they've been taking prints off of for decades. It was because they had faded so much and got so scratched that the BFI were thinking of striking new internegs from the original negatives. Then Thelma Schoonmaker wanted to buy Martin Scorsese a new print of Blimp - and that's when they found what a terrible state the original negatives had got into. Scratched (on the optical soundtrack as well as on the film itself), stretched and shrunk by different amounts on each of the three strips so putting the different colours out of register and leading to shading of one colour down one edge of everything and of the opposite colour on the other edge. Some of them even had mould growing on them.

So Marty & Thelma started raising funds to restore them, they set up The Film Foundation. They tried to get them restored photochemically at first, but that wasn't working so they did it all digitally. Now Blimp is a long film, 163 minutes, and with 3 strip Technicolor that means 3 times as many frames as for any other film of the same length. It took years to do it, and it cost a medium sized fortune. But it was worth it.


Although Marty's favourite P&P film is Blimp they started with The Red Shoes because they knew that that's the most commercial and best known P&P film and also because that one was in the worst condition. They premièred the digitally restored print of TRS at Cannes in 2009 - yes, I was there

The original plan was to show it in one of the smaller theatres at Cannes but so many people wanted to see it that Marty got it shown in the biggest theatre there. As well as all the invited guests there were also TV cameras & people from the press all around the edges. It's a large theatre, seating over a thousand people. Very nice and comfortable with good views for all. We were seated in the centre block, about 5 rows back, so had a great view of everything. As we waited for things to start we started counting the Oscar winners in the room, but lost count at about 50!

The restoration of TRS really is stunning. Thelma did a "Before and after" comparison where she wipes from the old version to the new version - and that often raises gasps from the audience when they see the difference and how bright and colourful it is now. Blimp isn't quite such a drastic difference because the old print wasn't in such a bad condition, but the new print of Blimp is a lot brighter and cleaner, no scratches on the screen and no pops & clicks on the soundtrack.

John & Francesca Shrapnel were also at the London première of the digitally restored print of Blimp at the NFT last November. As were many other members of the families of The Archers who are no longer with us and a lot of people on the list of Famous Fans of The Archers. It's always nice to see them again and to talk to people like Francesca about her Mum when she was just beginning her film career.

Steve

[Rick C]

In-depth discussion regarding Colonel Blimp-its restoration and political relevance nowadays-featured on last night's (Thursday 17th May) edition of Night Waves on BBC Radio 3. Somewhere on the BBC i-player in due course.

[Steve Crook]

A few more articles about and reviews of the digitally restored print

The Arts Desk

The Independent

The Guardian

Cine-Vue

The Irish Times

Steve

[Steve Crook]

In-depth discussion regarding Colonel Blimp-its restoration and political relevance nowadays-featured on last night's (Thursday 17th May) edition of Night Waves on BBC Radio 3. Somewhere on the BBC i-player in due course.

Thanks Rick

It's at Night Waves (Radio 3)
From 22 mins

Steve

[TimR]

John Patterson waxes lyrical about The LIfe and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Canterbury Tale in The Guardian

The digitally restored print of Blimp was shown at the NFT on Thursday and will be shown there at various other times until the end of May. It will also be shown at various other places in this and various other countries.
See the PaPAS site for details

Steve

I didn't know about this - I suppose a new DVD would be extremely expensive to release. The Criterion DVD that I have looks very good to me as it is.

I suggested to a relative that she should watch it a few months ago, and after much hesitation she did - and liked it so much that I saw a copy she had bought herself when visiting her. She mentioned how clear and rich the color is.

It would be nice to see this on the large screen. Perhaps it will be shown in Boston - sometimes restored films of high quality are shown briefly.

[Steve Crook]

I didn't know about this - I suppose a new DVD would be extremely expensive to release. The Criterion DVD that I have looks very good to me as it is.

I suggested to a relative that she should watch it a few months ago, and after much hesitation she did - and liked it so much that I saw a copy she had bought herself when visiting her. She mentioned how clear and rich the color is.

It would be nice to see this on the large screen. Perhaps it will be shown in Boston - sometimes restored films of high quality are shown briefly.

Good, and even great, can be made better

I expect that it will be shown in cinemas around the world, like they did with the digitally restored print of The Red Shoes.

I applaud your desire to see it on the large screen. People sometimes forget, that's the way they were made to be seen - and there's nothing like it. It is far better than seeing it on the best home system

Steve

[rskershaw]

The most magical, experimental, dangerous, wonderful film makers ever to come out of these isles.

I can't wait for you to slaughter me for this Steve, but I thought Mr Pressburger came from Hungary?
Yours
very scared.

[Steve Crook]

I can't wait for you to slaughter me for this Steve, but I thought Mr Pressburger came from Hungary?
Yours
very scared.

He did, although he later became British. But the films they made came out of these isles

Steve

[Windyridge]

Thanks for all the information Steve, absolutely fascinating to read.

[Maurice]

Daily Telegraph (09/06/2012)

Hay Festival: Actor knew a beautiful woman to fill Red Shoes

Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese's long-time editor, was talking about the films of her late husband, Michael Powell. She said that Merle Oberon was originally cast as the ballerina in THE RED SHOES but Powell said he would only make the film if a real dancer took the part. It was actor Stewart Granger "who always knew all the beautiful women" who suggested the Royal Ballet's Moira Shearer.

[Steve Crook]

Daily Telegraph (09/06/2012)

Hay Festival: Actor knew a beautiful woman to fill Red Shoes

Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese's long-time editor, was talking about the films of her late husband, Michael Powell. She said that Merle Oberon was originally cast as the ballerina in THE RED SHOES but Powell said he would only make the film if a real dancer took the part. It was actor Stewart Granger "who always knew all the beautiful women" who suggested the Royal Ballet's Moira Shearer.

Yes, Emeric Pressburger wrote the original script for Korda (and Merle Oberon) back in 1939 but then for various reasons, it never got made. When Powell & Pressburger were looking for their next project after Black Narcissus, Emeric suggested "The Ballet Film" that he had written for Korda. Micky stipulated that they should have a dancer who could act in the leading role, not just an actor who could dance. With the help of Robert Helpmann, who they'd worked with before and knew well, they set up their own ballet company and sent Jack Cardiff off to study the ballet - which he soon came to love. The rest is history

Steve

[Brief Encounter]

Bit odd that Someday (dir: Michael Powell, 1935) has an IMDB rating of 7.9. Seven users have rated it. But the print is lost, so are they all about 90 and saw it first time out?

[Steve Crook]

Bit odd that Someday (dir: Michael Powell, 1935) has an IMDB rating of 7.9. Seven users have rated it. But the print is lost, so are they all about 90 and saw it first time out?

It just goes to show how accurate and reliable user ratings and reviews are

Steve

[Captain Oates]

One of the most remarkable and dramatic mountains in Scotland is Suilven in Sutherland. I climbed this a few years back and was struck at just how photogenic it would be as a film location, yet almost ignored (there is a 1974 documentary called Suilven Spring). However I was amazed (and not really surprised) to see that Michael Powell had climbed here and shot a home movie. This is included on the BFI DVD of The Edge of The World.

Attachment 10911
Attachment 10912

On the commentary to the above footage, Thelma Schoonmaker incorrectly identifies the location as Ben Mor Coigach and comments that the party have not yet reached the summit. However, this cairn is definitely the summit (Caisteal Liath) of Suilven. Pity Powell never got to include the unique Sutherland landscape in one of his wonderful films.

[SilverTyne]

BFI did a live stream this evening of Hitchcock's Champagne. It reminded me that Michael Powell was stills photographer and set designer at the start of his career.

[Steve Crook]

BFI did a live stream this evening of Hitchcock's Champagne. It reminded me that Michael Powell was stills photographer and set designer at the start of his career.

He did almost every job possible while he was working at the MGM studios near Nice. Writing captions for silent films, editing, cameraman, even actor in a few films - usually as a comic English tourist abroad. It was work like that let him learn about every aspect of film-making

Steve

[Steve Crook]

This is included on the BFI DVD of The Edge of The World.

Attachment 10911
Attachment 10912

Captain, your attachments don't seem to have attached.

Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

BFI did a live stream this evening of Hitchcock's Champagne. It reminded me that Michael Powell was stills photographer and set designer at the start of his career.

What did you think of the music, SilverTyne? I absolutely loathe songs in silent film scores (it's the third I've seen of the BFI Hitchcock restorations that has had them) but I do wish the NFT would make all their silent film accompanists wear flapper dresses and cloche hats

[Brief Encounter]

I agree with you Captain. When I saw The Lodger it didn't seem right to include a song.