Michael Powell

[charliekane]

I know, I know - Michael Powell must show up on this form every now and then, BUT -



I am currently rewriting/expanding/updating my book on Powell, originally published in 1996, and looking for copies of any (or all !) of the following:

Rynox

Hotel Splendide

His Lordship

The Fire Raisers

Something Always Happens

Her Last Affaire

Crown v Stevens

The Man Behind the Mask

An Airman's Letter to his Mother

Smith

Oh Rosalinda

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Queen's Guards

Bluebeard's Castle

and - is They're a Weird Mob available other than as part of the PP box set ?

Ta all !

[CaptainWaggett]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is on the Criterion Tales of Hoffman. They're a Weird Mob was released in Australia with a contemporary documentary but, with postage, I'd imagine it would be as cheap to get the boxset which is usually to be found for £9.99.



I think quite a few people would be interested in The Queens Guards and Bluebeards Castle on dvd.

[penfold]

The last I heard, a DVD release of Bluebeards Castle is in the works....

[CaptainWaggett]

name='penfold']The last I heard, a DVD release of Bluebeards Castle is in the works....

Ahead of Oh Rosalinda! (which would obviously be a complete outrage!) or with it?

[penfold]

Standalone, I believe.

[Steve Crook]

name='charliekane']I know, I know - Michael Powell must show up on this form every now and then, BUT -



I am currently rewriting/expanding/updating my book on Powell, originally published in 1996, and looking for copies of any (or all !) of the following:

Rynox

Hotel Splendide

His Lordship

The Fire Raisers

Something Always Happens

Her Last Affaire

Crown v Stevens

The Man Behind the Mask

An Airman's Letter to his Mother

Smith

Oh Rosalinda

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Queen's Guards

Bluebeard's Castle

and - is They're a Weird Mob available other than as part of the PP box set ?

Ta all !

What ho James,



Something Always Happens & Crown vs. Stevens were shown on TCM (US) in January 2008, introduced by Thelma Schoonmaker. As such they are sometimes available on DVD.



An Airman's Letter to his Mother is on the American (Milestone) DVD of The Edge of the World



The Man Behind the Mask was available in it's slightly cut American form (as Behind the Mask) from an American video supplier. They've now run out but there might be other copies around on video or DVD



As Capt W said, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is on the Criterion DVD of The Tales of Hoffmann.



They're a Weird Mob has been released on DVD in Australia and is available from places like Videoshift or EZY DVD. The postage costs from Australia aren't all that much and the standalone DVD does have a good "making of ..." documentary on it as well as the trailer



The Queen's Guards was shown on UK TV - once, on the afternoon of Sunday, July 28th, 1974



Oh... Rosalinda!! was shown on one of the Sky movie channels in their early days.



The ones that have been shown on TV are around on video or occasionally copied onto DVD



Steve

[Steve Crook]

name='CaptainWaggett']I think quite a few people would be interested in The Queens Guards and Bluebeards Castle on dvd.

Bluebeard's Castle yes, it's been getting good reviews when shown at various special screenings. The Queen's Guards less so, especially once they'd seen it - it really is quite bad in many ways. See my review of it



Steve

[charliekane]

Googled 'Lost Films of Michael Powell' and came up with this



Guru: Films of Michael Powell



Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released two "lost" gems on a new two-DVD set: The Films of Michael Powell. Released in America as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is one of the most enchanting movies you'll ever have the pleasure to see



Had no idea AMOLAD was 'lost' ?!!!

(the other movie, by the way, is Age of Consent.

[Steve Crook]

name='charliekane']Googled 'Lost Films of Michael Powell' and came up with this



Guru: Films of Michael Powell



Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released two "lost" gems on a new two-DVD set: The Films of Michael Powell. Released in America as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is one of the most enchanting movies you'll ever have the pleasure to see



Had no idea AMOLAD was 'lost' ?!!!

(the other movie, by the way, is Age of Consent.

It was only ever lost to Americans. And it was only lost in the sense that there were no official releases on DVD. The video release titled Stairway to Heaven was the full film, not the one that was cut on its initial American release. There were even bootleg DVDs made from that video version and some respectable places, including TCM, were selling those because they couldn't find any other versions.



The Sony release was first announce in April 2003. They finally released in in January 2009!



Steve

[crunchie]

I have Crown v Stevens on DVD if you're still looking for this one.

[charliekane]

name='crunchie']I have Crown v Stevens on DVD if you're still looking for this one.

Yes indeed - I'll send you a PM (if I can figure out how !)

[charliekane]

name='Steve Crook']What ho James,



Something Always Happens & Crown vs. Stevens were shown on TCM (US) in January 2008, introduced by Thelma Schoonmaker. As such they are sometimes available on DVD.



An Airman's Letter to his Mother is on the American (Milestone) DVD of The Edge of the World



The Man Behind the Mask was available in it's slightly cut American form (as Behind the Mask) from an American video supplier. They've now run out but there might be other copies around on video or DVD



As Capt W said, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is on the Criterion DVD of The Tales of Hoffmann.



They're a Weird Mob has been released on DVD in Australia and is available from places like Videoshift or EZY DVD. The postage costs from Australia aren't all that much and the standalone DVD does have a good "making of ..." documentary on it as well as the trailer



The Queen's Guards was shown on UK TV - once, on the afternoon of Sunday, July 28th, 1974



Oh... Rosalinda!! was shown on one of the Sky movie channels in their early days.



The ones that have been shown on TV are around on video or occasionally copied onto DVD



Steve

Thanks Steve -



Can't quite recall now which two movies they were, but BBC2 screened two of the 'rediscoveries' at about 6 in the morning while I was preparing the book, so it must have been about 1995. Anyway, there I was sat in front of the tv filled with anticipation with my hand on the 'record' button when the announcer said they were carrying out essential maintenance work on the local transmitter and there would be a break in service of about 2 hours !

Wrote a rather stiff letter to the BBC about it - the usual non-apologetic reply and a suggestion that I 'keep an eye on Radio Times for further screenings' - I'm still waiting !

[hhhhancock]

An Airman's letter can be watched on You Tube.

[Steve Crook]

name='hhhhancock']An Airman's letter can be watched on You Tube.

Yes, at

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGv-weCyXDg]YouTube - An Airman's Letter to His Mother[/ame]



Who is the actress playing the mother? We never see her face clearly and she isn't credited.



The main narration is by John Gielgud. The opening narration is by Powell (uncredited).

The dog is one of Powell's dogs



Who played the postman? Where is that village where they filmed the exteriors?



Steve

[Mark O]

name='Steve Crook']



Who played the postman? Where is that village where they filmed the exteriors?



Steve

Thanks for posting that short film Steve, a lot of what the Airman said in his letter still holds true today, I'm intrigued by the location, with the hilly aspect it gave me a feeling of Sussex, but who knows?

[Steve Crook]

name='Mark O']Thanks for posting that short film Steve, a lot of what the Airman said in his letter still holds true today, I'm intrigued by the location, with the hilly aspect it gave me a feeling of Sussex, but who knows?

It was thought by some to be the work of a propaganda department somewhere. But it was a real letter written by a real airman and left for his mother in case he didn't come back from a mission.



When it was found, and sent to his mother, his C.O. read it beforehand (normal wartime censorship) and was so impressed he asked the mother if he could send it to the newspapers. She agreed and it was printed, anonymously, in The Times. Within days of the letter's appearance The Times received more than 10,000 requests from readers for reprints of the text.



It was then printed as a pamphlet and then in a small book - which sold so many copies that they had to have more than one print run. Even King George VI wrote personally to the airman's mother. It was printed in various languages and sent around the world. They sold 50,000 (some sources say 500,000) copies in 1940 alone, the greater share of the proceeds going to the airman's mother.



The airman was eventually revealed to have been Flying Officer Vivian Rosewarne, the co-pilot of a Wellington bomber, stationed at RAF Marham, Norfolk, whose death notice was eventually published on December 23, 1940. He was a Flying Officer with 38 squadron, his number was "40021". He is recorded as "died on Thursday 30th May 1940". He is buried at Veurne Communial Cemetery, Veurne, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium - grave number B.1



Various articles, including a copy of the letter, are to be found at the PaPAS site





Steve

[charliekane]

name='Steve Crook']Yes, at

YouTube - An Airman's Letter to His Mother



Who is the actress playing the mother? We never see her face clearly and she isn't credited.



The main narration is by John Gielgud. The opening narration is by Powell (uncredited).

The dog is one of Powell's dogs



Who played the postman? Where is that village where they filmed the exteriors?



Steve

Thanks much for that Steve and hhhhancock - can see why it was so well received at the time.

[charliekane]

Thanks to all who offered help with some of these rarities - still looking for one or two, but in the meantime: does anyone by chance have a copy of the shorter, US released version of A Canterbury Tale, or is it available anywhere ?

Ta

[Steve Crook]

name='charliekane']Thanks to all who offered help with some of these rarities - still looking for one or two, but in the meantime: does anyone by chance have a copy of the shorter, US released version of A Canterbury Tale, or is it available anywhere ?

Ta

Even I don't have the full thing. I've seen it at a few special events but I don't have my own copy of it.



The Criterion DVD has the animated opening that was added for the American version. That shows all of the American people involved in WWII, then it narrows them down and down until we get to a typical couple, Bob Johnson and his (still un-named) girl on the roof of the Rockefeller Center in New York. They are discussing where to go for their honeymoon. She wants to take him to Australia to show him all the places she saw while she was stationed there. He wants to take her to Canterbury where he had such a strange adventure. He's obviously the more persuasive because they go to Canterbury.



The Criterion DVD also has the final additional scene that was shot of Bob and his girl in the tea rooms by the entrance to the Cathedral.



The rest of the American version is mainly things that were cut out so it's hard to show those as additions



They cut out things that didn't move the story forward at the rapid pace that the American distributors wanted - thus showing how they missed the point of most of the film. They cut out things like the boys river battle and Alison walking through the wood and hearing the voices and music from the Chaucerian pilgrims. They cut out the opening with the Chaucerian pilgrims and how that cleverly segues into the contemporary times with the falcon-Spitfire cut and the same man watching both "birds".



John Sweet added a bit of narration to cover some of the more obvious cuts and to explain things that had happened in the cut scenes.



But the American version doesn't have the magic and it's no wonder that it's hardly ever shown



Steve

[charliekane]

name='Steve Crook']Even I don't have the full thing. I've seen it at a few special events but I don't have my own copy of it.



The Criterion DVD has the animated opening that was added for the American version. That shows all of the American people involved in WWII, then it narrows them down and down until we get to a typical couple, Bob Johnson and his (still un-named) girl on the roof of the Rockefeller Center in New York. They are discussing where to go for their honeymoon. She wants to take him to Australia to show him all the places she saw while she was stationed there. He wants to take her to Canterbury where he had such a strange adventure. He's obviously the more persuasive because they go to Canterbury.



The Criterion DVD also has the final additional scene that was shot of Bob and his girl in the tea rooms by the entrance to the Cathedral.



The rest of the American version is mainly things that were cut out so it's hard to show those as additions



They cut out things that didn't move the story forward at the rapid pace that the American distributors wanted - thus showing how they missed the point of most of the film. They cut out things like the boys river battle and Alison walking through the wood and hearing the voices and music from the Chaucerian pilgrims. They cut out the opening with the Chaucerian pilgrims and how that cleverly segues into the contemporary times with the falcon-Spitfire cut and the same man watching both "birds".



John Sweet added a bit of narration to cover some of the more obvious cuts and to explain things that had happened in the cut scenes.



But the American version doesn't have the magic and it's no wonder that it's hardly ever shown



Steve

Yes Steve -



I was aware of the missing stuff because it 'didn't move the story forward' but I see from PaPaS that it is thought that Micky himself made these cuts - under duress, I assume !

I've never seen the opening animation but would be keen to see it for curiosity value alone - did any other film-makers have their work mucked about with as much as Powell and Pressburger, do you think - even if it was just a change of title ?