The Small Back Room on TPTV

[julian_craster]

The Small Back Room on TPTV



Sun 4 Aug 2019
22:00

The Small Back Room
1949. Drama. Directors Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger.

Stars David Farrar, Kathleen Byron. Michael Gough, Cyril Cusack,Jack Hawkins.

The best bomb disposal expert must battle his innerself, during the German raids

[julian_craster]

One of P&Ps greatest films .... Very different to the colour classics ! Interesting that the whisky bottle scene was criticised by some back in 1948 ....

[Steve Crook]

I agree, a great film. Although I would suggest that there are other B&W P&P films that deserve the title as one of their best films. Although SBR is certainly quite high up in the list.

But as a P&P film (any P&P film) of course it’s way above most other films by most other filmmakers

Steve

[Ian Fryer]

I agree, a great film. Although I would suggest that there are other B&W P&P films that deserve the title as one of their best films. Although SBR is certainly quite high up in the list.

But as a P&P film (any P&P film) of course it’s way above most other films by most other filmmakers

Steve

As you are our ranking P&P expert, Steve, what would your choice of best monochrome film by The Archers be?

[Steve Crook]

As you are our ranking P&P expert, Steve, what would your choice of best monochrome film by The Archers be?

I can't pick just one ...

I would suggest these as well worth watching:
IKWIG (I Know Where I'm Going!!)
ACT (A Canterbury Tale)
SBR (The Small Back Room)

Then some of their early solo efforts like:
EoTW (The Edge of the World) - Powell only

They're all way above most other films by most other film-makers (IMVHO)

Steve

[Ian Fryer]

I watched A Canterbury Tale recently on YouTube - clean forgot that I had the thing on DVD! I can sort of see why general audiences rejected it in 1944, but it more than repays repeated viewings.

[Steve Crook]

I watched A Canterbury Tale recently on YouTube - clean forgot that I had the thing on DVD! I can sort of see why general audiences rejected it in 1944, but it more than repays repeated viewings.

I often say that it takes audiences a while to slow down to its pace
But it's well worth slowing down to that pace

Steve

[garth]

I often say that it takes audiences a while to slow down to its pace
But it's well worth slowing down to that pace

Steve

I must admit I never really understood what that film was saying - though I did only watch it once. Could you summarise its meaning and value, as you see them, in a few brief sentences?

[orpheum]

You must have been glued to the screen!
You can of course watch Powell's infamous horror,now regarded as a classic of the genre Peeping Tom.

[garth]

You must have been glued to the screen!
You can of course watch Powell's infamous horror,now regarded as a classic of the genre Peeping Tom.

You make me seem a real philistine now, and you've probably been planning it for decades. Yes, I did like Peeping Tom, but I wondered about having a blond German play the evil part, when the Second World War would still have been fresh in people's memory.

Better still is A Matter of Life and Death. If you read about near-death experiences, you will see that similar things happen, with the dying or recently dead being told that is actually NOT their time and being sent back to the world of the living.

[Steve Crook]

I must admit I never really understood what that film was saying - though I did only watch it once. Could you summarise its meaning and value, as you see them, in a few brief sentences?

It’s about a group of people who get distracted on their way to Canterbury and then they get caught up with solving the mystery of “the glue man”

There’s the side story of the glue man who wants to tell everyone about the local history. Then there’s the other side story of the boys in the boat who also collect the waste paper.

But don’t expect any dramatic action or fast moving events. I sai it was slow & it’s best if you slow down to its pace. But it’s well worth slowing down for

Steve

[orpheum]

Eric Portman goes around throwing blue in women's hair.So he's a bit of a perve

[garth]

It’s about a group of people who get distracted on their way to Canterbury and then they get caught up with solving the mystery of “the glue man”

There’s the side story of the glue man who wants to tell everyone about the local history. Then there’s the other side story of the boys in the boat who also collect the waste paper.

I remember being very puzzled by this glue man thing. It seemed so weird as to come from an entirely different culture and, for me, highly implausible. So I found it difficult to accept one of the premisses of the plot. The boys in the boat and the waste paper - I don't remember that at all. I'd probably do best to read the Wikipedia entry on the film before watching it again.

[Steve Crook]

I remember being very puzzled by this glue man thing. It seemed so weird as to come from an entirely different culture and, for me, highly implausible. So I found it difficult to accept one of the premisses of the plot. The boys in the boat and the waste paper - I don't remember that at all. I'd probably do best to read the Wikipedia entry on the film before watching it again.

Maybe you really saw the American version which was only released in 1949. The Americans didn’t understand much of it either and they cut large chunks of it (including the boy’s river battle) adding in a clumsy narration to cover the gaps they’d left.

The glue man man was originally written so that he cut the girl’s dresses but was felt to be too weird & kinky even for The Archers. So they changed it to having him squirt sticky stuff in their hair. Nothing weird or kinky about that

Steve

[Steve Crook]

Eric Portman goes around throwing blue in women's hair.So he's a bit of a perve

A perve? He was a magistrate living with his Mum. Very respectable

Steve