More Powell and Pressburger

[John Hodson]

Forgive me if this has been mentioned elsewhere. A little snippet from Steve Crook (who runs Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger - Pure Genius ) on the Britmovie forum:

Thelma Schoonmaker introduced a screening of Bluebeard's Castle and The Tales of Hoffmann at the LA County Museum this week and in the Q&A she apparently said that the next P&P film that Criterion plan to work on is The Small Back Room, possibly followed by Oh... Rosalinda!!

Bluebeard's Castle might well finish up as an "extra" on one of those.

[the dancing kid]

Thelma Schoonmaker introduced a screening of Bluebeard's Castle and The Tales of Hoffmann at the LA County Museum this week and in the Q&A she apparently said that the next P&P film that Criterion plan to work on is The Small Back Room, possibly followed by Oh... Rosalinda!!

Bluebeard's Castle might well finish up as an "extra" on one of those.

I would love to finally be able to see 'Bluebeard's Castle,' so I hope this turns out to be true. That's one of those films that is next to impossible to find on video and is practically never screened. It probably would have been most appropriate as an extra on 'Hoffmann,' but I'll take whatever I can get.

[Narshty]

Criterion plan to work on is The Small Back Room, possibly followed by Oh... Rosalinda!!

I'm wondering if they'll be able to get A Matter of Life and Death from Sony. We know that Bottle Rocket's on the way, and I thought this was exactly the kind of "niche" title (ahem) Sony didn't want to waste in-house work on.

[Doug Cummings]

I'm wondering if they'll be able to get A Matter of Life and Death from Sony.

At LACMA, Schoonmaker mentioned that Sony's A Matter of Life and Death is done but that they're waiting on Scorsese to record a commentary.

[Doug Cummings]

It probably would have been most appropriate as an extra on 'Hoffmann,' but I'll take whatever I can get.

Apparently, the widow of Norman Foster, the film's producer-star, owned the rights and just now allowed for the film's release. It's pretty spectacular; any fan of P&P's most expressionist material will love it.

The print we saw had Powell's own occasional summary subtitles rather than a line-by-line translation of the libretto, which is apparently what he preferred.

[Tommaso]

Criterion plan to work on is The Small Back Room, possibly followed by Oh... Rosalinda!!

Bluebeard's Castle might well finish up as an "extra" on one of those.[/i]

Oh man, if THAT turns out to be true I'm really, really delighted!

I honestly can't imagine "Bluebeard" as an extra on "Small back room", but it would probably fit ideally with "Rosalinda", as both are oper(ett)a adaptations. On the other hand I'm wondering what extras they would then unearth for "Small back room". It's a very good, but mostly overlooked film, so I guess there's not much material about it in existence. And of course I'd love to see "Rosalinda" first, as I'm actually not unhappy with the R2 of "SBR". In any case, both releases would be far more important than the forthcoming "Thief of Baghdad"...

[Adam]

Thelma Schoonmaker introduced a screening of Bluebeard's Castle and The Tales of Hoffmann at the LA County Museum this week

I'm sorry that i missed that screening at LACMA, but I went for "The Whole Shooting Match" at the Silent Movie Theatre. That was excellent as well. Tough choice.

[ellipsis7]

On the other hand I'm wondering what extras they would then unearth for "Small back room".

Well they could reprint Durgnat's essay on SBR in 'Powell Pressburger & Others', and add to the disc the BBC Late Show Michael Powell Special put together just after his death, on the occasion of the publication Vol 2 of his autobiography called 'Million Dollar Movie', and basically taking up the story post RED SHOES, with which the BBC Arena doc finishes...

[Tommaso]

Well they could reprint Durgnat's essay on SBR in 'Powell Pressburger & Others', and add to the disc the BBC Late Show Michael Powell Special put together just after his death, on the occasion of the publication Vol 2 of his autobiography called 'Million Dollar Movie', and basically taking up the story post RED SHOES, with which the BBC Arena doc finishes...

Oh great, that would be brilliant. I hope someone at CC has read your post

[John Hodson]

At LACMA, Schoonmaker mentioned that Sony's A Matter of Life and Death is done but that they're waiting on Scorsese to record a commentary.

That was the position two years ago; restoration completed, just waiting on Marty...

[kaujot]

At LACMA, Schoonmaker mentioned that Sony's A Matter of Life and Death is done but that they're waiting on Scorsese to record a commentary.

Something tells me Scorsese wouldn't be one to keep putting off recording a commentary for a P&P film.

[kinjitsu]

A Matter of Life and Death discussed ages ago in this thread. Sony has been dragging their heels for years.

[Person]

A Matter of Life and Death discussed ages ago in this thread. Sony has been dragging their heels for years.

I actually wish that Granada would release a SE in the UK. But seeing as Sony are opening up their vaults to - of all companies - Hewlett Packard, I don't see why Criterion couldn't put in a generous bid to license the film and give us a definitive 2-dsic set.

[Narshty]

Something tells me Scorsese wouldn't be one to keep putting off recording a commentary for a P&P film.

He's had time more recently to record a Thief of Bagdad track, it seems. Makes no sense at all. I hope Sony have just thrown their hands up and passed it Criterion's way.

[tryavna]

Heads up on a super cheapo R4 re-issue of Powell's first Australian movie, They're a Weird Mob this week

I own the previous R4 edition, and it has the exact same cover, so I presume that "re-issue" is exactly right. I'd also like to speak up for this movie, which holds a place in my own opinion that is similar to David's (though I think I actually prefer Mob to Consent slightly). The typical P&P sense of humor is present from the very beginning -- which shouldn't be at all surprising since Pressburger actually wrote the script under his usual pseudonym Richard Imrie. If it's a re-issue, the disc should also contain The Story of Making the Film They're a Weird Mob, which has got to be one of the earliest feature-length making-of documentary tie-ins ever and is well worth a look for some behind-the-scenes footage.

Consent's rights issues still seem to be somewhat mysterious, although I understood a remaster (with Peter Sculthorpe's original score reinstated) was done a few years ago. The rights possibly reside with Michael Pate who is now a zillion years old.

They're a Weird Mob and Age of Consent were were originally screened 1.66 BTW - I remember it well from the prem season in 1966 which le tout Sydney attended, but god knows what the DVD will do with the masking.

David, Sony apparently owns the rights outright in the U.S. and conducted a restoration about a year or so ago at a favor to Thelma Schoonmaker. When TCM broadcast the film a couple of months ago, it looked excellent and to my eyes appeared to be in the correct aspect ratio. (It was also the full-length movie, much to the chagrin of many folks who didn't allot enough time to recording it based on TCM's initial info.)

[Tommaso]

While They're a Weird Mob is decidedly minor (although no more minor than say Oh Rosalinda! - which I do not care for at all) there are some amusingly Bunuelesque Powell moments. Certainly it (and Age of Consent) are worthwhile for completists.

While I haven't had a chance to see "Rosalinda" or "Age of Consent", I would too speak up for "They're a Weird Mob". The film looks slightly unassuming at first, but it has so many nice touches (including true slapstick moments), and the hilariously funny title sequence would be worth the disc alone. And despite the comparatively low production values, Powell's eye for visuals is there as always. Well written, charmingly performed, great dialogue (by Pressburger under a different name), this is not a major work perhaps, but give it to me over "The Battle of the River Plate" or "I'll Met by Moonlight" any time.

The disc I have seems to be a bootleg of the original Aussie version (same cover, but no documentary), and is framed 1.33. But I habitually zoom in to 1.66, which just looks right, so I suppose Powell did it open matte.

[Stefan Andersson]

How about Powell´s HONEYMOON (LUNA DE MIEL) in a Powell Eclipse box? It´s been restored in 35mm and plays at the 2008 Widescreen festival, Bradford, UK.

[Tommaso]

Precisely. I kept praying for/demanding it publicly in all sorts of random speculation threads here for what seems ages. And nothing happens....

So again: yes, I want a Powell Eclipse set, containing (at least): Phantom Light/Honeymoon/Bluebeard/Weird Mob/Age of Consent. If "Bluebeard" comes together with "Rosalinda" or "SBR", replace it by "The Queen's guards". But get that stuff out!

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

There was quite a reasonable print of the Love Test doing the rounds not so long back as well.
I'd love to see the early WW2 stuff mopped up too - Spy in Black/Contraband (is that still a Kino?) Lion has wings/ Silver Fleet etc.

[Tommaso]

The Kino "Contraband" is OOP, but you can get "Spy in Black" from Spain (and Australia, but also OOP if I'm not mistaken), and the other two films from the UK. But somehow I fear that Eclipse will indeed rather do these early WWII films (plus, of course, the truly nice "One of our aircraft") rather than a Late Powell set.

[Zazou dans le Metro]

The Kino "Contraband" is OOP, but you can get "Spy in Black" from Spain (and Australia, but also OOP if I'm not mistaken), and the other two films from the UK. But somehow I fear that Eclipse will indeed rather do these early WWII films (plus, of course, the truly nice "One of our aircraft") rather than a Late Powell set.

Hey! what's wrong with an 'Early Powell' and a 'Late Powell' set ???
If it's good enough for Ozu..

[Tommaso]

You have a point there..

[JHunter]

The Kino "Contraband" is OOP, but you can get "Spy in Black" from Spain (and Australia, but also OOP if I'm not mistaken), and the other two films from the UK. But somehow I fear that Eclipse will indeed rather do these early WWII films (plus, of course, the truly nice "One of our aircraft") rather than a Late Powell set.

You can get "Contraband" in Kino's new "Film Noir: Five Classics from the Studio Vaults" (along with "The Hitch-hiker", "Scarlet Street", "They Made Me a Fugitive" and "Strange Impersonation"). The retail is only $50, which means you can find it on-line around $35.

[filmyfan]

What about "Ill Met by Moonlight" ?-an underated film me thinks (but then I do love Crete !)-and is not available in a good version anywhere I know.

[ellipsis7]

Anamorphic 1.78:1 from ITV DVD in R2 UK...



But haven't yet viewed to definitively judge...