Month: March 2009

HOLLYWOOD: A Celebration of the American Silent Film

Hollywood DVDThe Thames TV documentary series HOLLYWOOD: A Celebration of the American Silent Film, by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, was begun thirty years ago. It is out of print, and nowhere to be found that I can see, except for scattered VHS copies for sale. A 4-disc DVD edition that had been planned apparently never went into production, and there is no tentative release date for it.

I am considering posting the complete HOLLYWOOD series, transferred from LaserDisc video. The earliest I would be able to begin doing this is mid-April. If you’re someone who would be interested in seeing this — or you would like to prevent me from putting the series online — please add a comment or drop me a note at the address on my “Contact” page. Thanks.

A Matter of Color and Monochrome

Every first viewing I’ve had of a Powell and Pressburger movie always makes me want to share some of it. This time it’s “A Matter of Life and Death”, which was known in the United States as “Stairway to Heaven”.

“A Matter of Life and Death”, made in 1946, is ostensibly a romantic fantasy, but it ends up being a curious exploration of the relationship between England and America. Powell loved “The Wizard of OZ,” and here he reversed the color and black and white gimmick, so it’s the scenes on earth that are in color.

Powell/Pressburger movies are so unusual there’s really no point in trying to describe them. It’s much better to see for yourself. The opening scene with the radio conversation is magical, and if you’ve never paid much attention to David Niven before, you will here. (In the dialogue he mentions the name of the poet Andrew Marvell, who was born about the time Shakespeare died.)

[MEDIA = 28]

The edit between the two scenes was inserted by me. Kathleen Byron, whose picture is the poster frame here, doesn’t appear in this video clip. Byron has only a small part in the film, but I’ve been meaning to feature her because, sadly, Kathleen Byron passed away on January 18. What a face. Another woman who, in my opinion, came close to Byron was the late Natasha Richardson — but only before she had her ill-advised nose job.