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<blockquote data-quote="spiney" data-source="post: 273906" data-attributes="member: 192438"><p>Wed 27th Sept.</p><p></p><p>O Brother Where Art Thou?, 9pm, film.</p><p></p><p>After the discussion on this above, in critics' corner section, I watched this again, to "try" and enjoy it. After 1 hour just gave up, and switched channels to CNBC, Jay Leno interviewing Elton John. Sorry!</p><p></p><p>Thur 28th Sept.</p><p></p><p>A Matter of Life and Death, Ch4, 1.35pm (FILM OF THE WEEK, otherwise, sometimes considered the greatest British movie ever made !).</p><p></p><p>During the early 1940s, when most other wartime Brit films were pretty much pure propoganda, the film-making team of Powell (director) and Pressburger (writer) made a series of brilliant and "quintessentially British" fantasy films, always highly entertaining and of unbelievably superb quality, and in no way propoganda (reputedly, Churchill hated them, and thought them detrimental to the war effort, asking "can't something be done about them?").</p><p>After World War 2, in the 1950s, they continued making a long series of "pure fantasy" films (when most of the Brit film industry was making trade union bashing stuff, dire Rank Charm School drivel, and so-called "comedy" prior to the Carry Ons).</p><p>Powell's last film - without Pressburger - was Peeping Tom, and the horrid prurient critical reaction to this masterpiece meant that he never made another big film.</p><p></p><p>(The Red Shoes is - of course - THE dance movie, there is no other!).</p><p></p><p>Life and Death begins with Niven talking to a (female) ground controller - from his damaged aircraft - he then bails out, and mysteriously lands on a desserted beach ("the infinite shore"), unexpectedly comes across a nude boy playing a flute (which would never be allowed these days!), then strolls into a lovely English country town, superbly photographed (somewhere in Kent?), where "the Yanks" are now billeted (prior to D Day). Unfortunately, he starts having hallucinations ......</p><p></p><p>Rodger Livesey is the "country doctor", who we first meet inside his remarkable Camera Obscura, looking down over the whole town and seeing what's happening everywhere ..... and who then deduces that Niven's hallucinations mean a brain operation is essential, to save his life.</p><p></p><p>The remarkable hallucinations involve a "stairway to heaven", heaven itself being a black-and-white post-war "regimented socialist paradise", this being Powell and Pressburger's own little bit of "trade union bashing"!</p><p></p><p>In his hallucinations, Niven's right to stay alive is debated in a "heavenly court hearing", with the pros and cons being argued. Livesay encourages him to participate, believing it will increase his chance of surviving the brain operation ......</p><p></p><p>(the heavenly arguments become about Britain's colonial past, remarkable stuff, considering that postwar Britain was just then "losing" its former colonies, granting them independence ..... ).</p><p></p><p>Then, Livesay is killed in a motorbike accident, and actually turns up in "the afterworld" - inside the hallucinations - where Niven asks him to act as "heavenly advocate" for his own life ..... (a reality shift as amazing as anything Phil K Dick ever wrote!).</p><p></p><p>We see Niven on the operating table, looking through his own eye as it closes (will he recover and be allowed to remain on earth, or will he die during the operation and end up in heaven?) ......</p><p></p><p>(are the hallucinations "real", or are they "constructed" from the Camera Obscura, perhaps combined with JB Priestly's and William Temple's "socialist vision" of post war Britain? Which were - at the time - very much "part of the scene"!).</p><p></p><p>The utterly remarkable special effects beat anything seen today, and the superb cinematography is by Technicolor "pioneer" Jack Cardiff.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD18.html" target="_blank">http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD18.html</a> .</p><p><a href="http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD00.html" target="_blank">http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD00.html</a> .</p><p><a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/24/cardiff.html" target="_blank">http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/24/cardiff.html</a> .</p><p><a href="http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/onFilmInterviews/cardiff.jhtml?id=0.1.4.9.14&lc=en" target="_blank">http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/onFilmInterviews/cardiff.jhtml?id=0.1.4.9.14&lc=en</a> .</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spiney, post: 273906, member: 192438"] Wed 27th Sept. O Brother Where Art Thou?, 9pm, film. After the discussion on this above, in critics' corner section, I watched this again, to "try" and enjoy it. After 1 hour just gave up, and switched channels to CNBC, Jay Leno interviewing Elton John. Sorry! Thur 28th Sept. A Matter of Life and Death, Ch4, 1.35pm (FILM OF THE WEEK, otherwise, sometimes considered the greatest British movie ever made !). During the early 1940s, when most other wartime Brit films were pretty much pure propoganda, the film-making team of Powell (director) and Pressburger (writer) made a series of brilliant and "quintessentially British" fantasy films, always highly entertaining and of unbelievably superb quality, and in no way propoganda (reputedly, Churchill hated them, and thought them detrimental to the war effort, asking "can't something be done about them?"). After World War 2, in the 1950s, they continued making a long series of "pure fantasy" films (when most of the Brit film industry was making trade union bashing stuff, dire Rank Charm School drivel, and so-called "comedy" prior to the Carry Ons). Powell's last film - without Pressburger - was Peeping Tom, and the horrid prurient critical reaction to this masterpiece meant that he never made another big film. (The Red Shoes is - of course - THE dance movie, there is no other!). Life and Death begins with Niven talking to a (female) ground controller - from his damaged aircraft - he then bails out, and mysteriously lands on a desserted beach ("the infinite shore"), unexpectedly comes across a nude boy playing a flute (which would never be allowed these days!), then strolls into a lovely English country town, superbly photographed (somewhere in Kent?), where "the Yanks" are now billeted (prior to D Day). Unfortunately, he starts having hallucinations ...... Rodger Livesey is the "country doctor", who we first meet inside his remarkable Camera Obscura, looking down over the whole town and seeing what's happening everywhere ..... and who then deduces that Niven's hallucinations mean a brain operation is essential, to save his life. The remarkable hallucinations involve a "stairway to heaven", heaven itself being a black-and-white post-war "regimented socialist paradise", this being Powell and Pressburger's own little bit of "trade union bashing"! In his hallucinations, Niven's right to stay alive is debated in a "heavenly court hearing", with the pros and cons being argued. Livesay encourages him to participate, believing it will increase his chance of surviving the brain operation ...... (the heavenly arguments become about Britain's colonial past, remarkable stuff, considering that postwar Britain was just then "losing" its former colonies, granting them independence ..... ). Then, Livesay is killed in a motorbike accident, and actually turns up in "the afterworld" - inside the hallucinations - where Niven asks him to act as "heavenly advocate" for his own life ..... (a reality shift as amazing as anything Phil K Dick ever wrote!). We see Niven on the operating table, looking through his own eye as it closes (will he recover and be allowed to remain on earth, or will he die during the operation and end up in heaven?) ...... (are the hallucinations "real", or are they "constructed" from the Camera Obscura, perhaps combined with JB Priestly's and William Temple's "socialist vision" of post war Britain? Which were - at the time - very much "part of the scene"!). The utterly remarkable special effects beat anything seen today, and the superb cinematography is by Technicolor "pioneer" Jack Cardiff. [url]http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD18.html[/url] . [url]http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/46_AMOLAD/AMOLAD00.html[/url] . [url]http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/24/cardiff.html[/url] . [url]http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/onFilmInterviews/cardiff.jhtml?id=0.1.4.9.14&lc=en[/url] . [/QUOTE]
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