Two intriguing collections of off-brand British cinema have been issued by independent distributors. MPI’s “Classic British Thrillers” features two of Michael Powell’s quota quickies, “Red Ensign” (1934) and “The Phantom Light” (1935), as well as an ingeniously plotted 1947 thriller directed by Lawrence Huntington, “The Upturned Glass.” The generous “British Cinema Collection” from VCI Entertainment offers six movies on three discs, including an accomplished, noirish thriller by John Gilling, “The Frightened Man” (1952) and two of George King’s hugely entertaining mid-thirties vehicles for Tod Slaughter, Britian’s cackling answer to Bela Lugosi, “Crimes at the Dark House” and “The Hooded Terror.” My NY Times review is here.
Both packages look absolutely delicious. How are the materials/transfers? I assume serviceable because you’d have said if it were otherwise in the review, but I’m hoping better…
I bought MPI’s “Classic British Thrillers” and while the films are enjoyable the transfers are not so good. The image quality is sharp, which is good. But there is artifact in each and when the camera moves the foregrounds have a very flat detached look that is odd. Not up Criterion’s level [or even Facets] but – unless these are available in another Region – this is what we got.
Nice piece on these films (and nice blog, too!), though I do have one friendly correction. Michael Powell actually did shoot a significant portion of PHANTOM LIGHT on location in Wales. It wasn’t all studio work.
For those looking to sample Tod Slaughter’s scenery chewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUuCGQbUORY
PHANTOM LIGHT is quite the entertainment for a “quickie,” with an evocative lighthouse location, and a very funny deadpan performance by Gordon Harker, who offsets all the grandiose “killer among us!” melodrama with a very firm, eye-rolling contempt.
Matt, I think you’re being pretty hard on an independent release. The transfers are perfectly serviceable, but they haven’t been digitally buffed. On the VCI set, the Slaughter films look quite good compared to the lousy public domain material that is already in the market (such as the one Brian has linked to). To me these transfers were a pleasant surprise, but if you’re looking for “The Godfather,” you are going to be disappointed. I hate to see standards being raised unrealistically high: that’s going to prevent a lot of movies, which exist only in damaged copies, from coming to video. And Blu-ray will make that situation much, much worse.
Jeremy, thanks for the correction on “Phantom Light.” Did you find a piece on it somewhere? I would be curious to read it. There isn’t any real evidence of location work in the film, apart from a couple of shots of a train station that could have been taken pretty much anywhere in England. I’m not saying you are wrong — just that it’s surprising for someone with Powell’s sense of place not to take greater advantage of a location shoot.
The lighthouse exteriors are real. Powell mentions this in his memoir, specifically pointing out the Eddystone lighthouse in Devon and writing that he went to many lighthouses. Sources at http://www.powell-pressburger.org also mention a lighthouse used on the isle of Anglesey, off North Wales. There are also many shots throughout the film which are clearly on location, be they cutaways to waves crashing on rocks or boats on the water. The launching of the rescue boat is certainly real. Some online sources claim some of the lighthouse interiors are real, though I’m not so certain of it. Also, the footage of Harker being driven from the train station into the town, and walking around the landscape to the Harbour Master’s office, are clearly location work, which according to sources at powell-pressburger.org, were done at a village in Northern Wales. On the same site, there are also NFT notes on the film which mention location work. Certainly Powell was a master, even then, of using real cutaways and real establishing shots to create the effect of the entire work being done on location. One of the pleasures of his films is never knowing for sure just what’s real and what’s in the studio!
On standards for print quality: in the halcyon days of my youth when I haunted the Bleeker Street Cinema, the Thalia, Theatre 80 St. Marks, etc., print quality was often not all that pristine, and yet somehow these places proved fertile soil for cinephilic flowering.
While it has obvious benefits, the fetish for new/restored/as-never-before prints also limits what the remaining repetory houses can show and still rustle up enough of an audience to stay in business.
The release of the Powell films is a very welcome opportunity to sample his pre-war work. Directing “quota quickies” as (essential?) training for a career making some of the most unconventional films of British cinema is an intriguing line of thought. We can only hope this release will be successful enough to prompt release of the rest of his ‘thirties films.
Dave, your description of Slaughter’s Sweeney Todd sounds like the character walked out of the pages of the penny dreadful and onto the screen. Does he have a Mrs Lovett to match? I feel quite eager to see the film after reading your article.
Very interesting, Jeremy. I guess I took those crashing wave shots as stock, and the train-station village didn’t look much different from the generic “rural Britain” in Hammer films, shot in the London suburbs. Hard to believe that the lighthouse interiors are location, though. I am glad to learn of the existence of powell-pressburger.org.
For some reason, Slaughter’s Mrs. Lovett is named Mrs. Lovatt, and is played by one Stella Rho. Looking it up on the IMDB, I see that there were already two silent versions of “Sweeney Todd” before Slaughter’s.
In his autobiography (vol 1) Powell states that he “enjoyed every minute” of the filming although “the less said about the plot the better.” “I am a sucker for lighthouses. The lonelier and more inaccessible, the better.” His major disappointment was not being able to use Roger Livesy (for the part of Jim Pierce, the naval hero) whom Michael Balcon nixed after watching a test. Powell loved Livesy’s “lovely, husky voice” — Balcon didn’t. Of course Powell had his way later when he starred Livesy in “Colonel Blimp,” “I know Where I’m Going” and “A Matter of Life and Death.”
Dave
About those transfers on the MPI “Classic British Thrillers”. I will attest to the fact that I am overly tough on print and DVD quality. I believe my stint at UCLA film preservation plays a part in that. Wish they were as good as most Warner Bros DVD transfers but, true, they are serviceable. I do look forward to seeing the films on the VCI DVD.
I will add that I liked “Red Ensign” but would not categorize it a thriller. I have no idea about the rights to Powell films but rather than “Red Ensign” they might have considered “Crown Vs Stevens”, a film with noirish overtones [and shots] which I managed to record last year on TCM.
I think Powell wanted to cast Livesey as the Glue Man in A CANTERBURY TALE, too, but he didn’t like the part. It’s hard to believe that anyone found Livesey’s voice deficient in any way. It’s so beautiful.
Other great Powell pre war films are THE SPY IN BLACK and CONTRABAND. There are also some great BRitish dvd release of major post war thrillers. Regarding British genre films, VCI did quite a great job with the”film noir” series: there are some gems by Fisher. My favorite Powell film of this era remains EDGE OF THE WORLD. When it come to thrillers, I still think that very few british films can compete with the Hitchcocks. I don’t know what GLenn, Dave and Matt thin about this, but I have the feeling that this growing historical need to “rediscover”, “reexplore” has great merits, but also limitations. I realize that I watch less “classic” films than before because my atention always get carried away towards the “unseen”, the “unreleased” etc… And then, I find myself sitting in front of THE BIG HEAT or LADY VANISHES on the cable and thn “Boy, THESE are the great films…”
and think “Boy, THESE are the great films…”
Just watched Reginald Barker’s “The Coward” (1915) on DVD, and his early talkie “Seven Keys to Baldpate” (1929) on TCM.
Both films have similar architectural settings. Barker favored large sets, with stairs, landings and indoor balconies in the background. These are often used for dramatic stagings.
Both films have scenes in which a man escapes from a second-story window of a guarded house.
Both films have suspense scenes, in which an unseen hero above, surveys or listens to sinister men in rooms below.
Both films have suspense sequences where lights go on or off.
There are elements involving characterization, too. Barker likes flavorful guys from the country, who are not quite standard urban types. These include the Southerners in “The Coward”, and the Yankee small town constabulary in “Baldpate”.
There are tender, low key romance scenes between gentle men and women in both films.
Just as entertainment, I prefer “Baldpate”. “The Coward” starts and ends ok, but in the middle has a half hour sequence of Charles Ray shivering in cowardice. He does this for 30 minutes. Gimme a break! Ray has a better vehicle in “The Busher” (Jerome Stern, 1919), where he plays a baseball player in the bush leagues.
Ray’s love of a hummingbird, anticipates gentle Richard Bathelmess’ love of nature in “Way Down East” (Griffith, 1920).
PS: Haven’t seen “Crimes at the Dark House” yet, but have read its source novel, Wilkie Collins’ “The Woman in White”. It’s stupendous!
Brian Dauth,
I too have found memories of the Bleeker Street Cinema, the Thalia (and new Yorker) from the early 1960s but no knowledge whatesoever of the “Theatre 80 St. Marks.” About when was this last theater in operation? (Or maybe I should be asking “How did I miss it?”)
(Yeah, the print quality was nearly always A-OK).
I don’t want to come off as setting the bar too high, and I don’t want the scenario that Dave envisions to play out. That said, it should be noted that the tools now are such that even outfits serving the nichiest of niche markets can do lovely restoration work—see the “Restored Serial Corp.”, which recently issued that delightful “Green Archer” set. Damaged materials are one thing, but a transfer to disc that reflects nothing but a desire to get the commodity to market is another.
Ah, memories of New York’s revival house heyday in the early-VHS, pre-DVD 80s (this was even pre-cable TV for me, since I lived in Queens which was still unwired). Don’t forget the Carnegie Hall Cinema and the Regency (which later moved and was renamed the Biograph). New York in the 80s and early 90s was sustaining at least 5 mostly double-feature arthouses (10+ movies a day) in addition to MoMA, Film Forum, Film at the Public, etc. For a brief time there was also the Metro and the Thalia SoHo.
Print quality varied widely but the range of choices was breathtaking. I remember Theater 80 St. Marks projected films from behind the screen which resulted in a weird sort of blurred image. The Regency specialized in presenting new 35mm prints. Lest I be considered overly nostalgic, I will say that the programming today at the Walter Reade, BAM Cinematek and Museum of the Moving Image tends to be more challenging and focused than those traditional arthouse double bills.
That analog era is largely gone and repertory prints are getting increasingly scarce, as Dave has pointed out. DVDs are an invaluable resource, but it’s ironic that at last Saturday’s NYFF screening of Jia Zhang-Ke’s gorgeous 24 City, about the destruction of a huge old factory to make way for the inevitable modernization of China, the film was delayed for half an hour due to technical problems with the digital screening.
Tangent from thread into current history:
As Palin’s abilities begin to look less impressive than might have been originally suggested by the demogogic brilliance of her St Paul convention speech, her story begins to look more and more like it could be memorably recounted as an updated variation on “Meet John Doe.”
As for tonight, the mixture of surreal disorientation and sympathetic squirm inducement promises an emotional experience — euphorias of partisan triumph or close escape aside– not unlike watching “Blue Velvet.” (Parallels to Powell’s “Peeping Tom” are Verboten despite thread contents)
Glenn, VCI does pretty good work given their budgetary constraints. Their versions of the “Dick Tracy” serials, for example, compare very favorably to the “Green Archer” restoration. They’ve also issued Jacques Tourneur’s interesting “Stranger on Horseback” recently, a 1955 Western that was shot on quick-dissolving Ansco Color and has not been available for a long time. They used a 35-millimeter print in the BFI for their version, and while the color is not perfect (and never was), I don’t see how you could improve on it. I wouldn’t accuse either VCI or MPI of just driving commodities to market. Alpha Video, they ain’t.
Dave, glad you’ve endorsed the “Stranger on Horseback” DVD — one of the most welcome titles to come out this year, and perfectly timed for my plans to fill in my Tourneur gaps with 8 or 10 films that have come out on DVD or played on TCM recently.
VCI’s DVDs of the “Burke’s Law” TV series looks good, and I’ve heard their “Honey West” DVD set is the same. The shows themselves are somewhat problematic (they’re the first Aaron Spelling projects that truly bear his, er, creative stamp) but they have their rewards, particularly as an index of what passed for sophistication in the 60s, and of how Hollywood conceptualized women at the time.
Alex:
Theatre 80 St. Marks place was in operation from the mid/late 70′s to 1994. It was then converted back to its use as a legitimate theatre. I have gone past it in a while, but last time I looked the footprints-in-cement outside the front door were still there. And with Jim, I remember the weirdness imparted by the rear projection system.
I’m all for VCI’s releases — even if a lot of transfers wind up interlaced on-disc, their prints are generally acceptable, and they’ve put out a fair share of interesting work — for example, most recently, the aforementioned Tourneur, and John Ford’s ‘This Is Korea!’. And, marvelously (and: unfortunately now out-of-print, though possibly still Netflixable), Buñuel’s superb 1952 ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
craig.
Brian, I seem to remember that Theatre 80 St Marks started as a venue specializing in film musicals, and later broadened its repertoire to other genres, but still favoring musicals. I saw many movies there, even though I lived on the Upper West Side and it was a fairly longish subway trip to get to St Marks Place. In addition to the problems with the rear projection the place was rather uncomfortable with its premitive stadium sitting, and print quality often left to be desired. You never knew whether you were going to watch a 16mm or 35mm print, or what condition it would be in. And I remember at least once seeing a Technicolor movie in black and white.The Thalia on Broadway near 96th was just as physically uncomfortable and unpredictable as far as print quality was concerned… The Carnegie Hall Theatre was wonderful especially during the few years when it was programmed by Howard Mandelbaum and Roger McNiven (two great film buffs who also showed movies in their apartment).But as Jim G. said, there were so many great art houses in New York in those days, not to mention such non-commercial screenings as Bill Everson’s showing of rare films at the New School and other venues. Film buffs were less demanding than they are now as far as print quality was concerned because there was no other way to watch most of those films.
Thanks Dave. My comment about driving commodities to market wasn’t aimed at MPI or VCI, just a general observation pertaining more to the bar-setting question.
Craig, is Buñuel’s “Robinson Crusoe” out of print? Because it’s still currently available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Luis-Bunuels-Robinson-Crusoe-OHerlihy/dp/B0002F6BJC). Anyhow, I agree that it’s a pretty terrific film (that rare literary adaptation that is, remarkably, as faithful to the source material as it is to its maker’s distinct sensibility), and it was cool of VCI to put out such a specialty item.
Now I’m just waiting for Buñuel’s “Wuthering Heights” to find a release somewhere. I believe it was his next film after “Crusoe”, and I’ve always wanted to see it.
I agree that Bunuel’s “Robinson Crusoe” is wonderful. I saw it first back in the fifties and loved it again when it finally resurfaced. One major Bunuel that is not available on DVD as far as I know is the very extraordinary “EL.” I’d love to see it again. It impressed me enormously at the time — as it did the French Surrealist fringe I was sort of attracted to — and 40 years later I raved about it in the LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MOVIES. One of the wonderful moments in the film is when Bunuel actually quotes a scene from L’AGE D’OR.
Jean-Pierre, EL is available here with french and english subtitles,with Archibald de la cruz. OK prints, region 0 dvd that can be played everywhere. And it’s not expensive at all ! I can get it for you if you want…
Scott, “Wuthering Heights,” aka “”Abismos de Pasion,” did get a PAL DVD release in 2002, courtesy of Divisa Ediciones. If you ever come across it, do not buy it. Aside from lacking subtitles and boasting the butt-ugliest cover art in the history of DVD cover art, the image quality of the film on the disc is, erm, abysmal.
There’s quite a lot of Bunuel’s Mexican period available on discs of wildly different quality—a few surprisingly good, many simply awful. (I think VCI’s “Crusoe” is terrific, by the way.) . It would be great for Criterion/Eclipse to step into this fray…
Nicolas: thanks for the offer. I’d love to have it. Do you mean “Archibald” is on the same disc?
Can you give me an e-mail address so we can make arrangements. Mine is jpc077@mindspring.com
Best.
PS Does anyone know if “Subida al cielo” is available on DVD anywhere?
Jean-Pierre, I believe that you can buy SUBIDA AL CIELO (without subtitles) on Amazon.
The EL/Archibald de La Cruz has a very good review on DVD beaver. It’s a region 0 dvd with english subtitles and, near my house, in a second hand dvdstore it costs…4 euros. Yes !
There is a subtitled version of “Subida,” a Region 2 PAL disc issued by a company called Yune Pictures. The same company put out the quite lesser “The Great Madcap.” The discs are both pretty good and of course “Subida” is just a fabulous picture. It’s ain’t cheap—14 pounds at Amazon UK (under the title “Ascent to Heaven”), thanks for everything, George W. Bush…
Nicholas, that Beaver review of “El/Archibaldo de la Cruz” is on the money—it’s a very good disc. At 4 Euros it’s an absolute must. Wonder what became of the label that put it out, “Films sans Frontieres;” they did some good work.
FSF did a number of Rossellini films a few years ago. Did they go under?
No, but they don’t have a super reputation. I think it has to do with some of their rights clearance or something. They have released one of the best films ever made DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST by Satyajit Ray, and a number of rare Bunuel like NAZARIN or EL BRUTO.
FSF also did a bunch of early Mizoguchis that haven’t been released or announced anywhere else — without English subtitles, but they’re findable as bootlegs with fansubs now. The one I saw looked pretty good.
Drifting back to Dave’s original subject, has anyone seen the UK DVDs of “Sweeney Todd” or several George King films, on the Odeon label? I’m guessing the image quality is disappointing, but it’s hard to find any reviews or comments on Odeon discs on the net.
VCI has issued most of the Bogeaus-Dwan-Alton 50s collaborations; all are in serviceable transfers (SILVER LODE being the most significant), but TENNESSEE’S PARTNER (55) is stunningly vivid. And Alton’s Technicolor work from this period is, well, awesome.
For Tourneur fans, VCI has issued a good rendition of APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS (53), which is a crazy, crazy movie.
Both Michael Powell quota quickies are limited by plot conventions and dated RADA ideas of acting. But they contain certain gems such as the presence of Donald Calthrop and John Laurie in THE RED ENSIGN and the former in THE PHANTOM LIGHT. One should not overlook the influence of Soviet montage in certain scenes in both films as well as the expressionist lighting in PHANTOM LIGHT used to good effect for Reginald Tate (the first and the best Professor Quatermass for BBC TV), Gordon Harker’s presence is much better than Leo Lion’s in Hitchcock’s NUMBER 17 since his comic presence really sends up the narrative. Basically, I thought THE PHANTOM LIGHT worked much better as a narrative probably due to its elements of mise-en-scene and suspense rather than THE RED ENSIGN which needed a much more European actor like Anton Walbrook rather than Leslie Banks’s master of industry. Towards the end of his life Powell cringed whenever another of his “quota quickies” were discovered but these two reveal indications of his later talent no matter for unsatisfactory their formats are. Yes, we do need to see more, despite whatever disappointments may be in store, since they are key examples of apprentice works.
Several years back, the BBC’s arts programme THE LATE SHOW screened some clips from THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK, which looks like it might have been the best of Powell’s quota quickies. I seem to recall that the clips were shown in connection with an interview with Martin Scorsese, who may have provided the BBC with this material (possibly a VHS source). Anyone here seen, or have more information about, this film?
Fsf DVD transfers are a pretty mixed bunch. I think a lot of the prints were from the Cinematheque Franciase, notably the Rossellinis they issued which are all pretty ragged. The Bunuel El/Ensayo di un Crimen is pretty good, as is their Los Olvidados (which includes an “alternative” ending and the French narration version of Las Hurdes. With English subs also.)
They also issued in 2006 Susana (French title, sublimely, Susana la Perverse) which is a VERY ragged print with fixed French subs, but compellingly wonderful – far more effective than his overtly “political” films from the fifties. The disc is worth buying for the cover alone! And of all people Rene Chateau released am unsubbed, mint conidtion print of Cela s’Appelle l’Aurore which, while relatively minor, always intrigues me as an embryonic essay for Belle de Jour. There are more Mexican Bunuels out there, although I’m still waiting for a good print of my favorite (among many) Mexican Bunuel, Subida al Cielo with English subs to replace an ancient TV broadcast copy.
There was some hope Criterion might do a boxset of Mexican Bunuel next year on its Eclipse label. So far no news, although there are rumors of a restored print of Crit doing Olvidados and Exterminating Angel. The Australian disc of the latter has been tampered with by some well meaning idiot who decided the two repeated shots of the servants beginning to leave the house and then returning at the start of the movie was an editing mistake, which they “fixed” (by removing the shots) for the DVD. Attention has been drawn to this but the print itself is not pristine, rather like the source MoC ended up using for La Notte with less than fine contrast. There are certainly better prints of this around the place.
If memory serves, you can also get Eisenstein’s THE GENERAL LINE on FSF–not to mention LA REGLE DU JEU with English subtitles.
A good source for cheap copies of films on this label is a Gilbert Jeune annex just off Boulevard St. Michel–I believe on Rue de Medicis.
Jonathon, Yes General Line was still on the shelves in 06. You used to be able to pick up most FsF titles for around 8 euros each at a second floor shop in Rue aux Ours, in the Marais (a block down from Centre Pompidou) which is how I stocked up four years ago. Sadly it’s gone, along with a lot of other things. Fnac at Bastille sometimes stocks them but is unreliable. Thanks for your recco – is that in fact Gibert Joseph? They have (or used to have) an entire basement area of VHS (“K-7″) devoted to the weird and wonderful Rene Chateau label, but last time I was there in 2006 they had culled all this. There is a rental place further up Boul St Michel more or less opposite the Luxembourg Gardens which has a vast collection of rare material on VHS but for rent only.
Last FsF titles I bought were the aforesaid Susana, and Shanghai Gesture, which I had hoped would be an improvement on the crappy Image DVD, but – alas – it’s the same old Rohauer print, with slightly better contrast.
I won’t frustrate our “threaders” but will nonethelss throw a few adresses for David: check these stores ‘disc king’ on métro Saint-Paul ad “les enfants d’icare” at boulevard saint-martin. They have plenty of second hand stuff. End of the frustrating transmission.
Just saw Vidor’s “Wedding night”. Has anyone seen it ? It’s flawed but it reminded me a lot of Munau’s CITY GIRL.
nicolas.
I must say that –although a big Vidor fan– I found “Wedding Night” pretty mundane while I found “City Girl” so sublime that I had to scold myself to repress thinking “This might even be better than “Sunrise.” I’m back to my senses now but not sure that the less lavish and ostensibly less inventive “City Girl ” isn’t perhaps more prefectly realized than “Sunrise” (which, for example, changes its tone across city and country as if Chicago were a city in Saxony — or Hamburg Chicago.)
BTW thanks for recommending “Jeopardy,” which is well crafted fun tuogh bit more like a B film of an old lassie TV script that forgot to write in the dog. And thanks for reaffirming my interest in Von Sternberg’s “An American Tragedy,” which was great even off a wretched DVD copy.
…bit more like a B film of an old Lassie TV script that forgot to write in the dog than like vintage noir.