Restoration & New Print
Charles Doble writes:
Honeymoon is a film which has matured. A film which is only being
appreciated some 40 years after it was originally made and for
reasons completely unforeseen by its creator, our unsurpassed British
director Michael Powell.
Often dismissed as "a Spanish travelogue with frenetic music and
dancing" such words completely fail to understand or appreciate this film.
The storyline is best summed up in this release, published at the time
in 1959:
"Ludmila Tcherina and Anthony Steel are on a fabulous honeymoon in
sunny Spain. They are rich. They are happy. And then they meet the
fiery Spanish dancer Antonio...
When Antonio discovers the bride is a prima ballerina who has given
up her career for marriage, he refuses to rest until he has persuaded her
to dance again - as his partner.
Wherever they drive in their gleaming silver convertible, they run
into Antonio. On the road outside Santiago; in a fashionable bar in
Madrid; at the caves of Grenada.
Antonio conducts a captivating campaign. He persuades her to dance
with him in his studio. He tempts her with his dancing feet; he lures
her on with his mischievous eyes. He breathes into her ear that only
she can dance the leading role in his latest production. He ignores
the jealous husband.
When the three meet in Madrid for the last time Antonio has
apparently called off his campaign. Everything it seems, will be
back to normal. The honeymooners are free to continue their world
cruise.
But there's still a twinkle in Antonio's eyes. For he is about to go
with his dance company...on a world tour!"
As with all of Michael Powell's films, these few sentences belie what
he is saying to us on a deeper and more surreal level.
The film recounts experiences that are common to many of us. The
emotional love and attraction which we, as participants, are often
helpless to control and which time and circumstances cannot dim. On
the other hand, there is love that brings two people together and yet
which quickly withers into a mutual and stoical acceptance of the
relationship which becomes devoid of passion and emotion, this void
being filled with regret and recrimination.
Such is it with Kit and Anna. This mutual indifference is mirrored by
the outpouring of passion, albeit constrained, which Antonio and
Anna share. Blissfully, as in the ballet sequence in the Alhambra,
and with increasing darkening overtones where Antonio and Rosita
dance to a listening Kit and Anna in De Falla's El Amor Brujo, to
the nightmarish finale as Anna struggles with her hopeless emotional
difficulties.
The film ends with the whole situation clearly not resolved. Antonio
has still not given up (planning his world tour to include Australia)
and just look at Anna's parting eye contact as the film ends.
How was the film conceived?
If we go back to Britain of the late 1950s it was a time which saw
the dawning of Spain as a popular overseas destination and the birth
of the "package holiday". It was also a time where Flamenco dancing
and, above all, the talents of Antonio and his company were rapturously
received in London and the provinces.
After one of these performances, happily, Micky and Antonio were to
meet. Antonio at once recognised Michael Powell as the creator of The
Red Shoes, a film, and whose main participant, Moira Shearer, were
rapturously received by Antonio in equal part.
He begged Michael Powell to create a film for him and Moira Shearer.
Antonio was not only one of the finest exponents of Flamenco but also
a visionary creator of some outstanding contemporary Spanish works of
dance and ballet.
A plan and a plot was conceived. Financing was agreed with Suevia Films
(one of Spain's most outstanding post-war film production companies).
Michael Powell got together many of his usual pals and, at the same
time, displayed his remarkable vision of gathering together talent
which at the time were new and relatively unheard of but who were to
become highly regarded down the years.
In actual fact, the plot was to some extent "fitted around" Antonio's
existing routine. He, Rosita Segovia and his dancers had many times
performed El Amor Brujo worldwide and his Zapeteado with music by
Sarasate was regularly on his repertoire.
The incorporation of the legend of the Lovers of Teruel was an idea
that came originally from Ludmila Tcherina who had visited Teruel
when in Spain making a film version of Wagner's Parsifal a few years
before. The Lovers of Teruel Ballet was to be a feature film made by
Ludmila Tcherina and her husband, Raymond Roi, with Raymond Rouleau
in the early 1960s with music by Mikis Theodorakis. A rare film now
but one which will at least be saved from oblivion and possibly
destruction as I am currently working on a restoration.
Honeymoon represents the last of Michael Powell's "total" films. The
other three being The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffmann and Oh
Rosalinda!! Films which combine acting, drama, dialogue, music and
dance so imaginatively and so brilliantly.
The making of the film proved a challenge for Micky. In fact it was
almost a bridge too far.
He found that even he was unable to persuade his Spanish collaborators
to become "sympatico" with his way of working and, for his part, he
found them bewildering.
For instance, only into the second day of shooting in the Suevia
studios outside Madrid he was deeply upset by the electrocution of
one of the lighting crew way up above the set. Shooting was delayed
for a day while a priest was found to give the last rights before the
body could be moved.
The Spanish production team just did not understand Michael Powell's
way of working and problems multiplied, both on an emotional and
financial level.
In the end it was a question of just "getting the film finished
and onto the screen" and this shows in the editing, dubbing and
camera work. Such were the problems that George Minassian was sent
back to Spain with little more than a camera and the bonnet of a
Bentley which he strapped to an old truck and drove around the
northern coast route near Vigo to obtain extra footage for the
opening sequence!
As if all those problems weren't enough, the film was breaking new
ground technically. It was originally produced in stereo; a four
track magnetic version. Visually, it was released in both Wonderama
and Technirama. These were very new processes. One of these was an
attempt to get over the problems of loss of focus where projection
was onto large curved screens. This involved a complicated and heavy
series of lenses mounted on the front of the 35mm projector. Each
cell of the film was divided vertically into two halves. From a
projection point of view it was a nightmare to get the two halves
to meet seamlessly in the centre of the screen and at the same time,
even with the largest projectors, the colossally heavy adaptor for
the ARC 120 process caused uncontrollable picture shake.
The film's distribution was fairly half-hearted and was only ever
released in the United States as a television product in 1966. In
the UK it was rapidly cut, re-cut and then cut again. A version
was produced entitled "Dancing in the Sun" for the Children's
Matinee Society and the film then quickly returned to sleep in
the vaults.
In February 2000 its slumbers were rudely disturbed by Charles Doble.
I had long enjoyed and appreciated the films of Michael Powell and
was lucky enough to have been a friend of his in the 1960s and 70s.
I was also frustrated that no version of Honeymoon, apart from a few
poor videos, were available commercially.
With superb assistance and cooperation with Canal+ (owners of the
rights and original material) a restoration process was embarked upon.
It was found that the only "long" version which survived in any
form, either original, negative, internegative or YCM interpositive,
was the Spanish Version.
Thankfully, the greatest cuts had been made from the two dance
sequences El Amor Brujo and "The Lovers of Teruel" ballet. It
therefore presented no particular problem (apart from huge expense)
to produce new internegs and then prints of these two sections of
the film.
The Spanish long version was run concurrently with the longest of
the short British versions to discover what other cuts had been made.
The only other significant cut was in Antonio's dance studio where
he explains the story of The Lovers of Teruel Ballet to Ludmila.
I decided to include this in its original Spanish form (there
being no British footage), owing to the fact that we urgently
need to complete the project for the San Sebastian Film Festival
in Spain. Since there was so much Spanish dialogue already in
the film and since it was going to be presented to a Spanish
audience, we used this as the justification for its inclusion.
However, it is the intention that this section will be dubbed
and Ludmila is enthusiastically doing this at this very moment
and it is intended to use a third party for Antonio's voice
as he sadly died some years ago.
I am also completing a Spanish restored version for the Filmoteca
Espagnola which will be available later on in the year.
It is remarkable how much material has survived; both the original
Wonderama and Technirama prints and negatives (the prints having
turned to a "claret" shade of pink), all the original stereo
magnetic track negs and, interestingly, many original outtakes not
ever included in the final print.
Needless to say, the music of De Falla, Mikis Theodorakis and
Sarasate is another reason why this film is appreciated by film
going audiences who may not have even heard of Michael Powell.
The Honeymoon Song was subsequently recorded by The Beatles and,
apparently, is one of Paul McCartney's favourites.
I started this critique by saying that Honeymoon was a film which
has matured in a way that its original maker could not have foreseen;
unlike some of Michael Powell's films, Honeymoon has an audience far
wider than his aficionados. In fact, probably far greater.
The huge talent of Ludmila Tcherina and her sheer scale of work is
appreciated by lovers of ballet worldwide. At the same time,
Antonio, a legend in his own lifetime, has a following worldwide.
So many young people are coming into and appreciating the world of
Flamenco and the world of Flamenco is Antonio. Very little footage
survives of his performances which took place in the 1950s at the
height of his powers. The same may be said to be true of Leonide
Massine who choreographed many of the dance scenes and whose
remarkable performance as the spectre in Les Amants Brujo is a
memorable one. Honeymoon is therefore a rare opportunity to feast
upon not just a cameo performance by these two artists but over
100 minutes worth. At the same time the music of De Falla, Mikis
Theodorakis and Sarasate is unforgetable.
Honeymoon presents the viewer with a rich and exotic diet of music
and dance... And yes, the Spanish countryside is rather good as well!
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