Director's Guild of Great Britain Honours Michael Powell
What a lovely Sunday Nicky & I had.
Well I certainly had a great time & she didn't complain either :)
But she made a few corrections to what I said
The occasion was that the Director's Guild of Great Britain had finally
decided to honour Michael Powell with a plaque on his house in Melbury Road.
I say finally because it was about 3 years ago that Ian Christie first mentioned
that it was being mooted.
Note that it's to honour only Michael, no mention of Emeric !! :(
Also that it's only a Director's Guild plaque, Micky's not eligible for
his English Heritage Blue Plaque until 2005.
Directors Guild plaque
on Micky's old house
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The Directors Guild decided not to have any part of the event at Melbury
Road itself (it's quite narrow & has a lot of traffic and they didn't want
to risk any accidents) but I went there & took a few photos of the house
with it's new plaque, just under the Blue Plaque for Marcus Stone (1840-1921),
artist who lived there from 1877-1921. It's one of 4 Blue Plaques in that
small road, There was quite a thriving artistic community there at the turn
of the last century.
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Fuller view of
Micky's old house
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So on to the Electric Cinema in the Portobello Road for a screening of Peeping
Tom (1960). They decided to show this I presume because it was filmed in
Melbury Road.
Maybe also because it's the best known film that Michael did that Emeric
wasn't at all involved in?
Nicky and I were there as Thelma's guests (she'd invited Paul Tritton but
he couldn't make it). Nicky had already arrived by the time I arrived (only
a few minutes late) and the cinema manager was giving an introduction.
Nicky: Not the cinema manager, but the director of the Director's Guild
Steve: That's the trouble with being a few minutes late :)
Nicky:
He said that PT had been chosen because EP wasn't involved and they
wanted it to be MP's day. Also because it was filmed locally. He said that
he had contacted English Heritage about plaques but had realied that 'this
wasn't going to happen in my lifetime' so decide what the Guild could do.
Steve: Is he planning on dying before 2005 then? That's when we plan
to have the English Heritage Blue Plaque on Melbury Road for Micky.
We plan to have Emeric's plaque in Eaton Square in 2002/3.
He then introduced Ian Christie & Thelma Schoonmaker (who had flown in from
Italy where she's finishing off Scorsese's latest masterpiece, The Gangs
of New York. Sadly Marty wasn't with her).
Ian spoke about the cinema and it's Powell (& Pressburger) connection. It
was one of the few places that showed P&P films through the dark days
of the sixties & early seventies when they were all but forgotten. Ian said
that he saw most of the P&P films there for the first time, often savagely
cut & sometimes only in black & white (when they were meant to be in Technicolor)
Thelma then introduced a few people sitting in the audience such as :-
Columba Powell who played young Mark in the film
Anna Massey who played Helen
Jack Cardiff, direct from his Oscar parties
Kathleen Byron, the mad nun herself
Elena Marks, widow of Leo
Freddie Francis, camera operator on SBR, GTE & TEP
Nicky:
And Marius Goring's widow Prudence
Steve: That's another name I missed by being late :(
Thelma said they'd invited Noreen Ackland (editor of PT, assistant editor
on TRS, SBR, TEP, ToH & IllMet) and Shirley Ann Field (Diane Ashley, the
fainting actress in PT) but they hadn't made it.
Lady Freyberg had told me she'd been invited but wasn't there. Maybe she
was put off because the event seemed to be deliberately ignoring Emeric.
Then we watched the film.
It's always lovely to see these films on a full size screen as they were
meant to be seen, none of these cineplex sized screens thank you :)
You see so much more than on the video or DVD as well. Although they're
fine for reference and of course it's better to see the films on a small
screen than not at all.
You all know the standard unanswered questions (or if you don't, check them
at
/FAQ/FAQ31.html)
There are quite a few continuity errors as well, a lot were probably due
to the very restricted budget but even so, some shouldn't have slipped through.
These are listed at
/Reviews/60_PT/PT00.html.
When it was finished and the applause died down, Ian & Thelma went back
up onto the stage and were joined by Anna & Columba (very brave of Columba
who's quite shy by nature) to answer any questions about the film.
Anna was the main target as most of the others had been quite thoroughly
grilled (in documentaries or at live sessions) before. She said that although
it was her first film, it was 40 years ago (shades of Col Blimp "40 years
ago <gurgle gurgle>") so she couldn't remember everything. She did remember
being given quite a long rehearsal time though and that a lot of the takes
were quite long. As she had only done theatre work before this didn't surprise
her. It was only as she did more films she realised how unusual this was
:)
It was especially important for the scenes with Esmond Knight that everyone
be well rehearsed so that he knew where everyone was (he was almost completely
blind) and Anna said that there was certainly no improvisation on her part.
This was confirmed by someone behind us who had been an actor in PT. I didn't
catch his name (was it given?) I think he was the one who was showing Diane
Ashley the trunks.
Although Leo was on the set & probably discussed things with Micky as they
went along so there may have been some last minute changes in other scenes.
One of the biggest differences from the original plan was in using Carl
Boehm instead of someone like Bogarde or Laurence Harvey as was originally
planned. Carl's accent made it very unusual but he made a most sympathetic
& understandable serial killer.
Ian talked for a while about the reviews, reminding us that it was the liberal,
left-wing Tribune that gave the worst review of all, the one saying "The
only really satisfactory way to dispose of Peeping Tom would be to shovel
it up and flush it swiftly down the nearest sewer. Even then, the stench
would remain..." - Derek Hill, Tribune, 1960.
There are a few more of the killer reviews listed at
/Reviews/60_PT/PT_Killers.html
But he also reminded us that the trade reviews were quite reasonable. It
was just that the distributors decided not to support it.
Soon after that the cinema manager came back in saying that he had to show
a film to make some money for the place so we retired to an upstairs bar
across the road.
Anna had to dash off, her husband wasn't well apparently.
Shame, I'd have liked to have had a word with her. Not only about PT but
about her dear old Dad as well.
But a few glasses of wine helped lubricate things and soon everyone was
chatting and schmoozing like professionals :)
I had a nice chat with Elena Marks, commiserating on the death of Leo (without
mentioning their divorce) saying that I'd met him at the opening of the
Violette Szabo museum and had hoped to talk more about his film work. She
said she'd like to stay in touch & I gave her my card.
I must get some PaPAS cards done, my normal business cards aren't really
suitable for that sort of occasion.
I had a quick catching up of news & gossip with Columba, Ian & Nick Burton
from UKCCC (home of The Michael Powell Building)
I had a word with Jack, congratulating him and asking if he was enjoying
this resurgence of fame (he is so far). He said to say hello to Natacha
who organised that event in Oxford in 1999.
I had a brief word with Thelma and when I mentioned the letter I'd written
to the BFI about BN (screen going blue instead of black as Sister Ruth faints)
she introduced me to a nice man from the BFI :)
Oh so many nice people and a great time.
Eventually people began to drift away so Nicky & I made our way back to
the tube station. I'd left my car near Melbury Road so was getting the tube
back to it. But we were so busy talking we didn't notice that I wanted to
go the other way. No matter, it was a nice day for a diversion :)
Then today I got an email from a Jo Botting at the BFI who tells me they've
"initiated a comparison of the print with original nitrate material in the
archive. We will inform you of the results"
[I've since been told they do agree they got it wrong and
are withdrawing the current print until they can do another one.
See
letter from the BFI.]
She also reminds me that the newsletter that the NFT sent out recently says
that they are ending the "Treasures from the National Film and Television
Archive" series (which is what most of the P&P screenings get listed
under) she suggests we complain to the NFT !!
I think that'll just about do for today. I'll nip off home now to be bright
eyed for Jack (& Ian) at the Prince Charles tomorrow.
I said this is going to be a busy month :)
Steve
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