Visiting Pleasantville, New York
A mini-season of P&P films in NY State
A report from Malcolm Pratt
Here at last are a few notes on "Malcolm's New York Adventure" -
reveling in 5 days' worth of the Michael Powell retrospective at the
Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY.
- The Center has 3 different auditoriums, with capacities of 70, 140,
and 250. All the films I saw, w/the exception of the Sunday afternoon
screening of ACT w/John Sweet, were held in the smallest theatre. On
Wednesday I watched BN twice: the attendance at the 5:30 screening was
fairly small - about 30 people, most of whom (as was the case for all
the screenings I attended) were predominantly older (40+). A bit larger
crowd at the 7:30 showing, but not more than 50. This was the first
screening of BN for the day, but the fourth screening of BN during the
retrospective.
- Author Kate Buford, who I was told was a great enthusiast of P&P and
IKWIG in particular, had introduced this film, and TRS, EOTW, and PT, at
screenings that took place previous to my arrival. She was not in
attendance at any of the screenings while I was there, so I didn't get
the chance to meet her. Someone on the staff told me they thought she
was working on a MP book, or was planning such a book.
- The BN print was excellent, but it did have the infamous "Blue Screen
of Death" at the fainting of Sister Ruth. I'm not sure what the print
source was, but hope to get that info later from the Programming
Director of the Center.
- The incredible experience of seeing all these films on a bigger screen
for the first time more than compensated for the effort and expense of
my attending. As was the chance to watch the films with other
movie-goers, the first time that I had ever enjoyed the shared
movie-viewing experience of the P&P films (apart from watching a few on
my tv w/my wife and daughter.) It was quite interesting to hear the
laughter to Emeric's humorous bits of dialogue in ACT, IKWIG and AMOLAD.
- There were 2 different monthly 16-page b&w programs available in the
lobby which described all the films to be shown during the month at the
Center. The July/August program contained a 2-page centerfold on "The
Amazing Films of Michael Powell" while the September program contained a
1/3 page story on the Sept. films - ACT, IKWIG, and STH. Needless to
say, I grabbed a bit more than a handful during my stay, and if anyone
should like one, let me know and I'll send you one, while supplies last.
- PT was shown the next day and again I attended both screenings, at
5:30 and 7:45. Crowd size and demographics much the same as before.
(These were now the 7th and 8th time PT had been screened). After both
screenings, I lingered in the lobby and struck up conversations
w/various members of the crowd. After a while, my "reputation" as the
fellow who came all the way from Memphis spread around a bit, and some
of the people were approaching me w/questions, while others were keeping
a safe distance from such an obvious obsessive. I was practically
holding court, explaining the effect of PT on MP's career, why it was so
reviled by the British critics, as well as pointing out that it was MP,
Columba, and Frankie in the home movies, and that it was from a story by
Leo Marks, not Emeric. I was a bit concerned that my impromptu
"seminars" might be misconstrued as overstepping my role at the
festival, but the theatre manager, a truly delightful angel named Nancy,
seemed genuinely pleased that I was able to provide some useful and
informative background on the films and filmmakers.
- One truly trivial question from watching PT: when the candle is
blown out on the birthday cake that Anna brings to Carl, it seemed
strange to me that no smoke seemed to emanate from the extinguished
flame. Did I just miss it, was it not evident on the film, did it not
produce smoke for some other reason, or was it not a "real" candle
flame?
- One gentleman told me afterwards how disconcerting it was for him to
have the obviously German actor in the midst of an otherwise all-British
cast. He wanted to know why a German was chosen for the role. He
didn't elaborate further as to why it was so bothersome, and I was at a
loss to to tell him how to handle such a reaction. It never really
bothered me. Did/does it bother anyone else?
- IKWIG was the Friday feature, and I saw 2 of the 3 screenings. I had
learned on Thursday morning - quite by accident (which will happen) -
that Elvis Costello was doing one of those outdoor summer concerts on
the next day's Today Show, and decided it would be a memorable event to
attend. So I had to get up at 4am and catch a train to NYC, and by the
end of the day, I couldn't stay awake for the final 9:30 IKWIG
screening. Elvis, btw, played "Pump It Up" and "What's So Funny 'Bout
Peace, Love, and Understanding?" twice (the first time was a rehearsal
before he did them live on the air, plus "45" and "Spooky Girlfriend"
from his newest CD.) It was quite crowded in the unmean but misty
streets of NYC and I couldn't see EC very well, but all in all it was
worth the effort. And it was definitely in keeping w/the British theme
to my travels.
- The IKWIG print was quite good, and it seemed to elicit the most
laughs from the audience. I was of course nearly moved to tears at the
end of both screenings, when those bagpipes are first heard.
- One prototypical New York lady that I met in the lobby after PT
shared an observation about MP's films that I had read elsewhere
previously. She had just seen TRS, EOTW, and BN at the festival and
said that in MP's films, "no cliff goes unjumped." I thought this
rather astute, and suppose when you see all those films basically
back-to-back, it's a bit easier to notice that recurrent "falling to
death" theme in many of the MP and P&P films.
- I had the great good fortune to spend almost an hour w/Thelma at her
NYC editing offices as a part of my pilgrimage. She was incredibly
cordial and kind, taking me on a quick tour, showing me Mr. Scorsese's
extensive video tape library w/thousands of tapes, as well as several
16- and 35-mm film canisters that lined the hallways. She also showed
me various memorabilia on the walls, including huge (at least 8'x8')
posters for TOH, SBR, and AMOLAD, along w/a number of foreign-language
lobby cards for SIB, TOB, and others. The AMOLAD poster, iirc, was
identical to the beautiful AMOLAD re-release 4-color poster that
featured David and Kim cheek-to-cheek w/the stairway in the background.
I had always thought this was a new piece of artwork designed for the
re-release, but apparently it was not, as this looked nearly identical.
Hanging on the opposite wall from this poster in a glass-enclosed case
was David Niven's original flight jacket and goggles from AMOLAD, a gift
to Martin for his restoration efforts. Needless to say, I was totally
blown away and pretty much overwhelmed by all that I was shown.
- Thelma mentioned several things of interest: The CB DVD is indeed on
the way, and she has loaned several of the publicity stills for it. A
DVD of EOTW is in the works, and there are plans to perhaps have Daniel
Day-Lewis read excerpts from MP's "200,000 Feet" as a part of it. She
said she recently saw the restored Milestone print of EOTW, and that it
was excellent, leaving the audience in a state of hushed amazement.
Work on GANGS is nearly complete, w/opening date set for on or near
Christmas Day. The final step is to perform, record, and mix the
soundtrack, scheduled for the next few weeks. The horror stories about
working w/Harvey Weinstein are definitely true. She and Mr. Scorsese
are set to begin filming the Howard Hughes biopic w/Leo in the first
quarter of next year in California. There is talk of MOMA doing a major
Powell retrospective in 2005, the centennial year of his birth.
- On Saturday I saw AMOLAD twice. This apparently was the c. 1980
restored print by Columbia Pictures, as it opened w/the statue of
Columbia, followed by the credit "Martin Scorsese Presents" in script.
The condition of the print was a bit tired and scratchy (visually) in
parts, probably the poorest quality print of all the films that I saw.
The soundtrack quality, however, was excellent, and even though the
print was not super, the richness of the colors and the details that
were so much clearer on the big screen were the best of the three color
films I saw. The library near the ping-pong table area was particularly
rich, vivid and clear. And of course the greatest thrill was being able
to carefully watch the "walking through the operating room doorway"
effect twice! That is so amazing!
- On a beautiful, wet Sunday afternoon, I had the chance to watch ACT
twice. As I watched it, I kept asking myself how different it would
have been if MP's original choice for Culpepper, Roger Livesey, had
decided to take the role. I wondered how his warm, distinctive voice
and demeanor would have made a difference in how the Culpepper character
was perceived by the WWII British audience. My suspicion is that it
would have greatly increased the audience's understanding of and
tolerance for his cruel behavior and its justification. When compared to
what Roger Livesey's Culpepper might have been, Eric Portman's persona
and tone elicits a much more distant, unapproachable and therefore less
tolerant response from a movie audience. This is not, of course, to
take anything away from Portman's performance, which was exceptional,
and it never fails to move me when his voice quivers as he says, "You
can almost hear the horses' hooves..." It's just a bit fun to
speculate on "what-if."
- At the ACT screening at 5:30, Thelma introduced John Sweet, who
said a few introductory words before the screening. The print was
exceptional, as noted by both myself and Thelma, and the audience
(nearly full, approx. 200 people) seemed to enjoy it very much. When
the scenes were shown of the bombed-out parts of Canterbury, it seemed
to particularly hit home w/the New Yorkers in light of 9/11. (I had
made a visit to Ground Zero on Friday, and it hit home w/me as well.)
After the screening, Thelma and John sat in chairs in the small stage in
front of the screen and took questions from the audience for about 45
minutes. One of the questions was whether or not those were actual
scenes of the bombed out areas of Canterbury, which Thelma said they in
fact were. Mr. Sweet had some very interesting comments to make, such
as "Michael Powell was often disappointed in me." He then repeated the
story he had shared on the BBC radio broadcast about ACT, when MP asked
him, after his scene w/Sheila on the wagon, "Why the sudden mastery?"
He said that MP as a director was "an imperious man" who was very clear
in his own mind about what he wanted to accomplish. When asked about
his career and background, he said there were two categories - actors
and behavers (spelling should be 'behavior'?). "Jimmy Stewart was a
behaver. I'm a behaver." He mentioned how the audience of the time had
a hard time w/the glue man story and his behavior, and he offered his
own explanation for "why the glue man?": The story was about 3 young
people who get a blessing, and one who does a penance. What could
Thomas Culpepper have done that required a penance? What do you do with
3 young people in the way of a plot? They needed something to do,
something to solve, and this was the main purpose of the mystery of the
glue man. Someone asked about the effect of the film on his career -
was there a fan club? He said he received a total of 3 fan letters from
3 lonesome British servicewomen. Someone asked how much he received for
his work in ACT and he said the Army rule was that any outside pay must
be given to a charity, and that's what he did. When asked, he said he
received $2,000 from the film company and that the charity he gave it to
was the NAACP. He said that ACT was something of a cult film, and when
asked why that was so, he said he thought in part it was because
"there's no hurry in this film", an observation that I thought was quite
insightful, quite original, and also quite accurate. Afterwards, I
asked Mr. Sweet if he had ever seen the documentary "A Pilgrim's Return"
or heard the BBC broadcast about ACT. He said he hadn't, and I then
presented him w/copies of both that I had made for him. (Thanks to
Steve, for making that documentary available to us all.) He signed my
Paul Tritton book, "Sgt. John Sweet."
On Labor Day morning, I had to wake up at 2:30am in order to catch a
6:00am return flight home, so that I could be present for the 10:30 am
baptism of my great-niece. I've been enjoying the afterglow of my NY
experiences ever since, with fond and unforgettable memories that only
grow stronger w/each passing day.
Best wishes to Steve, and any other fortunate souls, who may be headed
for Spain in the next few days.
- Malcolm
See
http://www.burnsfilmcenter.org/FilmProgramming/Docs/special.html
for more information.
See
for a report of the event.
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