rec.arts.movies.past-films

On Sep 18, 10:12 pm, "steve" wrote:
> Was anyone else watching? Two great films by Michael Powell
> (pre-Pressburger), and one by a director I hadnt encountered before, Walter
> Forde.
>
> Powell:
>
> "Something Always Happens"
> A simple and touching little love story. Nothing flashy, here. The appeal
> is in the affable characters, the comical situations (including some hidden
> identity tricks), and comic irony. Wonderfully written and acted.
>
> "Crown vs. Stevens"
> An intriguing bit of a mystery with the innocent protagonist caught up in
> difficult circumstances. Not exactly a dark film, but with noir-ish
> touches. Again, great writing and acting.
>
> What's not to love about these early Powell films? More to my taste than
> the later P&P, I'd say. Charming and rather straight forward.
>
> Forde:
>
> "The Peterville Diamond"
> This is a fun little crime drama/comedy of manners. A hot housewife (Anne
> Crawford as "Teri") feels unappreciated and loudly pretends to make plans to
> meet her lover for a rendezvous. Her husband takes the bait, and they both
> end up witnesses to a jewell robbery. The thief is taken with Teri (who
> plays him for all it's worth) and, by chance, appears later at a high
> profile party as the Baron of something or other. It's all rather comical
> and sophisticated.
>
> None of this stuff is on DVD, BTW. Damn.
>
> So, who saw these? What did you guys think?
>
> steve
>

Did they give them much of an introduction to explain the Quota system
that they were made under? And that they were all made very quickly
and cheaply? Someone has recorded them all for me but I haven't seen
the broadcast yet. I've seen both of the P&P films before of course.

Most directors of Quota films just did what they were paid for and
churned out films that were barely watchable, and rarely seen. But
Powell treated it like an apprenticeship as a director. He modified
the scripts he was given to sharpen them up (where possible). He did
some location shooting despite the very limited budget. He tried out
lots of different techniques, some worked better than others. The ones
that worked can sometimes be seen done again, and done better, in some
of his major films.

I have seen some mention that TCM hope to release some of these
Teddington movies in a DVD boxed set "sometime before Christmas"

Steve