And what better film for this particular meme than Powell & Pressburger's 'A Matter of Life & Death:
One of the greatest films they ever made, and still a classic to this day.
No pandering to the audience in those days - you were expected to know who all these people from history were, there was very little exposition from the main characters, and it maintains its mystery to the end - is Peter dreaming? Is it real?
It was innovative in its day, in its use of technicolour for 'real life' and black and white for the 'trial' scenes, and it remains one film I hope they never remake, because I can't see how it could ever be bettered...
Tomorrow, L is for Literature.
5 comments:
Oh yes - as entertainment it's purely beautiful - as well as being Atlanticist propaganda, of course. And a good thing too.
The remake would feature British squaddies killed by US air bombing during Gulf One, and many, many slaves imported into America and the West Indies by the British: and no mention of the Royal Navy and the Union Army freeing their descendants and later counterparts.
The verdict under such circumstances would be a foregone conclusion.
Voted second greatest British film of all time, it was beaten by 'Get Carter' of all films, in an opinion poll.
Colour to monochrome (or vice versa) was not an original on-screen dramatic effect and although popularity and greatness are linked, they are not the same.
"The remake would feature British squaddies killed by US air bombing during Gulf One, and many, many slaves imported into America and the West Indies by the British: and no mention of the Royal Navy and the Union Army freeing their descendants and later counterparts."
I wouldn't be surprised to find someone somewhere is writing that very script...
"...it was beaten by 'Get Carter' of all films, in an opinion poll. "
Really? That's another film I've never watched, though I've seen references and reviews galore. Must dig it out.
We can thank god popularity and greatness aren't the same, when we look at what is popular today!
I love the "American Idea" scene. The range of peoples who are all American. No multicultural BS there and written by a Hungarian, spoken by a Canadian.
Phew. When I think of what F could have been for...
On the subject of remakes, anyone else think that Peter Jackson is being a bit brave doing a Dam Busters remake? He's either going to have to change the name of the dog and upset those who expect as much historical accuracy as possible, or leave it so as to reflect attitudes of the time and get it in the neck from the race relations crowd instead.
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