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Peter Handford
Peter Handford (21 March 1919 – 6 November 2007) was an English location sound recordist. He is considered a master and pioneer of this area of sound recording. Life and work Born into a vicarage family at Four Elms in Kent, England, Handford began work in 1936 with London Films at Denham as a trainee sound recordist. He honed his sound recording skills during the D-Day landings, where he served with the Army Film Unit of the British Expeditionary Force. His first screen credit was on ''Black Magic'' (1949) and in the same year he recorded ''Under Capricorn'' for Alfred Hitchcock. In 1972, Hitchcock sought him out to work on ''Frenzy''. Handford pioneered the use of original synchronous sound recording for film director David Lean on '' Summertime'' (also known as ''Summer Madness'', 1955) which was shot on location in Venice, and developed the technique during the British New Wave cinema movement, working on films such as '' Room at the Top'' (1959), '' The Enterta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Film Unit
The Army Film and Photographic Unit was a subdivision of the British armed forces set up on 24 October 1941, to record military events in which the British and Commonwealth armies was engaged. During the war, almost 23 percent of all AFPU soldiers were killed in action; the AFPU was disbanded in 1946. History At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Ministry of Information controlled and censored publicity related to all military and civil actions. Separately, the Director of Public Relations, War Office dealt specifically with the affairs of the British army. It was quickly realised that the front line was no place for untrained photographers and cameramen and a call was made to recruit soldiers who had pre-war professional experience with cameras and cine film. Under Lt. Col. Hugh St. Clair Stewart, Pinewood Studio was selected as the headquarters of the new unit called the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) as well as the RAF Film Unit and the Crown Film Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lean
Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), ''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), and ''A Passage to India'' (1984). He also directed the film adaptations of two Charles Dickens novels, '' Great Expectations'' (1946) and '' Oliver Twist'' (1948), as well as the romantic drama ''Brief Encounter'' (1945). Originally a film editor in the early 1930s, Lean made his directorial debut with 1942's '' In Which We Serve'', which was the first of four collaborations with Noël Coward. Beginning with '' Summertime'' in 1955, Lean began to make internationally co-produced films financed by the big Hollywood studios; in 1970, however, the critical failure of his film ''Ryan's Daughter'' led him to take a fourteen-year break from filmmaking, during which he pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder On The Orient Express (1974 Film)
''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet, produced by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin, and based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film features the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney), who is asked to investigate the murder of an American business tycoon aboard the Orient Express train. The suspects are portrayed by an all-star cast, including Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, Rachel Roberts, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark and Wendy Hiller. The screenplay is by Paul Dehn. The film was a commercial and critical success. Bergman won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the film received five other nominations at the 47th Academy Awards: Best Actor (Finney), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. Plot The opening of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s, he moved to Europe where he made the remainder of his films, mostly in the United Kingdom. Among the most critically and commercially successful were the films with screenplays by Harold Pinter: ''The Servant'' (1963) and ''The Go-Between'' (1971). Losey's 1976 film ''Monsieur Klein'' won the César Awards for Best Film and Best Director. He was a four-time nominee for both the Palme d'Or (winning once) and the Golden Lion, and a two-time BAFTA nominee. Early life and career Joseph Walton Losey III was born on January 14, 1909, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he and Nicholas Ray were high-school classmates at La Crosse Central High School. He attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University, beginning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Go-Between (1971 Film)
''The Go-Between'' is a 1971''The Times'', 24 September 1971, page 9: ''The shadows of a country-house summer'' (film review by John Russell Taylor) - Read 2014-01-11 in The Times Digital Archive British period romantic drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Its screenplay, by Harold Pinter, is an adaptation of the 1953 novel ''The Go-Between'' by L. P. Hartley. The film stars Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave and Dominic Guard. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. Plot The story follows a young boy named Leo Colston, who in the year 1900 is a guest of his wealthy school friend, Marcus Maudsley, to spend the summer holidays at his family's Norfolk country house. While there, Marcus is taken sick and quarantined with the measles. Left to entertain himself, Leo befriends Marcus's beautiful elder sister Marian Maudsley, and finds himself a messenger, carrying messages between her and a tenant farmer neighbour, Ted Burgess, with whom s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oh! What A Lovely War
''Oh! What a Lovely War'' is a 1969 British comedy musical war film directed by Richard Attenborough (in his directorial debut), with an ensemble cast, including Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Jack Hawkins, Corin Redgrave, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Paul Shelley, Malcolm McFee, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Nanette Newman, Edward Fox, Susannah York, John Clements, Phyllis Calvert and Maurice Roëves. The film is based on the stage musical ''Oh, What a Lovely War!'', originated by Charles Chilton as the radio play ''The Long Long Trail'' in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963. The title is derived from the music hall song "Oh! It's a Lovely War", which is one of the major numbers in the film. Synopsis ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' summarises and comments on the events of World War I using popular songs of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Jones (1963 Film)
''Tom Jones'' is a 1963 British comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic 1749 novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, and won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film was produced and directed by Tony Richardson and the screenplay was adapted by playwright John Osborne. A period piece set in 18th-century Somerset and London, ''Tom Jones'' was a success both critically and at the box office. At the 36th Academy Awards, it was nominated for ten Oscars, winning four: Best Picture, Best Director for Richardson, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. It also won two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and three BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Best British Film. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it as the 51st greatest British film of the 20th century. Plot The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Liar (film)
''Billy Liar'' is a 1963 British CinemaScope comedy-drama film based on the 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse. Directed by John Schlesinger, it stars Tom Courtenay (who had understudied Albert Finney in the West End theatre adaptation of the novel) as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne plays Mrs. Fisher and Wilfred Pickles plays Mr. Fisher. Rodney Bewes, Finlay Currie and Leonard Rossiter also feature. The Cinemascope photography is by Denys Coop and Richard Rodney Bennett supplied the score. The film belongs to the British New Wave, inspired by both the earlier kitchen sink realism movement and the French New Wave. Characteristic of the style is a documentary/''cinéma vérité'' feel and the use of real locations (in this case, many in the city of Bradford in Yorkshire). Plot Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) lives in Yorkshire with his parents (Wilfred Pickles and Mona Washbourne) and grandmother (Ethel Griffies). Billy wishes to get awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sons And Lovers (film)
''Sons and Lovers'' is a 1960 British Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Jack Cardiff adapted from the Autobiographical novel, semi-autobiographic Sons and Lovers, novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence. It stars Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, Wendy Hiller, Mary Ure and Heather Sears. Location shooting took place near Nottingham in the East Midlands of England, very close to where Lawrence himself grew up. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one for Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Best Cinematography. The film was also entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. Plot A young man with artistic talent who lives in a close-knit, English coal-mining town during the early 20th century finds himself inhibited by his Psychological manipulation, emotionally manipulative, domineering mother—a literary, psychological interpretation of the Oedipus story. Gertrude Morel, miserable in her marriage, puts her hope into her son, Paul, who has the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (film)
''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is a 1960 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Karel Reisz and produced by Tony Richardson. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation. The film is about a young teddy boy machinist, Arthur, who spends his weekends drinking and partying, all the while having an affair with a married woman. The film is one of a series of "kitchen sink drama" films made in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as part of the British New Wave of filmmaking, from directors such as Reisz, Jack Clayton, Lindsay Anderson, John Schlesinger and Tony Richardson and adapted from the works of writers such as Sillitoe, John Braine and John Osborne. A common trope in these films was the working-class " angry young man" character (in this case, the character of Arthur), who rebels against the oppressive system of his elders. In 1999, the British Film Institute named ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Entertainer (film)
''The Entertainer'' is a 1960 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Tony Richardson, produced by Harry Saltzman and adapted by John Osborne and Nigel Kneale from Osborne’s stage play of the same name. The film stars Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice, a failing third-rate music-hall stage performer who tries to keep his career going even as the music-hall tradition fades into history and his personal life falls apart. It was filmed on location in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Plot Jean Rice, a young London art teacher, travels to a seaside resort (not specified but partly filmed in Morecambe) to visit her family. She is emotionally confused, having had a row with her fiancé Graham, who wants her to emigrate with him to Africa. She also is deeply concerned about the Suez Crisis, having seen Mick, her soldier brother, go to the war. She has attended a peace rally in Trafalgar Square that was dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Room At The Top (1959 Film)
''Room at the Top'' is a 1959 British film based on the 1957 novel of the same name by John Braine. It was adapted by Neil Paterson (with uncredited work by Mordecai Richler), directed by Jack Clayton (his feature-length debut), and produced by John and James Woolf. The film stars Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit, Donald Houston, and Hermione Baddeley. The film was widely lauded, and it was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two: Best Actress (Signoret) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Paterson). Its other nominations at the 32nd Academy Awards were for Best Picture, Best Director (Clayton), Best Actor (Harvey), and Best Supporting Actress (Baddeley). Baddeley's performance, consisting of 2 minutes and 19 seconds of screen time, is the shortest ever to be nominated for an acting Oscar. Plot In 1947, in West Riding of Yorkshire, England, Joseph (Joe) Lampton, an ambitious young man, moves from his hometown, the dreary factory town of Dufto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
