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Red Ensign (film)
''Red Ensign'' is a 1934 film directed by British filmmaker Michael Powell. It is an early low-budget "quota quickie". Plot In 1933, David Barr is the manager and chief designer of Glasgow shipbuilding firm Burns, McKinnon & Co. He comes up with a radical new ship design that can carry 25% more cargo for the tonnage and use less fuel at a time when the industry as a whole is in recession. Barr decides to build not just one ship, as Lord Dean advises, but twenty (to bring the costs down to a manageable level). Manning, a rival shipbuilder Barr loathes, hears rumors and sends two men undercover to find out what they can. They manage to get themselves hired. Manning then offers to purchase either the design or all the ships they can build. Both offers are rejected. With the support of June McKinnon, the chief shareholder, Barr proceeds, despite the opposition of Lord Dean and other members of the board. He receives a severe setback when the Government declines to give him a contrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Powell
Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a series of classic British films, notably ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' (1943), ''A Canterbury Tale'' (1944), ''I Know Where I'm Going!'' (1945), '' A Matter of Life and Death'' (1946, also called ''Stairway to Heaven''), ''Black Narcissus'' (1947), '' The Red Shoes'' (1948), and ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (1951). His later controversial 1960 film ''Peeping Tom'', while today considered a classic, and a contender as the first " slasher", was so vilified on first release that his career was seriously damaged. Many filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and George A. Romero have cited Powell as an influence. In 1981, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award along with his partner Pressburger, the highest honour th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Carney
George Carney (21 November 1887 – 9 December 1947) was a British comedian and film actor. Born in Bristol, he worked in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange, in a furniture business, then in the Belfast shipyards. In 1906 he made his debut stage appearance in a pantomime in Nottingham, with his first London appearance following in 1907, as one half of a double act, Carney and Armstrong. They toured together in Britain, Australia and South Africa before Carney set up revues with another comedian, Sam Harris. From 1926, he worked on stage as a solo comedian, with such sketches as "The Fool of the Force", "The Stage Door Keeper", and "I Live in Leicester Square". He then took up a film career, appearing as a character actor in numerous British films, including ''Love on the Dole'' (1941) and '' Brighton Rock'' (1947). He died in London in 1947. Complete filmography * ''Commissionaire'' (1933) - Sergeant Ted Seymour * ''The Television Follies'' (1933) - Father * '' Say It with F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DVD Region Code
DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to the appropriate region. This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code). The American DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback control (RPC) system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs. DVDs may use one code, multiple codes (multi-region), or all codes (region free). Region codes and countries Any combination of regions can be applied to a single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Europe, L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Grierson
John Grierson (26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972) was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Flaherty's '' Moana''.Ann Curthoys, Marilyn Lakebr>Connected worlds: history in transnational perspective, Volume 2004p.151. Australian National University Press Early life Grierson was born in the old schoolhouse in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland, to schoolmaster Robert Morrison Grierson from Boddam, near Peterhead, and Jane Anthony, a teacher from Ayrshire. His mother, a suffragette and ardent Labour Party activist, often took the chair at Tom Johnston's election meetings. The family moved to Cambusbarron, Stirling, in 1900, when the children were still young, after Grierson's father was appointed headmaster of Cambusbarron school. When the family moved, John had three elder sisters, Agnes, Janet, and Margaret, and a younger brother, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contraband (1940 Film)
''Contraband'' (1940) is a wartime spy film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which reunited stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson after their earlier appearance in ''The Spy in Black'' the previous year. On this occasion, Veidt plays a hero, something he did not do very often, and there is also an early (uncredited) performance by Leo Genn. The title of the film in the United States was ''Blackout''. Powell writes in his autobiography, ''A Life in Movies'', as saying that the U.S. renaming was a better title and he wished he had thought of it. Plot It is November 1939: the Phoney War-stage of the World War II. Denmark is still neutral, but (Danish) Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) and his freighter ''Helvig'' are stopped in the English Channel by Lt. Commanders Ashton (Joss Ambler) and Ellis (Harold Warrender) for a cargo inspection in a British Contraband Control Port. He receives two shore passes for himself and his First Offic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
49th Parallel (film)
''49th Parallel'' is a 1941 British and Canadian war drama film. It was the third film made by the British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was released in the United States as ''The Invaders''. The British Ministry of Information approached Michael Powell to make a propaganda film for them, suggesting he make "a film about mine-sweeping". Instead, Powell decided to make a film to help sway opinion in the then-neutral United States. Said Powell, "I hoped it might scare the pants off the Americans" and thus bring them into the war. Screenwriter Emeric Pressburger remarked, "Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I'd show him a thing or two". Powell persuaded the British and Canadian governments and started location filming in 1940, but by the time the film appeared, in March 1942, the United States, which had been trying to stay out of the war in Europe, had been drawn into taking sides against Germany. The original choice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Matter Of Life And Death (film)
''A Matter of Life and Death'' is a 1946 British fantasy film, fantasy-romance film set in England during the Second World War. Written, produced and directed by Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the film stars David Niven, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, Kim Hunter and Marius Goring. The film was originally released in the United States under the title ''Stairway to Heaven'', which derived from the film's most prominent special effects, special effect: a broad escalator linking Earth to the afterlife. In 1999, ''A Matter of Life and Death'' was placed 20th on the British Film Institute's list of BFI Top 100 British films, Best 100 British films. In 2004, a poll by the magazine ''Total Film'' of 25 film critics named ''A Matter of Life and Death'' the second-greatest British film ever made, behind ''Get Carter''. It ranked 90th among critics, and 322nd among directors, in the The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time, 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', ''I Know Where I'm Going!'' and '' A Matter of Life and Death''. Tall and broad with a mop of chestnut hair, Livesey used his highly distinctive husky voice, gentle manner and athletic physique to create many notable roles in his theatre and film work. Early life Livesey was born in Barry, Wales. Although most articles about him indicated that his parents were Samuel Livesey and Mary Catherine (''née'' Edwards), later research has shown that his father was actually Joseph Livesey. The confusion may have arisen because his mother Mary married Samuel (Joseph's brother) after Joseph's death and the death of Samuel's wife, Mary's sister. Samuel and Mary had a child of their own, Stella, who was both Roger's half sister and first cousin. Roger Livesey was educated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Canterbury Tale
''A Canterbury Tale'' is a 1944 British film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played two small roles. For the post-war American release, Raymond Massey narrated and Kim Hunter was added to the film. The film was made in black and white, and was the first of two collaborations between Powell and Pressburger and cinematographer Erwin Hillier. Much of the film's visual style is a mixture of British realism and Hillier's German Expressionist style that is harnessed through a neo-romantic sense of the English landscape. The concept that 'the past always haunts the present' in the English landscape was already part of English literary culture, e.g. in works by Rudyard Kipling such as ''Puck of Pook's Hill'', and would become a notable trope for British novelists and film-makers from the 1960s. ''A Canterbury Tale'' takes its title from ''The Canterbury Tales'' of Geof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Portman
Eric Harold Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in several films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s. Early life Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Portman was the second son of Matthew Portman (1868–1939), a wool merchant, and his wife, Alice, née Harrison (1870–1918). His birth was registered with the middle name of Harold but he would later adopt his mother's maiden name as his middle name. Education He was educated at Rishworth School in Yorkshire and, in 1922, started work as a salesman in the menswear department at the Marshall & Snelgrove department store in Leeds and acted in the amateur Halifax Light Opera Society. Career He made his professional stage debut in 1924 with Henry Baynton's company. In 1924, Robert Courtneidge's Shakespearian company arrived in Halifax. Portman joined the company as a 'passenger' and appeared in their production of ''R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinemann (publisher)
William Heinemann Ltd., with the imprint Heinemann, was a London publisher founded in 1890 by William Heinemann. Their first published book, 1890's ''The Bondman'', was a huge success in the United Kingdom and launched the company. He was joined in 1893 by Sydney Pawling. Heinemann died in 1920 and Pawling sold the company to Doubleday, having worked with them in the past to publish their works in the United States. Pawling died in 1922 and new management took over. Doubleday sold his interest in 1933. Through the 1920s, the company was well known for publishing works by famous authors that had previously been published as serials. Among these were works by H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, George Moore, Max Beerbohm, and Henry James, among others. This attracted new authors to publish their first editions with the company, including Graham Greene, Edward Upward, J.B. Priestley and Vita Sackville-West. Throughout, the company was also known for its classics an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Raine
Thomas Foster "Jack" Raine (18 May 1897 – 30 May 1979) was an English stage, television and film actor. He was a leading man of the British cinema in the late twenties and early thirties in such films as ''The Hate Ship'' (1929), '' Raise the Roof'', '' Suspense'', '' Night Birds'' and '' The Middle Watch'' (all 1930), before moving down the cast list and becoming a character actor. Throughout the thirties and forties he appeared in numerous supporting roles, usually as sturdy figures of authority, including '' The Ghoul'' (1933), '' The Clairvoyant'' (1934), ''Holiday Camp'', ''Mine Own Executioner'' (both 1947) and '' Easy Money'' (1948). He also played Sir Graham Forbes in the first two Paul Temple films '' Send for Paul Temple'' (1946) and ''Calling Paul Temple'' (1948). One of his last British films was a rare co-starring role of this era in the 'B' movie '' No Way Back'' (1949), opposite Terence De Marney, in which he played against type as a small time gangster. Like a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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