|
Saving Of Bill Blewitt
''The Saving of Bill Blewitt'' is a 1936 documentary film produced by Alberto Cavalcanti of the GPO Film Unit and directed by Harry Watt. Synopsis Intended as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Post Office Savings Bank, Watt's film eschewed conventional narration in favour of improvising a story around the villagers of Mousehole and the Cornish landscape they inhabit. The film's power of conviction owed much to the real-life Bill Blewitt, the village postmaster. Others recall him as having "a mesmeric gift of the gab, a glorious Cornish accent, twinkling blue eyes, a grin as broad as 'Popeye' and the charismatic charm of the Celt." Set during the economic slump of the 1930s, the film follows two fishermen who have lost their boat but manage to save enough to buy another with the help of the Post Office Savings Bank. The inter-village squabbles and references to unemployment reflected the actual hardships of the Cornish fishing villages, whose pilchard industry had been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Watt
Harry Watt (18 October 19062 April 1987) was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film ''The Siege of Pinchgut'' was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. Biography He was born in Edinburgh, the son of a Scottish Liberal MP. He studied at Edinburgh University but failed to complete his degree. He enlisted in the Merchant Navy and worked in a number of industrial jobs. Documentaries In 1932, Watt joined the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit under John Grierson and began working on documentaries. He was an assistant on ''Man of Aran'' (1934). In 1936 Watt became a director for the London unit of the American newsreel series ''March of Time'', where his films included ''England's Tithe War'' (1936). Watt then joined the GPO Film Unit where he made his reputation as a documentarian with ''Night Mail'' (1936) which received much acclaim. He followed it with ''The Saving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s, before transitioning to making televised plays and films for BBC Television in the 1970s and '80s. Leigh is known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques with actors to build characters and narrative for his films. His purpose is to capture reality and present "emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films." His films and stage plays, according to critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Leigh's most notable works include the black comedy-drama ''Naked'' (1993), for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Films Directed By Harry Watt
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it. Recording and transmission of film The moving images of a film are created by photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects. Before the introduction of digital production, series of still images were recorded on a strip of chemically sensitized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GPO Film Unit Films
GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterprise * Government Press Office (Israel) * Green Party of Ontario, Canada * United States Government Publishing Office * Group Purchasing Organization Places * Gospel Oak railway station, in London, England * Guam Premier Outlets, a shopping mall in Guam * Indore G.P.O., a residential area in Indore, India * General Pico Airport, in Argentina, IATA code Science and technology * Giant Pacific Octopus * Group Policy Object * General Purpose Outlet, mains socket in Australia * General Purpose Output, an uncommitted digital signal pin on an integrated circuit or electronic circuit board used as an output and controllable by the user at runtime. Other uses * Generalplan Ost, a Nazi genocide plan in occupied territories * General Post Office ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1936 Films
The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January 9 – Silent screen actor John Gilbert, perhaps best known for his appearances in films such as ''The Merry Widow'' and ''The Big Parade'', dies suddenly of a heart attack at his Bel Air home, aged 38. *February 15 – first Republic serial, ''Darkest Africa'', is released. *May 29 – Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, '' Fury'', starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released. *September 14 – Film producer Irving Thalberg, often referred by many as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", dies from pneumonia at his home in Santa Monica, aged 37. Academy Awards * Best Picture: ''The Great Ziegfeld'' – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer * Best Director: Frank Capra – ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' * Best Actor: Paul Muni – ''The St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Short Films
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Documentary Films
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nine Men (film)
''Nine Men'' is a 1943 British war film, set in the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. Production The film is an Ealing Studios production and marked the first fiction film assignment for celebrated documentary film director Harry Watt, who had worked at the Crown Film Unit. With only a £20,000 budget, the film's exterior desert sequences were shot at Margam Sands, Glamorgan. Plot In a barrack room at a Battle Training Ground in England, a platoon of conscripts are complaining about blisters and are impatient to get into action with the enemy. Sergeant Jack Watson tells them that they need a little bit extra to be successful in combat, which he illustrates with a story from his experience in the Western Desert Campaign. His story is then shown in flashback. Lieutenant Crawford, Sergeant Watson and the seven men under their command are travelling through the Libyan desert in an Allied convoy, when their lorry becomes stuck in the sand and the convoy moves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Foreman Went To France
''The Foreman Went to France'' (released in the USA as ''Somewhere in France'' ) is a 1942 British Second World War war film starring Clifford Evans, Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings and Gordon Jackson. It was based on the real-life wartime exploits of Welsh munitions worker Melbourne Johns, who rescued machinery used to make guns for Spitfires and Hurricanes. It was an Ealing Studios film made in 1941 with the support of the War Office and the Free French Forces. All of the 'heroes' are portrayed as ordinary people caught up in the war. Plot In 1940, Welsh armaments factory foreman Fred Carrick goes to France on his own initiative to retrieve three large pieces of machinery for making cannon for Spitfires before the German army arrives. In Bivary, he requests the aid of two soldiers and, more importantly, use of their army lorry. He also gets the help of the company secretary in France, an American woman who needs to go north to find her sister who is a nurse. While in Franc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whisky Galore! (1949 Film)
''Whisky Galore!'' is a 1949 British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios, starring Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. It was the directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick; the screenplay was by Compton Mackenzie, an adaptation of his 1947 novel '' Whisky Galore'', and Angus MacPhail. The story—based on a true event—concerns a shipwreck off a fictional Scottish island, the inhabitants of which have run out of whisky because of wartime rationing. The islanders find out the ship is carrying 50,000 cases of whisky, some of which they salvage, against the opposition of the local Customs and Excise men. It was filmed on the island of Barra; the weather was so poor that the production over-ran its 10-week schedule by five weeks, and the film went £20,000 over budget. Michael Balcon, the head of the studio, was unimpressed by the initial cut of the film, and one of Ealing's directors, Charles Crichton, added footage and re-edited the film before it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alberto Cavalcanti
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (February 6, 1897 – August 23, 1982) was a Brazilian-born film director and film producer, producer. He was often credited under the single name "Cavalcanti". Early life Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child and, by the age of 15, was studying law at university, but was expelled following an argument with a professor. His father sent him to Geneva, Switzerland, on condition that he did not study law or politics. Cavalcanti chose to study architecture instead. At 18, he moved to Paris to work for an architect, later switching to working in interior design. After a visit to Brazil, he took up a position at the Brazilian consul (representative), consulate in Liverpool, England. Cavalcanti corresponded with Marcel L'Herbier, a leading light in France's avant-garde film movement, which led to a job offer from L'Herbier for Cavalcanti to work as a scenic design, set desig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Rotha
Paul Rotha (3 June 1907 – 7 March 1984) was a British documentary film-maker, film historian and critic. Early life and education He was born Paul Thompson in London, and educated at Highgate School and at the Slade School of Fine Art. Career Rotha was a close collaborator of John Grierson, and Wolfgang Suschitzky was one of his cinematographers. He directed and produced dozens of documentaries including ''Contact'' (1933), ''Air Outpost'' (1937) ''The Face of Britain'' (1935),'' World of Plenty'' (1943), ''Land of Promise'' (1947), ''A City Speaks'' (1947) and many others. '' The World Is Rich'' (1947) and '' Cradle of Genius'' (1961), both of which were nominated for an Academy Award, and feature films including the BAFTA-nominated ''No Resting Place''. Rotha was Head of BBC TV's Documentaries Department between May 1953 and May 1955. Rotha shared with Otto Neurath an interest in the techniques of visual communication, and the two men worked together on several films, where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
