Although known for his silent movies, Miles Mander was a pioneer of the 'phonofilm', paving the way for directors such as Alfred Hitchcock
The BFI's restoration of the 1928 silent The First Born, with Stephen Horne's new score performed live, was one of the big events of the BFI London film festival. Full of surprises, including two racy "making eyes" scenes that had the Queen Elizabeth Hall audience all aflutter, it lives up to Michael Powell's description of the "fluent, expressive, visual story-telling" of late silent cinema that had been cut short by the introduction of synchronised sound. Directed by Miles Mander – a black-sheep Old Harrovian with a background in boxing promotion, aviation and sheep farming – it's a topical tale of a hypocritical, philandering politician who exploits his wife to mop up the women's vote. It was released just after the 1929 "Flapper Election", which brought women under 30 into the franchise for the first time,...
The BFI's restoration of the 1928 silent The First Born, with Stephen Horne's new score performed live, was one of the big events of the BFI London film festival. Full of surprises, including two racy "making eyes" scenes that had the Queen Elizabeth Hall audience all aflutter, it lives up to Michael Powell's description of the "fluent, expressive, visual story-telling" of late silent cinema that had been cut short by the introduction of synchronised sound. Directed by Miles Mander – a black-sheep Old Harrovian with a background in boxing promotion, aviation and sheep farming – it's a topical tale of a hypocritical, philandering politician who exploits his wife to mop up the women's vote. It was released just after the 1929 "Flapper Election", which brought women under 30 into the franchise for the first time,...
- 10/27/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces (top); Ivor Novello, Mabel Poulton, The Constant Nymph (middle); Jean Seberg, Breathless (bottom) Bob Rafelson‘s biting social critique Five Easy Pieces (1970), starring Jack Nicholson and Karen Black; Adrian Brunel‘s silent romantic drama The Constant Nymph (1928), a tale of "forbidden love" starring stage and movie idol Ivor Novello and Mabel Poulton; and Jean-Luc Godard‘s New Wave classic Breathless (1959), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, are some of the features to be screened on Friday, Aug. 20, at London’s bfi Southbank. Five Easy Pieces remains one of the most impressive accomplishments of the more mature Hollywood cinema of the ’70s, with Jack Nicholson and Karen Black delivering relentlessly raw performances. It’s unfortunate that American cinema, now senile, is going through its second infancy. In other words, movies such as Five Easy Pieces hardly ever get made — if they get made at all. Even...
- 8/19/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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