The Magic Box

haineshisway · 05-12-2007, 16:33

I'd never seen this lovely film before, but Optimum has just released it and I got a copy.

The Magic Box, a British film from 1951 about motion picture pioneer and inventor William Friese-Greene, who, along with Edison and the Lumiere Brothers, helped invent motion pictures. The story was fascinating, and the film very enjoyable indeed. And what a cast – Robert Donat as Friese-Greene is magnificent, playing the character from his twenties to his seventies. And the film is a who’s who of British cinema at the time with guest shots and cameos by the likes of Michael Redgrave, Glynis Johns, Mervyn Johns (one of the stars of Dead of Night, and, unbeknownst to me, the father of Glynis), Peter Ustinov, Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Greenfell, Eric Portman, Richard Attenborough, John Howard Davies (the boy from The Rocking Horse Winner), Marius Goring, Miles Malleson, Muir Mathieson (the conductor, playing composer Arthur Sullivan), Cecil Parker, Margaret Rutherford (wonderfully funny), Sybil Thorndyke, David Tomlinson, and a number of other well-known Brit actors. But the best of the guest stars is Laurence Olivier as a bobby who Mr. Donat grabs to be the first to see his successful projection of a motion picture. That scene is the finest in the film and very moving, and Olivier’s performance is a textbook example of great screen acting. The transfer is a bit problematic. The great color cameraman Jack Cardiff shot the film in Technicolor. There are shots that look gorgeous, but the color is inconsistent from shot to shot, and someday perhaps they’ll do a proper restoration, because the photography looks amazing and it would be wonderful to have a perfectly rendered transfer.

Anyway, really enjoyed this - anyone else a fan?

Person A · 05-12-2007, 17:14

Great...a new thread about a film

.

To be honest this film has been on my wishlist since it came out, although I must confess to not knowing a great deal about it beforehand. When I read the sniffy review of the quality of the transfer on amazon I though I'd wait and pick it up cheaply, although you would have convinced me with your glowing review, Haineshisway had I not just spent a small fortune on US sites recently.

Have to wait until the new year to get it now, but what a cast list!! It could even rival some of those bloated star vehicles flics of the seventies for sheer celebrity punch. And anything that Jack Cardiff lensed has got to be worth a look.

Livius · 05-12-2007, 20:17

I'm another one who's never got around to this movie. Sure, I'd heard of it but it just slipped through the cracks somehow.
I also agree that seeing Jack Cardiff's name in the credits should be enough to recommend a film in itself.

haineshisway · 05-12-2007, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Livius

I'm another one who's never got around to this movie. Sure, I'd heard of it but it just slipped through the cracks somehow.
I also agree that seeing Jack Cardiff's name in the credits should be enough to recommend a film in itself.

I'm usually on the fence about these sorts of films, but it really held my interest, was well-directed by Roy Boulting (and produced by Ronald Neame), with a good score by William Alwyn - it's a class act all the way. One just wishes the transfer were better, but, as I said, there are isolated shots and sequences that seem pretty good - Cardiff was as good as it gets, especially in three-strip Technicolor - his lensing of Black Narcissus probably remains my favorite color film of all-time, and the French DVD release of that film is the best of all the transfers - basically absolute perfection.

Person A · 06-12-2007, 09:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by haineshisway

Cardiff was as good as it gets, especially in three-strip Technicolor - his lensing of Black Narcissus probably remains my favorite color film of all-time, and the French DVD release of that film is the best of all the transfers - basically absolute perfection.

Completely agree with that sentiment, I think the power of the imagery in Black Narcissus is so sublime so much so that if often distracts me from plot and the performances. You've reminded me of a thread I was going to start about about the reasons people might watch classic films other than plot and acting (interest in exotica/unusual locales/nostalgia for a period in time.. etc). In the case of BN it is almost a festishistic fascination with the beauty of Cardiff's lensing.

BTW Haineshisway is the French disc really much better than the Network? I've been debating on upgrading for a while but thought that there wasn't much between them.

haineshisway · 06-12-2007, 15:31

I didn't see how it could be much better than the Network, but it is. I was happy with the Network until I saw the French transfer, which is from the same elements but without the slightly green cast that the Network has - it is very true to a 16mm Tech print I used to have, color-wise. If you love the film (I wrote more about the transfer in the old Powell and Pressburger thread), and if you can get it at a decent price, I'd get the French - plus, I think it has a couple of extras that aren't on the Network.