HARMONY LANE 3-D World Premiere! (1 Viewer)

[Bob Furmanek]

In August 2014, we found this lost 3-D short buried deep in the vaults of the British Film Institute.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert (as Byron Gill) and photographed by A.E. Jeakins in March 1953, it sat on the shelf until the end of 1954 when it was finally released flat.

This delightful 27 minute short is like spending a night at the Palladium with several variety acts. They include dancing by the Jack Billings Trio; a song by the Beverley Sisters; "Swan Lake" by Svetlana Beriosova and David Paltenghi of the Sadler's Wells Ballet; precision dancing by The Television Toppers and a comedy routine with Dora Bryan and Max Bygraves. The orchestra was directed by future Hammer Studios composer, Philip Martell.

Art direction was by future Oscar and Emmy nominee Michael Stringer and the excellent stereo cinematography was the work of Brian Smith. In 1951, Smith had directed the first British 3-D short in Technicolor, DISTANT THAMES/ROYAL RIVER which was a tremendous success at the Festival of Britain and the Edinburgh Film Festival.

We are thrilled that after 63 years, HARMONY LANE will finally be seen in 3-D! The world premiere is October 27 at the Cambridge Film Festival and it will make its 3-D Blu-ray debut with our restoration of SEPTEMBER STORM in the very near future. http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/film/gog-3d-world-premiere-harmony-lane-3d

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Can't wait to see this one.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

It's a lot of fun!

 

[Charles Smith]

FANTASTIC!

 

[Douglas R]

We are thrilled that after 63 years, HARMONY LANE will finally be seen in 3-D! The world premiere is October 27 at the Cambridge Film Festival and it will make its 3-D Blu-ray debut with our restoration of SEPTEMBER STORM in the very near future. http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/film/gog-3d-world-premiere-harmony-lane-3d

I expect to be there!

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Excellent, please be sure to say hello!

 

[bob kaplan]

Looking forward to it!

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Another HTF member is attending? Wow! Please be sure to say hello.

 

[Douglas R]

Had a splendid time yesterday at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge, seeing HARMONY LANE which was a fast-paced, highly entertaining look back at a time when British variety acts were ubiquitous. The 3-D was used effectively. It's just a pity that the film hadn't been made in color; which the subject surely cried out for. I have GOG on Blu-ray in 3D but seeing it on the big screen was a completely new experience. As a surprise, there was also a 15 minute sequence of scenes in 3D from the Martin & Lewis MONEY FROM HOME (no full restoration in the works as yet unfortunately). Bob Furmanek was there to give informative introductions to the films and it was great to be able to meet and chat with him.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

It was great meeting you Doug, thanks so much for coming to the show!

 

[Mike Ballew]

My friend Eric Kurland of 3-D SPACE asked if I’d be willing to deliver special guest Trustin Howard (aka “Slick Slaven”) to the venue for last Friday night’s screening of 3-D RARITIES and HARMONY LANE. I jumped at the chance. There was just one interesting complication: I don’t have a car.

See, I live and work in Burbank. I haven’t had a long commute in years. A bike ride (good for the blood pressure and to loosen the old joints), a long walk (good for the same), or a bus trip (good for honing the virtues of patience and humility) get me back and forth just fine. So, about nine months ago I up and quit driving, and about four months ago I got rid of my car, its expenses and all its hassles. Free at last, as the expression goes.

Now, to be clear, I’m an American: I love cars. And in fact, I was thinking of renting a car to get down to the screening anyway, as I did not trust public transit to deliver me without considerable trouble. So when Eric asked if I could taxi Mr. Howard down, I went straightaway and booked a nice Toyota Prius.

Between the car’s sophisticated instrument panel and my own leftover GPS unit sweetly barking directions at us in a clipped, region-neutral American accent, I felt like I had borrowed Captain Kirk’s car. The only thing missing was a photon cannon, which would have come in handy on the L.A. freeways, let me tell you, along with an energy shield, which would have saved me eleven dollars in add-on insurance.

Trustin and I left his house at the westernmost end of the San Fernando Valley about six o’clock, thinking that with any luck we’d arrive within an hour. It’s a great thing he and I like each other. We spent better than 90 minutes together, most of it at speeds not greater than 12 miles an hour.

Talk about contrasts. Outside the car was a barrage of missiles—heaps of steel, rubber and glass veering here and there without regard to our safety, and precious little regard to their own. But inside, I was treated to charming reminiscence and meaningful words of encouragement from a man I greatly respect.

Trustin paid me two great, very humbling compliments. Early on in the trip, he told me he had read my earlier piece on the SEPTEMBER STORM re-premiere. He liked it a lot, and encouraged me in my writing. Then, when we arrived alive and uninjured at the end of our freeway ordeal, he said, “I don’t think anybody could have done it better, Mike." I was glad I lived to hear those words, what with half the drivers in L.A. out to kill us.

Now, the Velaslavasay Panorama, for those who may not know, is a small cinema in a fairly ordinary L.A. neighborhood not too far from historic Union Square. They tell me it was built more than 90 years ago as one of the first purpose-built cinemas in the city. For some years it was repurposed as headquarters for a tile-layers union, which accounts for the ornate tile work that adorns the front of the building. Somewhere along the way it acquired both a painted diorama of Arctic wastelands (at the top of a suitably creaky and atmospheric spiral staircase) and a full-scale mockup of a Yukon cabin, replete with cot, stove and a supply of paperback novels. Someone told me they held a contest some time ago, and top prize was spending the night inside that cabin. I thought, Wow, that’d be a great prize… for about an hour, until the ghost of Robert W. Service shows up.

But I have come to praise the Velaslavasay Panorama, not bury it. It is small but full of character, and seeing the capacity crowd—a mix of 20- and 30-something artistic types and all the Usual Suspects in L.A.’s 3-D hobby community—made me appreciate that it serves an important purpose even in its second century of existence, hosting events that might not always find a good fit elsewhere.

When we got into the auditorium, Trustin took one look around and realized they were lacking a microphone. Eric Kurland confirmed the fact. This was a potential deal-breaker. If Trustin was to speak, he’d have to do so under his own steam. “I just hope they can all hear me,” Trustin said to me.

Bob Furmanek was there, of course, and he very warmly greeted me and Trustin before the show. We were then all treated to a few key segments from 3-D RARITIES: footage from the 1920s and '30s, THRILLS FOR YOU and NEW DIMENSIONS, and later, after a pause for further remarks from Bob, M.L. GUNZBURG PRESENTS NATURAL VISION 3-DIMENSION and our own Slick Slaven in STARDUST IN YOUR EYES.

The 3-D buffs have by now seen Trustin’s vintage material half a dozen times or more. The younger crowd did not seem to know what to make of it. How are they to recognize spot-on, hilarious impersonations of Ronald Coleman, Cary Grant and Charles Laughton? But the laughs were there, and afterward came a storm of applause. Bob and I assisted Trustin up onto the stage.

Microphone or no microphone, Trustin Howard (“Slick Slaven”) still knows how to wow a crowd, let me tell you. He treated us to a slightly abridged edition of his nightclub stand-up act, and this time the laughs were louder and more plentiful. A pile of people sought Trustin in the lobby at the end of the night to tell him how much they’d loved it. And every one of them seemed to have memorized a favorite line they planned to spring on their friends later on.

But there was one additional highlight that night, the North American premiere of HARMONY LANE. Bob has been very careful to qualify his praise for the film, characterizing it as “charming,” a product of its time and place. Friday night, he made clear that the film might most please those who grew up in England and remembered performers like Max Bygraves and the Beverley Sisters.

I can’t speak for all the young hipsters behind me, nor can I speak for all the 3-D movie enthusiasts in the crowd. But I can tell you emphatically, Trustin and I, we loved it. Loved it.

Yes, HARMONY LANE is a 27-minute, black-and-white short filmed in England in 1953. And yes, it is a product of its time and place. But watching it is about as close as this reviewer expects to come to seeing a night of British vaudeville in all its vigor and variety. Energetic dancers, a stunt roller skating act, a trick juggler, two legitimate ballet dancers, an incredible trio of tap dancers, the lovely and charming singing Beverley Sisters, and at the top of the heap, the aforementioned Mr. Bygraves, who on the evidence of this one film seems to have had a gift for singing popular tunes and for light comedy.

Trustin leaned over and expressed his appreciation for the tap dancers during the screening itself. Their skills were indeed impressive, and it really meant something for an experienced entertainer like Trustin to say, simply, “They are good. Talk about professionals.” And after the show, as we were driving home, he expressed his view (which I share) that the short comedy bit with Mr. Bygraves was clever and funny.

(Just because I’ve singled out a few key acts for praise, don’t assume the rest are dogs. There is one—literal—trained dog act, very amusing, but every entertainer featured is at the top of his or her game, and lends great entertainment value to the picture.)

A disclaimer card at the head of the film warns us that the juggler’s segment survives in one eye only, and therefore had to be presented in 2-D in this restoration. This is a pity, as the stereo on view in the rest of the short has all the virtues I personally have come to expect from British stereography of the 1950s. It is disciplined work, with just enough parallax to make for a pleasant viewing experience. The few instances of negative parallax (“off-the-screen” 3-D) that I perceived are handled with technical aplomb, and are so subtle that the casual observer might be forgiven for thinking they’re not there at all. I happen to think one happy consequence of Bob’s rediscovery of this hitherto forgotten 3-D gem is that it provides one more blueprint for present-day Hollywood: See. This is how you make a 3-D film that is easy and comfortable to view, but which provides pleasant roundness, discrete layers of visual interest, and enough parallax to make it worth the spectator’s while.

Bob Furmanek really had to fight entrenched misimpressions to get this film restored. The BFI had left and right elements on it, but insisted it had not actually been filmed in 3-D until he personally begged them to check the leaders. Now, thanks to Bob and Greg, along with virtuoso guitarist and 3-D enthusiast Brian May and a host of other patrons, HARMONY LANE has been restored for future generations to enjoy.

If you supported the Kickstarter campain for SEPTEMBER STORM at or above the prescribed level, you will soon receive your Special Edition Blu-Ray, which will include HARMONY LANE as a bonus. Otherwise, the short will be included in the commercial release of SEPTEMBER STORM, coming from Kino Lorber in spring 2017. Either way, you're in for a treat.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Mike, I agree with Trustin: your writing is fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to share the details of the evening!