- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 17,821
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Not certain where the moniker of the collection comes from, but Their Finest Hour includes five quality British WWII dramas, three of them starring the extraordinary John Mills.
Which makes this a Mills Film Festival.
All five look lovely, although as always, I have a few caveats.
Probably the best known of the group is the 1955 drama, Dam Busters, which I've always though of as akin to The Guns of Navarone.
Michael Redgrave works with the military to create a means of taking out a German dam. While the special effects are 1955 in quality, they work.
What doesn't, at least for me, is the concept - and this is a personal ethic, and I'll not take a position right or wrong - of leaving analogue artifacts that were not meant to be seen, in the program.
In this case - and it's noted in a restoration demo - it's fishing line seen holding up bombers. As far as I'm aware, during WWII, British bombers had engines, and wings, and were able to fly without the aid of fishing line.
I'd remove it. But that's me.
How does one handle the Cowardly Lion's tail?
Or flying monkeys?
Regardless, the film looks superb, and is cleaned up nicely.
The earliest of the group is Went the Day Well, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, and released in 1944.
Based upon a story by Graham Greene, it concerns a British town that been infiltrated by German soldiers, planning an invasion.
The Colditz Story (1955) concerns one of those German POW camps which from which no one can escape. John Mills is in the lead, aided by Lionel Jeffries, and Bryan Forbes, before he went to the other side of the camera.
Ice Cold in Alex, directed by J. Lee Thompson, and also starring John Mills, with support from Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews, tracks an ambulance that must cross the desert.
It's beautifully scanned, but I wonder if it might be too beautifully scanned, as production footage is constantly at odds with studio footage, which takes me out of the film.
Still a quality production.
The Colditz Story, stars John Mills, who you may recall from the Lean version of Great Expectations. I'll watch Sir John do anything.
It's beautifully shot by Gilbert Taylor, another one of the UK cameramen, who never seemed to catch a break, and make it to the big time.
His work here is exemplary.
I wonder, however, if the main titles were designed to be off-axis, along with some of the shots? I'm thinking, probably, yes.
Finally, we have Dunkirk. The same story as the one by the gent who restored 2001, only on a slightly smaller budget, with fewer actors, and in black and white.
Directed by Leslie Norman, it stars one John Mills, along with UK stalwarts, Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee.
Anyone viewing these five films will recognize the fact that the entire British film industry was populated by about two dozen directors, and well under 200 actors.
It's a wonderful thing, really.
Have you ever noticed that the Redgrave family is in almost every UK production from the '30s onward. And that those that don't have a Redgrave, have a Fox, or a Mills?
Anyway, we have five films worth viewing, all in requisite shape, and currently at a $70 pre-order price, worth every pence.
Hats off to Film Movement for bring these to the Colonies.
More, please.
As to Sir John, by 1940, he'd been in twenty films, and he was just beginning. Probably, one of the more prolific, and wonderful of the British actors.
Image - 5
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Upgrade from DVD - Yes
Recommended
RAH
Which makes this a Mills Film Festival.
All five look lovely, although as always, I have a few caveats.
Probably the best known of the group is the 1955 drama, Dam Busters, which I've always though of as akin to The Guns of Navarone.
Michael Redgrave works with the military to create a means of taking out a German dam. While the special effects are 1955 in quality, they work.
What doesn't, at least for me, is the concept - and this is a personal ethic, and I'll not take a position right or wrong - of leaving analogue artifacts that were not meant to be seen, in the program.
In this case - and it's noted in a restoration demo - it's fishing line seen holding up bombers. As far as I'm aware, during WWII, British bombers had engines, and wings, and were able to fly without the aid of fishing line.
I'd remove it. But that's me.
How does one handle the Cowardly Lion's tail?
Or flying monkeys?
Regardless, the film looks superb, and is cleaned up nicely.
The earliest of the group is Went the Day Well, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, and released in 1944.
Based upon a story by Graham Greene, it concerns a British town that been infiltrated by German soldiers, planning an invasion.
The Colditz Story (1955) concerns one of those German POW camps which from which no one can escape. John Mills is in the lead, aided by Lionel Jeffries, and Bryan Forbes, before he went to the other side of the camera.
Ice Cold in Alex, directed by J. Lee Thompson, and also starring John Mills, with support from Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews, tracks an ambulance that must cross the desert.
It's beautifully scanned, but I wonder if it might be too beautifully scanned, as production footage is constantly at odds with studio footage, which takes me out of the film.
Still a quality production.
The Colditz Story, stars John Mills, who you may recall from the Lean version of Great Expectations. I'll watch Sir John do anything.
It's beautifully shot by Gilbert Taylor, another one of the UK cameramen, who never seemed to catch a break, and make it to the big time.
His work here is exemplary.
I wonder, however, if the main titles were designed to be off-axis, along with some of the shots? I'm thinking, probably, yes.
Finally, we have Dunkirk. The same story as the one by the gent who restored 2001, only on a slightly smaller budget, with fewer actors, and in black and white.
Directed by Leslie Norman, it stars one John Mills, along with UK stalwarts, Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee.
Anyone viewing these five films will recognize the fact that the entire British film industry was populated by about two dozen directors, and well under 200 actors.
It's a wonderful thing, really.
Have you ever noticed that the Redgrave family is in almost every UK production from the '30s onward. And that those that don't have a Redgrave, have a Fox, or a Mills?
Anyway, we have five films worth viewing, all in requisite shape, and currently at a $70 pre-order price, worth every pence.
Hats off to Film Movement for bring these to the Colonies.
More, please.
As to Sir John, by 1940, he'd been in twenty films, and he was just beginning. Probably, one of the more prolific, and wonderful of the British actors.
Image - 5
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Upgrade from DVD - Yes
Recommended
RAH
