Episode 20 Joe and Alex sit down to talk about their crazy nun problems. Website: the-letterbox.com Facebook: / theletterboxers Twitter: / letterboxers
HI Film Illiterate Guys! "Black Narcissus" 1947, was photographed in 3-strip Technicolor (a huge camera capable of holding 3 film strips and weighing 700 pounds) which had been perfected by Herbert T. Kalmus and company by 1932 and was first rented out to Disney for Disney's 1932 film "Flowers and Trees." In 1934 "La Cucaracha" made a color splash starring Steffi Duna (can be seen on RUclips). Next, Pioneer pictures rented from the Technicolor Company for their 1935 feature "Becky Sharp" with Robert Edmond Jones coordinating the color vying with Natalie Kalmus! The late 1930s saw a full blossoming of features in color among them 1936's "The Garden of Allah," 1937 "A Star is Born," 1938 "The Adventures of Robin Hood," 1939 "The Wizard of Oz," 1939 "Gone With The Wind", 1939 "Elizabeth and Essex," 1940 "Northwest Passage." You are right that black and white was still the dominate medium but with the Technicolor Company gaining a foothold by the mid 1940s the use of color had become common in many MGM and Warner's prestige features. From the 1930s to the early 1950s when a studio made a Technicolor feature they had to rent cameras, technicians, color consultants, lighting equipment, meters and so on. It was an entire package and was quite expensive. In those days Technicolor had a virtual monopoly on motion picture color photography and so it wasn't readily available to any of the lesser films studios because of the major expense. A less expensive two color Cinecolor was available from William T. Crispinel and Alan M. Gundelfinger, and was used in many westerns of the late 1940s and early 1950s (often under the name of Trucolor) until Eastman Kodak came out with a readily available color negative in 1949. This new Eastman process was not fully utilized until about 1954 and Technicolor then retired their giant 3-strip cameras after a reign of 23 years. Technicolor continued to use their dye transfer printing process along with the Eastman color negative by taking the photographed color negative and making red, yellow, and blue separations so that permanent color records of any given film could preserved and then be printed and restored. An example is 1959's "Ben-Hur" which was shot in Camera 65 (70 mm) and used the Eastman modern color negative After principal photography color separations were made from the negative and then reprinted on positive film stock using their imbibition and dye transfer process. This procedure took care of Eastman negative color problems (among them fading ), and inaccuracies and provided a rich vivid palette near as rich as the original 3 strip technique. For more Technicolor info see the book "The Dawn of Technicolor" by George Eastman House. Hope you guys find this interesting. I've had a thing for Technicolor films since I saw them as a little kid in the 1960s!
The climactic scene with Sister Ruth stalking Sister Clodagh was actually scored first then the action was choreographed to match the score. It was one of Powell/Pressburger's first experiments with an idea Powell had called "composed film." They did this again for the entire "Red Shoe Ballet" from "The Red Shoes" and then the entire opera/ballet film "The Tales Of Hoffmann," for which all of the audio was recorded before filming. You guys definitely need to see more Powell/Pressburger films. They're amazing.
+Martin Pitts I (Joe) actually just watched THE RED SHOES for the first time about a month ago. We definitely need to fit some more Powell/Pressburger movies in and review them.
Clearly it wasn't all shot on a sound stage. All the exteriors WERE shot outside, mostly on the Pinewood lot on an exterior set elevated on scaffolding. The distant scenery was painted on giant panoramas lit with natural light, and for the overhead shots the best painted mattes on glass ever created were placed in front of the camera. When seen in its entirety the palace was a scale model. To us today it looks like an aerial shot but obviously in those days you could not shoot from a Technicolor camera in a plane. The whole film was designed, lit and shot to look like a Vermeer painting.
Good catch. I should have said that none of it was shot on location, and that it was all filmed at a studio. I shouldn't have inferred that none of it was shot outside. Thanks!
Mostly shot in Pinewood studios. The palace was a miniature model made of papier maché set against paintings. The indoor and courtyard shots were studio sets to replicate parts of the miniature. The outdoor shots were in a park in Sussex England where they had an abundance of tropical flowers. The Ireland flashback shots were in Scotland & wales. This was one of the first British films shot in colour. (Technicolour). So reminiscent of classic 1930's Disney and the greats like " Gone with the wind " & "the wizard of oz." It almost looks like a Disney set in many shots. The use of stark colour on cold blue/white template incorporated in Disney's "Frozen" was inspired by Black Narcissus.
Nice job reviewing this film. My husband and I had read so many glowing reviews of it over the years that we finally decided to watch it. He hated it. I wanted to love, or at least like it. It was difficult to watch, but I must give it credit for it's power to make you feel uncomfortable. It is haunting and eerie. In the end, I want to want to watch it again, but just haven't been able to. After watching your review, I will give it another go. You had some interesting insights.
"The gun is good, the penis is bad", so catchy. I liked Zardoz, or the first half anyway, it got slower and slower and the wizard of oz thing was stupid as was the crystal whatever.
HI Film Illiterate Guys! "Black Narcissus" 1947, was photographed in 3-strip Technicolor (a huge camera capable of holding 3 film strips and weighing 700 pounds) which had been perfected by Herbert T. Kalmus and company by 1932 and was first rented out to Disney for Disney's 1932 film "Flowers and Trees." In 1934 "La Cucaracha" made a color splash starring Steffi Duna (can be seen on RUclips). Next, Pioneer pictures rented from the Technicolor Company for their 1935 feature "Becky Sharp" with Robert Edmond Jones coordinating the color vying with Natalie Kalmus! The late 1930s saw a full blossoming of features in color among them 1936's "The Garden of Allah," 1937 "A Star is Born," 1938 "The Adventures of Robin Hood," 1939 "The Wizard of Oz," 1939 "Gone With The Wind", 1939 "Elizabeth and Essex," 1940 "Northwest Passage." You are right that black and white was still the dominate medium but with the Technicolor Company gaining a foothold by the mid 1940s the use of color had become common in many MGM and Warner's prestige features. From the 1930s to the early 1950s when a studio made a Technicolor feature they had to rent cameras, technicians, color consultants, lighting equipment, meters and so on. It was an entire package and was quite expensive. In those days Technicolor had a virtual monopoly on motion picture color photography and so it wasn't readily available to any of the lesser films studios because of the major expense. A less expensive two color Cinecolor was available from William T. Crispinel and Alan M. Gundelfinger, and was used in many westerns of the late 1940s and early 1950s (often under the name of Trucolor) until Eastman Kodak came out with a readily available color negative in 1949. This new Eastman process was not fully utilized until about 1954 and Technicolor then retired their giant 3-strip cameras after a reign of 23 years. Technicolor continued to use their dye transfer printing process along with the Eastman color negative by taking the photographed color negative and making red, yellow, and blue separations so that permanent color records of any given film could preserved and then be printed and restored. An example is 1959's "Ben-Hur" which was shot in Camera 65 (70 mm) and used the Eastman modern color negative After principal photography color separations were made from the negative and then reprinted on positive film stock using their imbibition and dye transfer process. This procedure took care of Eastman negative color problems (among them fading ), and inaccuracies and provided a rich vivid palette near as rich as the original 3 strip technique. For more Technicolor info see the book "The Dawn of Technicolor" by George Eastman House. Hope you guys find this interesting. I've had a thing for Technicolor films since I saw them as a little kid in the 1960s!
Thanks Doug. Presumably the early color films suffered from anaemia and required manual enhancement adding to post production costs?
The climactic scene with Sister Ruth stalking Sister Clodagh was actually scored first then the action was choreographed to match the score. It was one of Powell/Pressburger's first experiments with an idea Powell had called "composed film." They did this again for the entire "Red Shoe Ballet" from "The Red Shoes" and then the entire opera/ballet film "The Tales Of Hoffmann," for which all of the audio was recorded before filming.
You guys definitely need to see more Powell/Pressburger films. They're amazing.
+Martin Pitts I (Joe) actually just watched THE RED SHOES for the first time about a month ago. We definitely need to fit some more Powell/Pressburger movies in and review them.
Clearly it wasn't all shot on a sound stage. All the exteriors WERE shot outside, mostly on the Pinewood lot on an exterior set elevated on scaffolding. The distant scenery was painted on giant panoramas lit with natural light, and for the overhead shots the best painted mattes on glass ever created were placed in front of the camera. When seen in its entirety the palace was a scale model. To us today it looks like an aerial shot but obviously in those days you could not shoot from a Technicolor camera in a plane. The whole film was designed, lit and shot to look like a Vermeer painting.
Good catch. I should have said that none of it was shot on location, and that it was all filmed at a studio. I shouldn't have inferred that none of it was shot outside. Thanks!
You guys REALLY need to see Powell's 'Peeping Tom' (1960).
Yes!
Great video. One of my favorite movies ever. You should watch "A Matter of Life and Death".
Mostly shot in Pinewood studios. The palace was a miniature model made of papier maché set against paintings. The indoor and courtyard shots were studio sets to replicate parts of the miniature.
The outdoor shots were in a park in Sussex England where they had an abundance of tropical flowers.
The Ireland flashback shots were in Scotland & wales.
This was one of the first British films shot in colour. (Technicolour). So reminiscent of classic 1930's Disney and the greats like " Gone with the wind "
& "the wizard of oz."
It almost looks like a Disney set in many shots.
The use of stark colour on cold blue/white template incorporated in Disney's "Frozen" was inspired by Black Narcissus.
Lol. Love your homage scenes with the Amazon package & Katie. I also want to see "Mr. Dean and the Nuns". 😂
Nice job reviewing this film. My husband and I had read so many glowing reviews of it over the years that we finally decided to watch it. He hated it. I wanted to love, or at least like it. It was difficult to watch, but I must give it credit for it's power to make you feel uncomfortable. It is haunting and eerie. In the end, I want to want to watch it again, but just haven't been able to. After watching your review, I will give it another go. You had some interesting insights.
Thanks! We've had mixed reactions to showing this movie to friends, from disturbed to excited to indifferent to some who just didn't like it.
they shot it in color
Awesome! #themoreyouknow
12:52 Repulsion next? :D
"The gun is good, the penis is bad", so catchy. I liked Zardoz, or the first half anyway, it got slower and slower and the wizard of oz thing was stupid as was the crystal whatever.
We really need to get around to reviewing that one some time.
Film Illiterates It's definitely a trip.......................................................... :I