Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film of Mary Webb's novel Gone to Earth was released in 1950. The Stiperstones shot in Technicolor makes just about the ultimate Shropshire Hills porn.
This behind-the-scenes footage comes from Michael Powell's own collection. We see the starts Jennifer Jones and David Farrar and Powell himself, as well as many locals in and out of period costume.
Malcolm Saville fans should have a look at 3:00, where we see Gypsies. This is what Reuben, Miranda and their van would have looked like.
What strikes me most here is how cumbersome the film equipment looks. It's why you have to assume that every scene in a wartime documentary has been staged - there was little chance of reacting quickly as events unfolded.
The really good news is that this is the first of four of these films from the making of Gone to Earth (or "Tess of the Stiperstones" as I saw someone call it on social media - the story shares Hardy's triangle of innocent peasant girl, wicked squire and sexless man).
I did post these once before. It was 12 years ago, but who's counting?
No comments:
Post a Comment