Monday, 26 December 2016
Sunday, 25 December 2016
RED ICE INTERVIEW
This is the complete interview I did with Red Ice Radio. I have waited a year before posting the second part, as it is in the members section and I think people ought to subscribe to Red Ice, as it is a valuable resource. This is Red Ice's introductory text to the interview:
Thursday, 22 December 2016
THE WICKER MAN AND IMPLICIT WHITENESS
We are of course concerned here with the 1973 classic of British cinema and not the 2007 remake, which should never be mentioned by anyone ever again. In fact, the only noteworthy aspect of the remake was Nicolas Cage's performance, as only he had realised the film was a parody. The original was largely the vision of three men: writer Anthony Schaffer, producer Peter Snell and actor Christopher Lee, who clubbed together to buy the film rights from the author of the novel Ritual David Pinner. The three were joined by director Robin Hardy, who also had a hand in the film's writing. A self-proclaimed conservative, Lee often stated that it was the best film he ever acted in. It is also, sadly, a film of which we will never see the director's cut, for the film was cut short by fifteen to twenty minutes and the footage edited out lost. Lee always maintained that there was a film ten times better than the one shown in theatres, if only the cans of reel could be found. That said, some of the lost scenes have since been recovered, which certainly give more of an insight into the premise of the film.
Sunday, 11 December 2016
FILM REVIEW: EGON SCHIELE: TOD UND MÄDCHEN, Screening Paedophilia
Austrian arthouse film Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen is perhaps most disappointing in that Egon Schiele led a very interesting life, yet the scriptwriter Hilde Berger and director Dieter Berner have succeeded in making it appear rather dull, in the same way as Mike Leigh served up a snore-fest about J M W Turner a couple of years ago. Perhaps the two most interesting aspects of Schiele's life, his trial for paedophilia and his experiences in the First World War, are completely glossed over in favour of a superficial overview of more or less his entire adult life. There are of course reasons liberal fans of Schiele would want to avoid these issues, which we will address.
Monday, 5 December 2016
FORGOTTEN HISTORY: THE MARCONI SCANDAL
The following article was first published in Candour Magazine, Volume 75, Number 4, Issue 857.
G. K. Chesterton
"It is the fashion to divide recent history into Pre-War and Post-War conditions. I believe it is almost as essential to divide them into the Pre-Marconi and Post-Marconi days. It was during the agitations upon that affair that the ordinary English citizen lost his invincible ignorance; or, in ordinary language, his innocence […] I think it probable that centuries will pass before it is seen clearly and in its right perspective; and that then it will be seen as one of the turning-points in the whole history of England and the world." — G. K. Chesterton, 1936