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Post by Rich Cornock on Jun 9, 2009 20:57:29 GMT
I asked Eric about the titles and he told me it was mostly material damaged beyond repair or duplicate material already held by Contemporary. Nothing important! not being funny but if a missing film was found with these films then i would say they need a proper investigation before they are junked. who knows what else may be pulled out.
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Post by Peter Stirling on Jun 9, 2009 21:04:17 GMT
Peter you have got the old cult brain cells moving
just a thought, while your down there see if you can find
"farewell performance" murder mystery with Alfred (public eye) Burke and the Tornados , its been missing for years.
"Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" Warren Mitchell as a weird magician who gets revenge also missing for years
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 8:03:41 GMT
Yes, i'd personally reckon that those 500 films need carefully looking at. As most people on this site will know from experience, the interesting finds are often located in collections of material where the owner perceives the contents to be "of little interest or rarity value"!
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jun 10, 2009 8:19:32 GMT
Peter you have got the old cult brain cells moving just a thought, while your down there see if you can find "farewell performance" murder mystery with Alfred (public eye) Burke and the Tornados , its been missing for years. "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" Warren Mitchell as a weird magician who gets revenge also missing for years . Yes Peter, two films well worth asking about! There are a few things on my list too, among them 'Money-Go-Round' - a 1967 short featuring the Koobas; and 'Where Once Kings Rode' - another 1967 short, this time featuring the Spencer Davis Group. I remember seeing the Spencer Davis segment on Youtube a couple of years back, but I'm not sure if it's still there.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jun 18, 2009 18:02:20 GMT
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we DON'T have a 45 minute print of the the film at all - what we have is two virtually identical 22 minute edits of the film, both radically different to the print screened in 1984.
Which came as a bit of a surprise to those present at the screening yesterday!
Among the highlights were two sequences omitted from the 1984 print: a busker sequence featuring 'Queen of the Buskers' Meg Aikman, and Andy Ellison performing 'Lucky Lie', the B-side to his March 1968 single 'Fool From Upper Eden'. Andy attended the screening and couldn't believe his eyes!
The bonus of these two previously undocumented sequences was far outweighed by the complete absence of any of the Blossom Toes, Idle Race and Luiz Bonfa contributions; and also anything resembling what could normally be described as a 'scene' in the traditional sense of the word. The film has a beginning, a middle and an end - and a consistent narrative structure if you concentrate hard enough - but such is the speed of editing that at times it borders on an experimental short.
To borrow a cricketing analogy, what we have is a 'Twenty20' version of the film. Not quite the Ashes, but better than no game at all.
To give you some idea of how much the soundtracks of the 1984 and 2009 prints are at variance, tracks (c) (h) (i) (k) (l) (m) (n) (p) (r) (s) (t) (u) (v) (w) (aa) (bb) (cc) and (dd) of the tracklisting posted earlier were all missing from the 22 minute edit. They were replaced by the aforementioned Andy Ellison track; a couple of new Hammond workouts; a [Don Partridge?] song probably titled 'Queen of the Buskers'; and a calypso instrumental.
Some other impressions immediately post-screening:
- Leading lady Diane Keen is seldom seen. I remember her having a far more more prominent role in the 1984 print.
- The Dantalian's Chariot sequence appears to have been drastically re-edited. I recall there being far more footage of the performance. As Zoot is the only member of the band clearly visible, it must also cast doubt on the band's presence in the film - something that has been a bone of contention with me for some time.
- The Kevin Westlake and Gary Farr sequence has been retained and was probably much as it was in the 1984 print.
- Julie Driscoll et al DO appear in the picture. 'Break It Up' is played over some nightclub performance footage of the band. Some shots of the band in Cannes also make the film.
- Don Partridge is seen briefly. His appearance with 'The Speck of Dust' - five American children - is omitted entirely.
- The 35mm reel, 'Love Signs and Dumdeedum', that I had shipped over from Hong Kong WAS from Popdown. The button bearing the slogan 'Make Love, Not War...or Else We'll Kill You' is fleetingly seen onscreen.
- No material from either the St. Moritz or Miami sequences appeared to have made the cut.
The 16mm and 35mm excerpts have now taken on a much greater significance. The 16mm reels clearly contain material not included in the 22 minute edit: footage of limbo dancers Rocky Allen & Cindy and exotic dancer Yvonne French, plus material from the St. Moritz sequence, for starters. Of course, I could always have blinked and missed them!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2009 8:17:50 GMT
So...good news and bad news, Peter! Good news that you did find something of the film. The search for the full version goes on. Another good point to think of is that when it does turn up, there will be some extra material here for an extended DVD release!
Thanks for the detailed info and update.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jul 18, 2009 14:08:45 GMT
Update.
Further material has been unearthed at the Hong Kong warehouse storing Fred Marshall's film library. A box marked "Popdown (1970)" containing 12 reels of 35mm negatives was found inside a large trunk of 1/4 inch soundtapes I was interested in. In addition, another reel of Popdown material was found amongst the negatives of Fred Marshall's 1970s film 'Asian Odyssey' (aka 'The Free Life').
The 13 reels are currently en route from Hong Kong.
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Post by Gary Critcher on Jul 18, 2009 15:20:23 GMT
Peter, are you still struggling to finance the shipping of all of this material?
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jul 18, 2009 17:17:31 GMT
Yes! I just about cobbled the money together this time, but would struggle to come up with the funds for further shipments.
Help may be at hand, however. I have been asked to obtain quotes to (a) have the library shipped over, and (b) have the 35mm material restored and transferred to DigiBeta.
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Post by Gary Critcher on Jul 18, 2009 17:42:39 GMT
OK, was going to say please feel free to e-mail me & we could discuss
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2009 15:00:05 GMT
Peter you have got the old cult brain cells moving just a thought, while your down there see if you can find "farewell performance" murder mystery with Alfred (public eye) Burke and the Tornados , its been missing for years. "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" Warren Mitchell as a weird magician who gets revenge also missing for years. Where did this come from ? www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Py3Aamx5Q
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Post by Peter Prentice on Aug 8, 2009 15:27:53 GMT
Peter you have got the old cult brain cells moving just a thought, while your down there see if you can find "farewell performance" murder mystery with Alfred (public eye) Burke and the Tornados , its been missing for years. "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" Warren Mitchell as a weird magician who gets revenge also missing for years. Where did this come from ? www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Py3Aamx5QJust e-mailed the guy, Darren. Will let you know what comes of it.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Aug 13, 2009 19:49:16 GMT
No word from Suburban Batherson. As he claims to be a curator and collector of vintage British TV, I would expect him to be a visitor to these boards. He certainly has a heavy internet presence.
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Post by Thomas Walsh on Oct 31, 2009 9:13:35 GMT
WOW Peter!! Just read through the entire thread from start to finish...WHAT A BUZZ!! It was highs and lows. My interest in this flick goes way back after hearing of the 'Idle Race's' involvment. I know Rob Caiger very well (E.L.O/Move/Roy Wood/Idle Race archivist) and I've talked extensively about this infamous movie. I never knew they performed 'On with the show'!! What a revelation and how incredible it would be to see that. I love that song so much I bloody COVERED it for a b-side (Got me mate Neil Hannon in to do Jeff's high bits, it's not the finished mix but you'll get the gist!!) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4PUmRL65vEIt's generally considered that 'The Idle Race' also performed 'The skeleton and the roundabout' which would make sense as it was their biggest radio-hit of their career and would have been plugged to death at the time. Anyway please keep us abreast of all things 'POP DOWN' and thanks again Peter. Thomas.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Oct 31, 2009 12:36:28 GMT
WOW Peter!! Just read through the entire thread from start to finish...WHAT A BUZZ!! It was highs and lows. My interest in this flick goes way back after hearing of the 'Idle Race's' involvment. I know Rob Caiger very well (E.L.O/Move/Roy Wood/Idle Race archivist) and I've talked extensively about this infamous movie. I never knew they performed 'On with the show'!! What a revelation and how incredible it would be to see that. I love that song so much I bloody COVERED it for a b-side (Got me mate Neil Hannon in to do Jeff's high bits, it's not the finished mix but you'll get the gist!!) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4PUmRL65vEIt's generally considered that 'The Idle Race' also performed 'The skeleton and the roundabout' which would make sense as it was their biggest radio-hit of their career and would have been plugged to death at the time. Now the weird thing..... About 2 months ago I was approached by a third party to obtain the Far-Eastern archive that you seem to have purchased. It has to be the same one (though I was told Thailand?). There was a Dutch guy involved and he was making very strong noises that this archive WAS 'Pop Down' including reels of out-takes. I got in touch with Rob but he never followed up on it. I have a very crappy financial situation at present so I couldn't make a decision without outside help so I let it slip too. If this is a seperate collection (supposedly given to this Dutch person from Fred Marshal, and he was given instructions to sell it for DVD release, to get it out basically!!) is it worth me re-opening the lines of communication? There are similarities in your story though (storage place going to destroy the box if the stuff wasn't shifted, pay for shipping only and it's your's etc,etc..) so I'm sure we're retrieving from the same pop book here.. Anyway please keep us abreast of all things 'POP DOWN' and thanks again Peter. Thomas. Hi Thomas, This wouldn't by any chance have something to do with our mutual friend Gary would it? I noticed he was amongst your band's MySpace friends. Recent researches lead me to believe 'On With the Show' was used as the backing for the theatrically released film's credit sequence - something I have long suspected. I think it highly likely 'The Skeleton and the Roundabout' would have been included originally, though not necessarily as performance footage. With a couple of possible exceptions, everything was shot without sound. Nothing is 'in sync'. I am planning an update for Missing Episodes shortly to tie in with a follow-up I have written for Anthony Harvison's Wiped.
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