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Post by Peter Prentice on Dec 15, 2009 20:45:44 GMT
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Post by Bob Savage (robstar) on Dec 15, 2009 22:04:47 GMT
Excellent thanks for that, good to see the film looks in great condition!
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Post by Thomas Walsh on Dec 15, 2009 22:52:56 GMT
No 'Idle Race' then Peter.....? It looks great though!! T.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Dec 16, 2009 7:03:56 GMT
No 'Idle Race' then Peter.....? It looks great though!! T. Those are screenshots of the 25m edit found at Contemporary Films and screened in June, Thomas. The contents of the Hong Kong reels have still to be determined. As soon as Chris Perry gives me the say-so I will travel up to view the results of Gordon Hendry's 16mm clean-up.
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Post by Thomas Walsh on Dec 16, 2009 21:25:12 GMT
Of course Peter, sorry. Thanks for the updates by the way. T.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Feb 8, 2010 20:44:35 GMT
Having viewed their picture elements at the weekend, I can now reveal the contents of the 16mm excerpts found in Hong Kong. As I'd anticipated, they address a number of key questions about the film. First the bad news. They contain no footage of Blossom Toes, the Idle Race or any of the other musical sequences missing from the 25m edits. However, all of the material is 'new' (i.e. none of it featured in the 25m version). Prominent among this new material are the Rio Carnival and Rocky Allen & Cindy sequences. The full rundown of their contents is as follows: 'Belly Dancer Pix': A short performance sequence of an exotic dancer, presumably the Yvonne French listed in the press book credits. 'T.L. Surfing Trk': Very brief footage of a male surfer. 'Pix - Stars in the Snow + Rocky Allen & Cindy (aka 'Musicorama')': Two self-contained musical shorts dating, like almost all of the excerpts, from 1979-1982. The first, entitled 'Stars in the Snow', was a combination of non-Popdown 1970s footage and some amateurish shots of Fred Marshall, Jimmy the skiing chimpanzee and Swiss trick skier Renate Torri - the first St. Moritz material to have been recovered. The second short, retitled 'Musicorama' onscreen, is the missing limbo dancing party scene filmed on March 22, 1968. With the exception of Diane Keen, all of the main cast members participate in the sequence, a showcase for the talents of Trinidadian limbo couple Rocky Allen & Cindy. Musicians Kevin Westlake and Gary Farr, who featured briefly in the 25m edits, can be spotted in the scene sitting on a sofa strumming acoustic guitars. In a strange quirk of fate, Musicorama recently caused some excitement when it was found listed in a 2005 Contemporary Films inventory. 'Carnival Pix': The missing Rio Carnival sequence; a combination of some 16mm footage of the carnival and film of what looks like another wild night in Swinging London. I thought I caught a glimpse of Marmalade impresario Giorgio Gomelsky in the latter; judging by the state he was in, its little wonder he has no recollection of the film or Fred Marshall! Unless I'm mistaken, the dancer Zaré appears in both sections, which might give us a clue as to when the Rio material was shot. The sequence is also distinguished by its use of split screen. 'Rocky Allen & Cindy - Action (Original)': The original footage of the Rocky Allen & Cindy sequence later retitled and repackaged as Musicorama. I would need to play them both side-by-side to detect any differences. There was also a very brief sequence showing what appeared to me to be a series of small animated flying saucers moving from left to right across the screen, and a beautifully shot candles sequence - a couple of images from which can be seen here: viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=406039636&albumId=1689825The condition of the reels was surprisingly good for the most part, which is testimony to the restoration skills of Kaleidoscope's film restorer extraordinaire Gordon Hendry; the results easily surpassed anything I'd thought possible when I first obtained them. The tireless efforts of Christopher Perry mustn't be overlooked either, and I will forever be indebted to him for all the help he's given the project over the past ten months or so. Together they have made reconstruction a realisable aim.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Feb 9, 2010 21:47:38 GMT
In a development that is almost a matter of course by now, last night's update is already in need of revision. It has now been established that "Musicorama-Popdown" was the title of the two 25m prints found at Contemporary Films last June.
Quite why the same title turned up among the 16mm excerpts is therefore a mystery.
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Post by garymiller on Jan 3, 2011 17:48:47 GMT
In a development that is almost a matter of course by now, last night's update is already in need of revision. It has now been established that "Musicorama-Popdown" was the title of the two 25m prints found at Contemporary Films last June. Quite why the same title turned up among the 16mm excerpts is therefore a mystery. Hi Peter, It's been a while since I last stopped by, have there been any further developments with the film?
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jan 4, 2011 9:09:54 GMT
In a development that is almost a matter of course by now, last night's update is already in need of revision. It has now been established that "Musicorama-Popdown" was the title of the two 25m prints found at Contemporary Films last June. Quite why the same title turned up among the 16mm excerpts is therefore a mystery. Hi Peter, It's been a while since I last stopped by, have there been any further developments with the film? Hi Gary, Will draft an update shortly. It will take a little time as it's likely to be quite lengthy. I've also got a lot on at the moment.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2011 12:14:35 GMT
I'm pleased you'll be updating us at some point too, Peter. I look forward to hearing more when time permits.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jan 4, 2011 20:14:48 GMT
Well, Gary, the project is progressing, albeit at a much slower pace than I would like it to. Many of my researches inevitably centre on Fred Marshall's activities pre- and post-Popdown, which, while absolutely fascinating to me, probably fall outside of Missing Episodes' sphere of interest. Popdown, of course, remains an important area of my enquiries. While there is little of note to report on the search for the film proper (though one new lead has emerged), considerable advances have been made on the piecing together of the story behind it. The jigsaw analogy is appropriate, for I'm having to piece everything together bit-by-bit; the collective amnesia I've often referred to permeates just about every aspect of Fred Marshall's working life, and it seems to get worse the closer one gets to the present day. With Popdown, much of the memory loss can be explained by the sporadic, ad hoc nature of the production, the inordinate length of time the film spent in the cutting room and the limitations of its distribution. It's also easy to forget we are talking about a film made forty-two years ago, at a time when the world was in the midst of seismic cultural and social upheaval. There WERE more important things than the making of Popdown. I once described Popdown as one of the most offbeat films ever released in Britain. Not any more. I'm now of the opinion that Popdown is the most bizarre film production ever undertaken in this country. In what other picture would a portion of its press book be used as a still? A piece of the collage/poster Fred Marshall put together for the film's press book can be seen presumably in lieu of a photograph during one sequence of "Musicorama-Popdown". That press book, it should be said, has an awful lot to answer for. A good 20% of its cast and crew list (the source of EVERY cast list available, with the exception of Laurie Goode's IMDb addition of himself and Allan Warren, and the short list of names found in the BFI's library synopsis) is erroneous, if not patent nonsense. Some of it can be put down to wilful invention on the part of Fred Marshall, but the omission of several key participants defies any kind of rational explanation. The aforementioned BFI synopsis has remained one of the film's greatest puzzles for it lists the inclusion of Lord Sitar. Lord Sitar were a studio-only collaboration between composer John Hawkins and legendary session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan; nobody but nobody could have known of their contribution without seeing it written down somewhere, either on some sort of as yet undiscovered documentation or the film's credits. The synopsis also lists the participation of Pan's People; a participation dismissed out of hand by those working on the film but something I'm not prepared to rule out. Was it simply a coincidence that Jim Ramble - their personal manager and Flick Colby's then husband - just happened to be Zoot Money's publicist and the man who coined the name Dantalian's Chariot? Mention of George Bruno Money reminds me I must once again point out that Popdown was NOT filmed in 1967 as Zoot would have everyone believe (see Record Collector June 2010). Whilst it's possible some of Fred Marshall's home movie/holiday footage predated Popdown's principal photography, NO actual filming took place before January of 1968. Dantalian's were in their death throes by the time their sequence was filmed (between February and early April 1968) and Zoot's involvement was in all likelihood curtailed by his joining up with Eric Burdon in late April 1968. A stand-in conspicuous in a Hyde Park sequence of "Musicorama-Popdown" would appear to back this theory up, although photographer Jak Kilby recalls one memorable occasion deputising for Zoot when the singer failed to show. For the record, the soundtrack of "Musicorama-Popdown" - the unexplained 25-minute assemblage found at Contemporary Films - includes a 38-second snatch of an unreleased and undocumented experimental piece by Dantalian's Chariot which Fred Marshall remembered in the year 2000 as "Soliloquy" (for some reason the track was trimmed down to a mere 15 seconds on the 46-minute edit screened at the Scala in 1984). Amongst other soundtrack material identified since my last update is track (i) on the audio recording: "Chik-a, Chik-a (I Think You're Lost)" www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjMQjziW-nY by Floyd & Jerry, or "Pat & Gerry" if you want to take the press book as gospel. To be fair, one name was almost right! Funding in all areas remains a headache. Right now I'm in desperate need of finding someone willing to fund the transport of what is left of the Hong Kong library, which is in imminent danger of destruction (I have just two weeks remaining to salvage what I can). I particularly want to find a taker for the collection of sound tapes, the majority of which relate to the soundtrack of "The Free Life" and the four mid-sixties LPs Michel Hausser recorded for Marshall as Orquesta Caravelle. Material from the LPs features heavily throughout the soundtrack(s) of Popdown. There are still a great many questions to answer. I'm still not certain what relation the 25m ("Musicorama-Popdown" or Contemporary Films) and 46m (Scala Cinema) prints had with the five other documented durations: 98m, 70m, 60m, 54m, 50m+; nor do I know the identity of the person or persons responsible for whittling the film down for theatrical release. It seems to have passed through the hands of half the film editors in London over the course of its tortuous post-production, though few would choose to admit it. No progress would have been possible without the continued support I've received from Freddy's friends and colleagues in London and elsewhere. In particular, I would like to single out Richard de Clare - Popdown's executive producer and universally acknowledged as Fred's right-hand man in the capital. Richard could easily have told me to get lost when I first contacted him in February 2009 (and has had numerous opportunities since!) but he has always been on hand to share in my latest discovery or listen to my latest scatterbrained theory, no matter how outlandish or far-fetched. I'm sure that deep down Richard is just as bemused as everyone else by all the attention Fred and Popdown are receiving, but - and this is to his immense credit - he's never let it show.
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Post by Thomas Walsh on Jan 5, 2011 6:42:02 GMT
Great update Peter but still all quiet on the 'Idle Race' front eh?? They DEFINITELY appeared in that bloody movie!! :-)
Thomas.
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jan 5, 2011 9:53:01 GMT
It's only a matter of time, Thomas. There is still an awful lot of silliness to wade through but I'm beginning to sort substance from shadow.
Fred Marshall was a great recycler and never seemed particularly concerned about the vagaries of musical fashion, which means the Idle Race footage could turn up in the most unlikely of places.
Marshall was very excited by the pop video boom of the late seventies and early eighties, and saw himself as a precursor. So much so that he began to cut up old Hollywood films in an attempt to jump on the bandwagon. Given that the film stock date codes of the 16mm excerpts ranged (with one exception) from 1979-82, is it too much to suppose he was using Popdown material to construct pop videos?
Who knows, you might one day find Jeff Lynne and company strumming along to a song by one of Freddy's favourite Asian 'superstars'!
There is also a strong possibility that Popdown MUSICAL material found its way into its 10-minute coda "Chelsea Bird" - "a highly original space age musical with top pop stars from the London scene," according to the publicity. Again, this would be consistent with his recycling policy.
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Post by Peter Stirling on Jan 5, 2011 12:00:11 GMT
Peter I hope you got that application into the lottery for funding?
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Post by Peter Prentice on Jan 5, 2011 13:04:02 GMT
Peter I hope you got that application into the lottery for funding? I did, but I didn't get a response. They might argue that the film had little or no cultural value (it's no "Magical Mystery Tour" let alone "A Hard Day's Night") and the location and content of the film library isn't going to do me any favours. Even Asian film libraries have no interest.
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