The Young Victoria - A historic-romantic drama

For over a period of time, I was, indeed, longing to watch a film which is romantic, historic, and dramatic. At that moment, I had no idea of what film would be a blend of all these. But suddenly, in 2009, one film caught my eye. It is The Young Victoria. Immediately, a ray of flash sparked in my mind signalling that this is the film that you are waiting for. Of course, it is it! This is the film that is a perfect montage of romance, history, and drama. I could not stop my yen to watch the film that might satiate all desires of watching a nice film. Undoubtedly, it did!

The Young Victoria is a story about the early days of the longest ruling British Sovereign, Queen Victoria - makes it a historical film. The story revolves around Victoria's romance with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Goethe - makes it a romantic film. Moreover, the directorial abilities of Jean-Marc Vallée who created a romantic dramatisation of some of the events preceding and following the coronation of Queen Victoria - makes it a dramatic film.

The moment I started watching the film, my eyelashes became so rigid to flutter. The the sequences of the scenes are so binding that one should not run the risk of missing out a single scene. All the scenes of the film are just amazingly shot with an extraordinary details of the historical facts. Though the fact of dramatisation of some the facts cannot be ignored for cinematic effect, nevertheless, the film was endearingly close to the hearts of the audience. Although partly unfaithful to some of the historical facts that wreathes the film, nonetheless, they are fantastically artistic in their picturisation.

To quote one of such, there is a scene wherein, an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria. Actually, Prince Albert was never shot during this attempt whereas, in the film, Prince Albert being grazed by the bullet is shown to exemplify his valour and devotion in rescuing Queen Victoria from being shot. The other scenes and the facts are just enthralling.

The another important fact that is highlighted in the film is the support given by Prince Albert to Queen Victoria. There were a few bad days during Victoria's early days of investiture and accession. Throughout this period, Prince Albert supported Victoria through his letters written from Germany. This support is really historic.

To the end, the whole film is a historic-romantic drama that everyone will enjoy. So, do watch it!!!

FACTS ABOUT VICTORIA AND ALBERT*

• Victoria and Albert reigned together for twenty years.
• Prince Albert died from typhoid at the age of 42.
• In memory of her husband, Victoria had his clothes laid out every day until her death, at the age of 81.
• Among their accomplishments, Victoria and Albert championed reforms in education, welfare, and industry.
• Their unflagging support of the arts and sciences was most famously celebrated in Prince Albert's Great Exhibition of 1851.
• Victoria remains longest reigning British Sovereign. To date.
  

*Facts are directly taken from the film. Represented here for the convenience of the reader.

Brief Encounter - A film with romantic fervour

One of the best British films of all-time, Brief Encounter, is remembered for its romantic fervour. Directed by David Lean based on Noël Coward's one-act play Still Life about the mores of British suburban life, centering on a housewife is extraordinarily portrayed by the performances of Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

The whole film centered around a loveless, unaffectionate housewife, Laura Jesson (Johnson), narrates the story in first person imagining that she is confessing her affair with Alec Harvey (Howard) to her husband Fred.

The whole film is fantastically pictured in a narration of Laura Jesson, which starts in the living room with in the background of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Eileen Joyce sets the mood of narration. In the flashback, Laura, an uncared wife ventures to the nearby town, Milford on every Thursday for shopping and to the cinema for a matinée. Returning home after her weekly pleasure trip, at the station, she encounters with a General Practitioner, Alec Howard who is another passenger. Both are in their thirties; each is married, with two children. Enjoying each other's company, both of them decide to meet again. Initially, they meet furtively fearing the possibilities of meeting their friends. As the casual relationship continues, they slowly discover a true love in them. As the time ticks away, their relationship grows deeper that gives a tinge of audacity, which sprouts guilt in Laura Jesson for cheating on her husband. She even goes to the extent of lying to her husband. In some of the scenes, as Laura talks to her husband, the audience would clearly understand that she is trying to prevaricate.

In the later scene, Laura receives a shock that Alec has to leave for Johannesburg to work as a doctor. In the final scene, they again meet in the refreshment room of the station, which is their usual pleasure place to meet. As they talk, loquacious Dolly Messiter, a close acquaintance of Laura invites herself into the discussion, in turn robbing away the privacy of the parting couple. As the train arrives, Alec boards the train. Laura hears the sound of train being pulled away from the platform, Laura, at the spur of the moment, dashes out onto the platform trying to end her life, which she cannot do, presumably, owing to the reason of binding relationship as a wife and mother.

In the final scene of the film, which does not appear in the original Coward play, Laura's negligent husband Fred suddenly shows that he has not been completely oblivious to her distress in the past weeks, and takes her in his arms.

The narration of the film is so well that concentrates on minor happenings too. On the whole, Brief Encounter is a best film that shows the romantic encounter of a couple.

London River - A portrayal of human emotions

Recently, I saw the film London River. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, seems to be one of the best films of British Cinema that has produced in 2009. I am, indeed, amazed by the extraordinary performances given by Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté.

The plot of the film is that in the wake of 2005 London terror attacks, both Elisabeth Sommers (Brenda Blethyn) and Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyaté) after travelling to London start to check on their missing children. Even after several attempts in vain, they could not find the children. With growing agitation and apprehensions about the children's state, Elisabeth and Ousmane (individually) would file a case in the local police station. Later, Elisabeth comes Jane's flat and finds the pictures of Jane with Ali along with some other classmates. Elisabeth is also surprised to find Quran in Jane's flat. Interestingly, Elisabeth would also, run into the fact that Jane has been learning Arabic. Unable to digest the fact, Jane is under the influence of Islam, starts weeping. This is one of the touching scenes in the film.


One fine day, Elisabeth in an attempt to find Jane puts up posters with the telephone number of hers. Accidentally, Ousmane who passes by, sees the posters about Jane and recognises Jane to be his son's Ali's classmate. Foreseeing the mirage of hope, Ousmane telephones Eilsabeth. They both agree to meet in a place. This is, indeed, one of the most important scenes in the film that exemplifies the fact of 'Identity'. When Elisabeth meets Ousmane, she is shocked to look at him as he is an African Muslim. She goes to the extent of not even greeting him. Later, Elisabeth with unwanted fears about Ousmane lowering over her heart complains to the local police saying that Ousmane could be guilty of Jane's disappearance. In the later scenes, Elisabeth feels guilty for the appalling mistake she committed by suspecting Ousmane.


As the film proceeds further, one day, the land lord of Jane's flat says that his sister saw both Jane and Ali in the near by travel agency. Overwhelmed by the news, both Elisabeth and Ousmane would run to the travel agency to get the clues about the children. After talking to the agent, they find that the children have booked the tickets to leave for Paris on a vacation. By hearing the fact that subdued all the slightest fears in their hearts about the children, the parents take a sigh of relief. Elisabeth, at the spur of the moment, says to Ousmane, "I will sleep peacefully tonight"


Unanticipated incidents happen in life which is the fabric of the nature. Early in the morning, the local police personnel come to Jane's flat to take Elisabeth and Ousmane to the headquarters. Here, something shocking happens. The police reveal that there has been a casuality of both Jane and Ali in the terror attacks.


Elisabeth, who lost her husband a few years back could not take the news that her dear daughter, Jane. She feels all alone. Ousmane telephones his home and cries from the other side are heard. In the final scene, Elisabeth is seen digging the farm with sickle with all frustration and fear.

I feel the director succeeded hundred percent in portraying human emotions. It is a nice film to watch. It can be downloaded from any Torrent site.

The Third Man - A tale of love.

The Third Man after its release created a boom across the world because of its extraordinary presentation of love. More importantly, this love is portrayed by Anna Schmidt, the girlfriend of Harry Lime. The moment I see Anna's character in the film I am reminded of one of Shakespearean's love sonnets, which I would like to share with you all

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

The Third Man (1949) - An incredible film

The impeccable direction of Carol Reed; breath-taking zither scores of Anoton Karas; the surpassing performances of Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; and Graham Greene's sharp dialogues, made The Third Man to be one of the best of the best British films of all-time.

An American pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins (Jospeh Cotten) comes to the post-war Vienna which is divided into four separate zones, each governed by one of the victorious Allies, and a jointly-administered international zone to meet his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) who promises him with a job. After coming to Vienna he discovers that Lime is recently hit by a lorry that ran over him.

Martins goes to the cemetry to attend his friend's funeral and meets two British Army Royal Military Policemen: Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), a fan of Martins's books, and his superior, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard). After the services, Martins accepts an invitation to speak to the members of a local book club, delaying his departure to do so. He is contacted by a friend of Lime's, Baron Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), who wants to talk about Lime's death. Kurtz relates that he and Popescu (Siegfried Breuer), another friend of Lime's, had picked Lime up after the accident and brought him over to the side of the street before dying.

Martins later meets Anna (Valli), Lime's girlfriend in a theatre. In one of the succeeding scenes, Martins meets Anna in Lime's apartment. The porter of Lime's apartment tells Martins that Lime was brought to the side of the street not just by two people, but by indeed, three. Martins pressures the porter to give some more information about the third man. But the porter puts himself up as if he does not remember the third man and in turn, refuses to give information.

The a tinge of doubt about Lime's death, Martins meets Lime's personal physician, Dr. Winkel to know more about the third man whereas, Winkel reassures that there were only two people at the accident spot. Unconvinced Martins, leaves the place.

In one of the later scenes, Martins discerns a man watching from a dark doorway across the darkened square. A lighted window briefly illuminates the man's face, revealing him to be Harry Lime. Probing into the suscpicious death of Lime, Calloway orders for a exhume. In the cemetry, Martins is surprised to see the corpse of Joseph Harbin, an orderly in a military hospital, buried in his place.

Martins suspects Lime's social conduct and would come to know that Harry was a crook and a creep, who sold watered down penicillan in the Black Market.

Later, Martins agrees to help Calloway to ensnare Lime, negotiating Anna's save conduct to Vienna. In an amazing chasing scene in the central sewer system, Lime is shot dead by Martins. The film ends after the burial of Lime takes place. In the aftermath, Martins attends Lime's second funeral. He waits by the roadside to speak with Anna, but she walks past without looking at him.

With all the credible features, the film still gains ground even after several years of its release.
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Click here to watch the whole film

Roundhay Garden Scene - History and a critique

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, heavily influenced by the work of Eadweard Muybridge who was the first person to experiment with the motion picture in the United States in 1878, made Louis Le Prince to move his thoughts for the creation of the first ever surviving motion picture – Roundhay Garden Scene. The historic film is so famous even now, indisputably owing to the genius of Le Prince whose strikingly different element of his films is the clarity of pictures.

Besides, the historical importance the film has got, it is also a beautiful documentary created on the middle-class British family. Incredible are the credits drawn on the significance of the film.

Fostered technological development
The two-second long film of Le Prince, indeed, fostered the early technological developments in the motion picture. The transition of static photography to the motion pictures with an astonishing clarity raised the brows and gained the momentary stability. Not just the element of moving images, but the setting, tone, the sense of colours, the static background coalesced well. This roaring success of the film, in turn begot, the perhaps second motion picture – Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge.

Three unities
Way back in 335 BC, Aristotle talked about the rules of drama. The rules are called Classical Unities or Three Unities or Aristotelian Unities. They are:

1. The Unity of Action: A play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.
2. The Unity of Place: A play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.
3. The Unity of Time: The action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.
   

Films having been derived the roots from dramas and plays, did at one point of time followed these rules. Some of the films that have followed the restrictions of the classical unities are 12 Angry Men, Alien, Reservoir Dogs, Ladri di biciclette, and High Noon.

According to me, this Le Prince’s creation should also be added onto the above list. The action of this film is simple and direct wherein the four characters are found promenading in the garden. Moreover, the significance of the young is one of the main points of the script. This is exemplified by the older characters fading out of the shot. It also satisfies the second rule. Its backdrop is set in a garden; Oakwood Grange signifies the historic location. Of course, the third rule is fulfilled by running for about 2.11 seconds.

Setting accompanied the subject
Roundhay Garden Scene laid foundations to the importance of setting that accompanies the central subject of the film. Here too, the film itself is named after the setting. In the second production of Le Prince – Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge the interconnectivity between the subject and background in the film frame is more explicit, as Leeds Bridge is used both as a setting and a character in itself.

Dissertates the importance of genre or performance
The genre of Le Prince’s film turned the subjects into self-conscious actors. Both Roundhay Garden Scene and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge belong to the genre of live action. This resulted in the recreation and the representation of the reality.

Let me conclude my critique by saying, though the cinematic contribution of Le Prince is minute, he left footprints for the evolution of the motion picture which the 21st century bags the credit of its technological success.

Roundhay Garden Scene - The first surviving motion picture!

The cinema of the United Kingdom is one of the productive industries of the world that contributed a lot to the modern cinema. Despite facing negatives, booms, and recessions, the film industry of the United Kingdom developed on par to compete with the booming American film industry. Initially, the British films had the influence from the French Lumière brothers in 1895, and their show first came to London in 1896. Moreover, the ongoing debates raise doubts on the cultural and economic influences of both American and European films on the British films. Nevertheless, the British film industry produced the greatest actors, directors of the world including Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Powell and Pressburger, Sir David Lean, Sir Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn et cetera.

We could speak anything on the richness of the British cinema. Recently, I guess two days back, suddenly a thought flashed in my mind. It is – 'How would it be if I start collecting and blogging about the British films starting from pre 1900s?'. At the spur of the moment, I surfed through Internet and collected some information regarding the development of British cinema and also about the films. I thought of starting with the roots of British cinema. The result is the post about the first ever surviving motion film of the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, the earliest surviving motion picture is 'Roundhay Garden Scene' released, presumably, on October 14 1888 directed by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. The short film features some of the members of the family of Louis Le Prince. Harriet Hartley, Adolphe Le Prince, Joseph Whitley, and Sarah Whitley featured in the film.

Amazingly, the film is shot by using single lens camera. The whole scene is supposedly filmed at Oakwood Grande, Roundhay, Leeds. The running time of the film is two seconds in which the characters are seen laughing and walking around the garden. Moreover, the whole film was shot at 12 frames

I am indeed surprised to watch a film that lasts for just two seconds. Nevertheless, I am pleased to watch the first British motion film that is extant.

You all can have the pleasure of watching the film on YouTube

I am glad that I shared this first-silent-motion film of the United Kingdom. Stay tuned with the blog.
I am sure you would be interested to blog with me about the Brit films. Hope you enjoyed!!!