• My second viewing — a classic romance – ingenuity in the direction from Powell & Pressburger, career-defining performances from Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and simply one of the strongest screenplays of the 1940’s outside of Casablanca (Livesey’s line “”They’re not poor, they just haven’t any money”)
  • It’s more than just polish and craftsmanship from Powell—the opening sequence of Hiller’s character growing up is so well done- the credits are a part of the mise-en-scene as we get to know her and how doggedly determined she is, even as a young girl
  • The title, haha, very literal (not exactly poetic)- not a big fan but not a big deal
  • Hiller is brilliant here as Joan Webster, aspiring, smart, pragmatic, stubborn
  • One of the film’s standout stylistic sequences is the blending and overlapping of images (sort of a dissolve but it is a sustained hold from Powell)- it’s at 10 minutes in, overlapping images as Powell puts us in the headspace of Hiller’s character—the engine, her trip, her busy mind, he matches a steam engine with a black top hat. Hitchcock would be the master of this style—a strong tradition that lives on- Aronofsky would do in Pi and Requiem.
a knock-down-drag-out spectacular use of film style here in this dissolve-laden explosion 10 minutes into the film
overlapping images as Powell puts us in the headspace of Hiller’s character—the engine, her trip, her busy mind, he matches a steam engine with a black top hat.
  • The exteriors shot on location in Scotland, natural lighting, fog—really strong landscape work
  • The greatest images in the film- on a wall in an art museum level photography is a shot 30 minutes in with Hiller opening the door of the castle. There’s a matching one at 85 minutes for the Livesey character
The greatest images in the film- on a wall in an art museum level photography is a shot 30 minutes in with Hiller opening the door of the castle. There’s a matching one at 85 minutes for the Livesey character
  • There are a few shots that are similar on the beach with the water in the background at the magic hour—but only a few—not enough
There are a few shots that are similar on the beach with the water in the background at the magic hour
The exteriors shot on location in Scotland, natural lighting, fog—really strong landscape work
  • The same year as Lean’s Brief Encounter– this is a week-long courtship but there are similarities—she’s falling in love as the weather confines her from getting to her fiancee –
  • After Livesey enters the castle at 85 minutes there are some nicely framed shots of the castle—him stalking around
  • I think it’s a perfect choice never to show the fiancée
  • HR—maybe a HR/MS with some distance from it but not higher