Shortly after watching Michael Powell's fun 1935 film The Phantom Light (also reviewed),I went on his IMDb page to see the films which he had made earlier.
As I looked at each of the films he had made before it,I was very sad to see that quite an important part of his early directing work looked to have been lost forever.
Whilst feeling a bit down about what me and so many other people will sadly never see,I decided to check on the BFI website,to see if their were any plot outlines for the "missing" films. To my amazement,I was shocked to discover a news item at the side of the BFI's Michael Powell page,which announced that his long lost fifth film had been found,and the it was getting put in am achieve.
Hoping that the BFI may have put a clip or two of the film online,I went round searching on YouTube for a whole weekend,which happily led to me discovering that clips had not been put on the website,but instead the whole 44 minute film!
Feeling that I had a fantastic chance to view the earliest Michael Powell film around,I decided that Rynox would be the first film that I have ever watched online!.
View on the film.:
Although he would become well known for giving his brilliant future films a dark,Brothers Grimm appearance,here,co-screenwriter/director Michael Powell goes for a very strong Film Noir look,with the scenes of F. X. in the Rynox building being shot with a very striking low-light,art-deco look,and the insane Boswell Marsh,looking like someone who has been trying to hide in an attic for his whole life!
While the editing of the film is pretty rough (which partly,might be due to the age of the film),it is still not able to ruin the fun screenplay by Powell,Jerome James and The List of Adrian Messenger writer Philip MacDonald,who do well at mixing an easy-going business drama,with the dark murder mystery of the Film Noir side.
The film is also given a great,fun character with Stewart Rome (who would late work with Powell and Pressburger on One of Our Aircraft is Missing-also reviewed) mostly striking a good balance between the mad cartoon character side,and the extremely menacing side of the unknown Boswell Marsh.
Final view on the film:
A very enjoyable,thankfully saved Film Noir,with a good screenplay and some eye-catching directing from a director with an amazing future ahead of him.
As I looked at each of the films he had made before it,I was very sad to see that quite an important part of his early directing work looked to have been lost forever.
Whilst feeling a bit down about what me and so many other people will sadly never see,I decided to check on the BFI website,to see if their were any plot outlines for the "missing" films. To my amazement,I was shocked to discover a news item at the side of the BFI's Michael Powell page,which announced that his long lost fifth film had been found,and the it was getting put in am achieve.
Hoping that the BFI may have put a clip or two of the film online,I went round searching on YouTube for a whole weekend,which happily led to me discovering that clips had not been put on the website,but instead the whole 44 minute film!
Feeling that I had a fantastic chance to view the earliest Michael Powell film around,I decided that Rynox would be the first film that I have ever watched online!.
View on the film.:
Although he would become well known for giving his brilliant future films a dark,Brothers Grimm appearance,here,co-screenwriter/director Michael Powell goes for a very strong Film Noir look,with the scenes of F. X. in the Rynox building being shot with a very striking low-light,art-deco look,and the insane Boswell Marsh,looking like someone who has been trying to hide in an attic for his whole life!
While the editing of the film is pretty rough (which partly,might be due to the age of the film),it is still not able to ruin the fun screenplay by Powell,Jerome James and The List of Adrian Messenger writer Philip MacDonald,who do well at mixing an easy-going business drama,with the dark murder mystery of the Film Noir side.
The film is also given a great,fun character with Stewart Rome (who would late work with Powell and Pressburger on One of Our Aircraft is Missing-also reviewed) mostly striking a good balance between the mad cartoon character side,and the extremely menacing side of the unknown Boswell Marsh.
Final view on the film:
A very enjoyable,thankfully saved Film Noir,with a good screenplay and some eye-catching directing from a director with an amazing future ahead of him.