Yesterday at BFI Southbank I saw a fine (although a touch short of immaculate) 35mm print of John Schlesinger's 1967 Far from the Madding Crowd. Marred by inconsistency in its central performances, this is nonetheless a magnificent film in many more
We are coming to the end of the Screen Plays season at BFI Southbank of television adaptations of Jacobean tragedy. In the final two screenings, tomorrow night (it's sold-out but there may be tickets on the more
On Thursday night BFI Southbank screened Roland Joffé's 1980 BBC television adaptation of John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. This was shown as part of 'Classics on TV: Jacobean tragedy on the small screen', a season of television more
Let's suppose that Arts Council England employed the critic Andrew Graham-Dixon and a team of researchers and production staff to put together a substantial 3-volume history of the art of the Netherlands. ACE committed, let's say, £300K of public funds more
Why is the work of one of our greatest filmmakers - the director Alan Clarke - all but invisible? This is not a new question. Nor do I have anything original by way of an answer. But the issue is much more
In another post from the blog's archive (previously published on 17 July 2010) I take a look at the visual arts on BBC Television between 1936 and 1939. I was reminded of this because I am teaching again at the more
For this snowy Saturday, the week's selection of freely available online videos. Above, Act III of no. 3 below; no 4 has snowy aspects too. 1. How motion pictures became the movies This is a great innovation from David Bordwell's essential cinema website more
I am indebted to Stuart Ian Burns (@feelinglistless) and his estimable Hamlet Weblog for pointing out that - remarkably - BBC Worldwide has made available in full on YouTube seven plays from The BBC Television more
I'm coming very late to this but I have been engaged by - and have learned from - a film made by BBC Research and Development and posted in six parts on their blog across the summer. Opening up the more
I have seen a future for dance film and its name is All This Can Happen. Siobhan Davies and David Hinton's new 50-minute film premiered at Dance Umbrella recently and was revealed as thrilling and touching more