 | Filmmaker Tony Palmer!!! |
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http://www.tonypalmer.org/tony_palmer_reviews/timeenemy.htm |
Cream Session |
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US Premiere August 1, 2007, Egiptian Theater, Rockers and Mods Film Fest.
ALL MY LOVING, 1968, BBC, 52 min (Not on DVD). Challenged by John Lennon & Paul McCartney in 1967 to document the rock musicreneassance, Tony''s resulting film captupet the Beatles, Cream, Hendrix, Floyd, Who, Zappa and more in a tour-de-force that outraged the UK establishment and was deemed too controversial for the USA. "This is just great! Exactly what we mean," sait McCartney in 1968. "One of Great Treasures" sayd Pete Towshend in 2007. This is a great panorama of pop-music and our mentality!!!
CREAM FAREWELL CONCERT, 1969, Image Entertaiment, 50 min. Palmer was hand-picked by supergroup Cream to document their concert at London''s Royal Albert Hall. In a focus nof film there is a legendaru Cream drummer Ginger Baker. Great, great film about performance.
GINGER BAKER IN AFRICA, 1971, Eagle Rock, 53 min. Toty''s fantastic documentary captures Ginger Baker''s journey through Africa,- as he connects rock percussion with tribal drumming origins.
AKA: Anthony Palmer
From: Tony Palmer, The True Story of 200 Motels
"Well, um essentially what we do is to record the whole operation on color videotape. Uh, the color videotape has three priamry colors: red, green, and blue. And the old technicolor process had also three primary colors, red, green, and blue. So we put two pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and said "a-ha". Well, if the two are the same in this way, it must be possible to transfer color tape to color film using the three primary colors red, green and blue. So we began to experiment with transferring color tape in the way. The initial problem was that the poor quality of the television picture didn''t stand up to examination when you showed it on an enormous cinema screen. You saw, for example, you saw lines, and distortions. But now we''ve found a way around that, and in fact the color that we are able to make with color television is rather better, we think, than the equivalent of 35mm film."
"Well, I think Frank has had this dream for so long now, that I think that even he has become unsure as to what exactly the dream constitutes. It''s a kind of mixture of childhood fantasies, adolescent fantasies, and now grown-up fantasies, all somehow strung together to make some sort of enormous nightmare that he may or may not have had at some point in his life. And one''s problem as a director is trying to unfathom that dream and make some kind of coherent sense of it. "
From: Patrick Neve (splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu)
While the above on-camera interview is taking place, the following text is superimposed over Tony Palmer''s image:
At one point during
production, Mr. Palmer
demanded that his name
be removed from the
credits of "200 MOTELS"
out of concern for his career
Toward the end of
principal photography,
Mr. Palmer, in a fit of
peek, threatened to
erase all of the master
video tapes of the movie.
From: Lewis Saul (lsaul@azstarnet.com)
Aspects of Stravinsky
I just got this 2-tape VHS set on KULTUR 1157 -- directed by 200 Motels Co-Director Tony Palmer. There is no mention of this in the IMDb -- I was wondering if anyone had any more information on this? [I haven''t watched it yet -- just got it a few minutes ago...]
From: R. Kane (caltrops4@newsguy.com)
http://www.videoflicks.com/VF2/1015/1015565.ihtml
Once, at a Border - Aspects of Stravinsky
Musical & Performing Arts, English, 1987, B&W and Color, 166 min. NTSC, Rating: Not Rated
Synopsis:
A film biography of the famed 20th century composer, Igor Stravinsky.
Includes commentary by Robert Craft, Marie Rambert, George Balanchine, Nadia Boulanger and others, plus footage of Stravinsky on stage at the Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris. The original version of ''Les Noces,'' is also presented on film.
---------------------------
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/imc/catalogs/music.html
ONCE AT A BORDER...ASPECTS OF STRAVINSKY, PART 1 (VHS format)
Features a biography of the legendary composer Igor Stravinsky. Uses interviews with the composer, friends, family, musical contemporaries, and footage of Stravinsky and others performing his music. Includes performances of LES NOCES and PETROUCHKA. STRAVINSKY, IGOR; MUSIC; BIOGRAPHY
ONCE AT A BORDER...ASPECTS OF STRAVINSKY, PART 2 (VHS format)
[ELLIOTTN-1986]
Continues Igor Stravinsky''s biography beginning in 1939 and focusing on his life in America. Uses interviews with Stravinsky, friends, family, musical contemporaries and footage of the composer and others performing his music.
STRAVINSKY, IGOR; MUSIC; BIOGRAPHY
http://www.csupomona.edu/~tlcusimano/videodescription.html
Aspects of Strvinsky: Once, at a Border Pt. 1
VHS Color 60 mins 1989
The premiere of the Rite of Spring in May, 1913 was an event in musical history which changed the course of Western art forever, but it was not the most important, not even the most interesting aspect of Stravinsky''s life. Throughout the many styles and influences which permeate his music-from jazz to Twelve Tone, From Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century-one beacon shines with unnerving consistency: Stravinsky was Russian. Apart from anything else, he is the foremost Russian composer of our time, a family man with an acute sense of tradition and rigorously, religiously orthodox. Stravinsky''s long musical journey is the subject of this program.
VS-862:1
Aspects of Stravinsky: Once, at a Border Pt. 2
VHS Color 60 mins 1989
Part 2 of Aspects of Stravinsky
Filmography
1966 Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (TV) (miscellaneous crew)
1967 Twice a Fortnight (TV series) (director)
1971 Frank Zappa''s 200 Motels (cinematographer, director, writer)
1976 All This and World War II (miscellaneous crew)
1979 The Space Movie (director, writer)
1983 Wagner (TV miniseries) (director, editor)
1988 Richard Burton: In From the Cold (TV series) (director)
1988 Testimony (director, writer, production designer, editor, producer)
1990 The Children (director, editor)
1991 The Trials of Oz (TV) (writer)
1995 Hotel Paradise (editor)
1995 England My England (director)
1998 Howard Goodall''s Choir Works (TV mini-series) (director) - http://www.united-mutations.com/p/tony_palmer.htm
One of the great, and uncompromising, poets of
television Sight & Sound
Tony Palmera clear seeing, visionary artist, pursuing with precision and perfection the image which draws him onwards. Yehudi Menuhin
TONY PALMER''s vast filmography of over one hundred films ranges from early works with The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa (200 Motels), to the famous portraits with and about Walton, Britten, Stravinsky, Maria Callas, John Osborne, Margot Fonteyn and Menuhin. His 7 hour 45 minutes film on Wagner, starring Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier and Vanessa Redgrave, was described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most beautiful films ever made". Among over 40 international prizes for his work are 12 Gold Medals at the New York Film & Television Festival, as well as numerous BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television) and EMMY nominations and awards. He is the only person to have won the Prix Italia twice.
With his wife Michela, their sons Angelo and Gabriele and their daughter Apollonia, he lives in the most westerly house in England.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and honorary citizen of both New Orleans and Athens.
Tony Palmer is one of the leading directors of music documentaries and historical drama films in the world. He has won over forty international prizes for his work, including and especially television''s most coveted award, the Prix d''Italia; indeed, he is the only person to have won this prize twice, and has been honoured by the Italia Prize with a gala screening of his work.
From Cambridge University (where he was also President of the Marlowe Society), he joined the BBC. Following an apprenticeship with Ken Russell and Jonathan Miller, Palmer''s first major film, Benjamin Britten & his Festival, became the first BBC film to be networked in the U.S.A. With his second film, All My Loving, an examination of rock ''n'' roll & politics in the late 60s, he achieved considerable notoriety overnight.
In 1989, he was awarded a huge retrospective of his work at the National Film Theatre in London, the first maker of arts films to be so honoured. Among over one hundred films are:
Callas, a profile of Maria Callas, "a marvellous film; a deeply moving experience; truly superb" (Daily Express). Gold Medal, Best Documentary, New York Film & TV Festival & BAFTA.
Wagner, starring Richard Burton, with Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave. "A masterpiece" (The Sunday Times); "one of the most beautiful films ever made" (Los Angeles Times). A monumental filma complete work of arttruly visionary (Der Spiegel). Among many awards, Best Drama at the New York and London Film Festivals, Emmy etc.
A Time There Was, a film about Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears which won the Prix d''Italia. Also a BAFTA award. The most absorbing film ever made about a composer (Dallas Morning News).
A profile of Peter Sellers, described by the actor himself as the only documentary ever to approach the truth.
The official 100th birthday portrait of Stravinsky, which won the Special Jury Prize at the San Francisco Film Festival. A superb documentary which achieved miracles of compression, lucidity and respect (New York Times).
All You Need Is Love, a 17-part series on American popular music, described by Bing Crosby as "a mighty achievement". A brilliant authoritative, historical study (New York Library Journal).
At The Haunted End Of The Day, a film about the composer Sir William Walton, which won the Prix d''Italia.
Profiles of Liberace, which opened South African TV, Playboy owner Hugh Hefner, and Michael Crawford, the original ''Phantom''.
God Rot Tunbridge Wells, the life of Handel, by John Osborne, starring Trevor Howard. Prize winner New York Film & TV Festival.
Menuhin, an intimate profile of the violinist. Gold Medal Best Documentary & Grand Award, New York Film & TV Festival. Emmy etc. A wonderful and emotionally charged biography (Chicago Tribune).
Testimony, starring Ben Kingsley as Dmitri Shostakovich. "The best British film of the year - truly remarkable" (Films & Filming). Fellini Prize. Critics Prize, Sao Paulo, BAFTA etc.
The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, about the Polish composer Grecki. Prize Winner, Chicago Film Festival. Platinum CD. Described by The Guardian as "a major work of art in itself".
England, my England, a massive biography of Purcell, starring Simon Callow & Michael Ball, with music conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. It was the last work written by John Osborne and completed by Charles Wood. Along comes something that looks and sounds like a masterpiece. It will blow you out of your seat (The Australian). Best Director Award, New York.
Brahms and the Little Singing Girls, starring Warren Mitchell, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Brahms'' death.
Hero - The Story of Bobby Moore, "The most brilliant sports documentary I have ever seen." (The Daily Mail).
Toward the Unknown Region Malcolm Arnold which was premired at the Royal Festival Hall to great critical acclaim ("overwhelming", The Times), and was the first ''South Bank Show'' film in 25 years to be shown over two Sundays. An amazing film, the most rawly truthful of its kind I have ever seen (The Sunday Times).
Margot - an intimate portrait of a great dancer. A masterful portrait, superlative, told with a thrilling narrative. An astounding and wonderful film quite simply, priceless (The Times).
Mr Palmer''s film, The Harvest of Sorrow, a portrait of Rachmaninoff, was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall, the first music documentary film to be shown in London''s main concert hall. He had the honour to be asked by the Kubrick family to introduce a major concert in honour of Stanley Kubrick on the first anniversary of his death.
Tony Palmers recent work includes the only authorized film-biography of John Osborne (and the Gift of Friendship), for which he had exclusive access to all Osborne''s correspondence and other unpublished work. Mesmerising, definitive & superb (The Times). And The Salzburg Festival a brief history, to be premired this summer in Salzburg and described in The Independent as a powerful and riveting epic.
His film on the violinist Ivry Gitlis, sponsored by the distinguished American benefactor Donald Kahn, was first shown at the Prague Spring Music Festival where it was heralded by the Oscar-winning director Andrea Anderman as "the best artist''s profile I have ever seen". Another recent film The Adventures of Benjamin Schmid, also a successful collaboration with Donald Kahn, featuring Seiji Ozawa and the Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Graf and Hans Werner Henze, and filmed in Tokyo, Salzburg, St Petersburg, Hong Kong & Houston, was premired during the 2005 Salzburg Festival.
Tony Palmers 1997 film on John Adams is finally released on DVD. Entitled Hail Bop, this critically acclaimed portrait of the great American composer was described at the time as a thrilling ride by a master film-maker about a master composer. Also released on DVD is his 1971 film Ginger Baker in Africa, the hair-raising story of CREAMs legendary drummer and his journey across the Sahara Desert to Nigeria.