For the final piece in this series I wanted to connect back to the films shown in the Odeon in Muswell Hill. With a little bit of research I discovered that the first film to show in the venue was "Educated Evans", starring Max Miller and directed by William Beaudine. The film is now unfortunately lost, though as part of their 'Most Wanted' campaign, the BFI have a great article about it.
William Beaudine was a fascinating director, renowned as one of the world's most prolific and one who helped to frame the remit of early cinema. If you were a film-goer in at any time between 1920 and 1960, you almost certainly would have seen at least a handful of his 500 works. Poor critical response and derision of his filming techniques however, relegated Beaudine to "B-movies". He was unperturbed by this and showed a dedication to his craft and his love of film by continuing to commit himself to each of his features. The parallels to the Odeon in Muswell Hill's recent fortunes are obvious. I think it fitting that this stalwart director who fell upon hard times yet strived to reinvent himself had his name on the first film shown in the venue, a venue which faces the challenges of contemporary cinemas with optimism. This quote from Beaudine on 120gsm summarises his determination and rounds out the series.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Tadhg CaffreyI'm an Irish printmaker, living in North London and focusing on urban landscape, construction and abstract geometry. My first name sounds like "tiger" without the last bit.
Instagram - tcaff.prints [email protected] Categories
All
Archives
February 2018
|