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BLACK NARCISSUS – Brian Easdale
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1946 director Michael Powell became aware of the 1939 novel Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden and decided that he wanted to bring its tale to the big screen. He purchased the film rights and secured financial backing from the British company General Film Distributors and a budget of $1.2 million. He and Emeric Powell would oversee production, co-direct, and write the screenplay. The film ended up creating controversy in the American Market with the National Legion of Decency, coercing several film edits deemed as “affront to religion and religious life”. Casting also caused controversy as once again white actors were cast in a number of roles for Indian characters. Deborah Kerr would star as Sister Clodagh, David Farrar as Mr. Dean, Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth, Flora Robson as Sister Philippa, Jean Simmons as Kanchi, and Sabu as the young General Dilip Rai. Read more…
THE RED SHOES – Brian Easdale
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Following their success with Black Narcissus in 1947 the directorial team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger decided to adapt the fairy tale “The Red Shoes” by Hans Christian Anderson for the big screen. The story tells of the girl who dons beautiful red shoes, which danced away with her, through the streets, into a dark nether land and eventually, to her death. They created the screenplay and brought in renowned choreographer Jack Cardiff to choreograph the ballet. Powell and Pressburger sought authentic artistry for their film and so decided early on that they would use professional dancers who could act, rather than actors who could dance. They also wanted to create a realistic feeling of a ballet troupe and so included a fifteen-minute ballet as the high point of the film. Worth noting was the brilliance of the film’s cinematography, particularly its use of color. Ballerina Moira Shearer was brought in for the lead role of Vicky Page, with Marius Goring (Julian Craster) playing her love interest and Anton Walbrook (Boris Lermontov) as her ruthless authoritarian impresario. Read more…
Remembering Brian Easdale, 1909-1995
Composer Brian Easdale died ten years ago today, on October 30, 1995, at his home in London, England. He was 86.
A distinguished composer of concert, operatic and film music, Easdale is best remembered for his long association with directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and especially for The Red Shoes, which made him the first British composer to win an Academy Award for a film score.
Easdale was born in Manchester on August 10, 1909, and was educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School before studying at the Royal College of Music with Gordon Jacob and Armstrong Gibbs. A precocious talent, he wrote his first opera, Rapunzel, at 17. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and later with the Public Relations Film Unit in India, where his experience writing music for government films helped prepare him for his subsequent career in cinema.
His breakthrough came when Powell and Pressburger hired him to score Black Narcissus in 1947. Easdale’s dramatic, sensuous music was an ideal complement to Jack Cardiff’s extraordinary Technicolor photography and the film’s atmosphere of suppressed desire and psychological tension. The success of the film led to Easdale becoming musical director for Powell and Pressburger’s Archers company, beginning one of the most important composer-director relationships in post-war British cinema.
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