For anyone who can get to London this September, a must-see season showing at the NFT devoted to film historian and director Kevin Brownlow. Early modernists may be familiar with Brownlow's superb film Winstanley (as in Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers), which is one of the films being shown. I've only ever seen it on video; it should be mind-blowing on a cinema screen. But they're also showing the controversial It Happened Here, which I've wanted to see for ages; it imagines a scenario in which the Nazis invaded Britain and won the war. These are Brownlow's only feature films; the others are documentaries, and Brownlow is perhaps best known in film circles as a historian of silent films, writer of an authoritative history on the subject, The Parade's Gone By. The great man will appear himself on 13 September. A friend of mine who's a member of the NFT is being charged with the responsibility of getting us tickets.
Sharon,
ReplyDeleteRegarding "Winstanley", I wonder if you're aware of the Leon Rosselson song, "The World Turned Upside Down." It's pretty well known among the radical folksinger community on this side of the pond.
Jonathan Dresner
I've come across the lyrics but I'm not sure if I've ever heard it sung. Must remember to see if I can find an audiofile anywhere.
ReplyDeleteSharon