The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

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colinr0380
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The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

#1 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:35 pm

The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

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In the mid-1920s, pioneering film-maker Claude Friese-Greene made a series of films during an intrepid drive from Land's End to John O'Groats in the early days of the motor car. Claude's remarkable films were shot in pioneering early colour using a process he'd invented himself at a time when the world was filmed in black & white.

In this three part series, The Lost World of Friese-Greene, presenter Dan Cruickshank traces the original route in a vintage car, tracking relatives of the people who appear in the films. Dan also shows footage to people who appeared in the films as children and are seeing themselves on film for the first time 80 years later.

Film One starts in the West Country as Dan Cruickshank uncovers radical changes in rural traditions from cider-making to stag hunting and takes a look back at holiday fun at the seaside. Film Two picks up his journey in Cirencester, travels onwards to Wales through the Midlands and North to Lancashire and the Lakes. In the final episode, he journeys through Scotland, meeting local experts and descendants of people in the films, with breathtaking scenery all the way.

This unique archive of Friese-Greene's footage, preserved and restored by the BFI, reveals many things in the UK that have changed in 80 years, as well as, surprisingly, what has remained.

Extras:
- Extended interviews with some of the people Dan Cruickshank encounters on his journey.
- Interview with cinematographer Jack Cardiff (DOP for The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus and A Matter of Life and Death)

The Open Road

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In the summer of 1924 Claude Friese-Greene, a pioneer of colour cinematography, set out from Cornwall with the aim of recording life on the road between Land's End and John O'Groats. Entitled The Open Road, his remarkable ground-breaking travelogue was conceived as a series of shorts, 26 episodes in all, to be shown weekly at the cinema.

Although creating an initial impact when it was first exhibited at trade shows in 1925, Claude's experimental colour process failed to reach a large audience owing to heavy flicker and colour fringing. The original negatives were deposited with the BFI for preservation in the late 1950s.

Great enthusiasm for the film was created by the documentary series The Lost World of Friese-Greene, a co-production with the BBC that was televised in April 2006 and released by the BFI on DVD. Now the BFI National Archive has restored a special compilation of highlights from the journey, using digital intermediate technology (the Archive's first such project) to remove the technical defects of the original.

The Open Road is important both as a landmark in the development of colour on film but also as a fascinating social record of inter-war Britain. The journey, from Land's End to John O'Groats and back to London, was made in a Vauxhall D type. The travelogue format provided the ideal way to profile the colour process because the natural world was more of a challenge than the contrived studio set. Iconic landmarks would be instantly recognisably to the audience, and today the audience has the opportunity to revisit those locations and assess similarities and changes that have taken place.

The film is presented here with a new score by Neil Brand - world-renowned composer and silent film accompanist on piano - and equally renowned violinist and silent film accompanist Gunter Buchwald. The restoration was generously supported by the Eric Anker-Petersen Charity.

Extras:
- New score by pianist Neil Brand and violinist Gunther Buchwald.
- Across England in an Aeroplane (UK, 1919-1920)
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

#2 Post by MichaelB » Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:29 pm


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colinr0380
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Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

#3 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:30 am

One thing that was not mentioned by the review is that there was also one more Lost World programme presented by Cruickshank, The Lost World of Tibet, that was nicely timed to be screened during China Olympics year! Here's a review from when it was shown on television.

bamwc2
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Re: The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

#4 Post by bamwc2 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:03 pm

colinr0380 wrote:One thing that was not mentioned by the review is that there was also one more Lost World programme presented by Cruickshank, The Lost World of Tibet, that was nicely timed to be screened during China Olympics year! Here's a review from when it was shown on television.
I'll cover this one soon. Look for it sometime in the next month or two.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Lost World Of Friese-Greene

#5 Post by MichaelB » Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:38 pm

The BFI has just published over an hour of Open Road footage online, to tie in with the BBC series The Reel History of Britain.

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