In Memoriam: Mike Sutton (Mike_S)

[MichaelB]

Mike Sutton, prolific reviewer for The DVD Times/The Digital Fix, a regular contributor to various BFI projects, and most recently a booklet essayist for both Arrow and Eureka (most recently Seconds, although shortly before his death he submitted another one for an as yet unannounced Eureka title).

He was also a member of these very forums, although he never posted here that much. And he also never had the freelance career that his talents truly deserved, although like a lot of genuinely talented writers he genuinely seemed to have very little idea of just how good he was and was consequently terrible at promoting himself. There were two things you could always guarantee about Mike's copy - that it would come with an attached apology for its inadequacies, and that it would fit the brief so precisely that it would need next to no editing. And I'm particularly sorry that we'll never get to read what would have been his first book, a monograph on Dressed to Kill, one of his all-time favourite films, which was due to have been published next year but what with one thing and another (2015 would have been a dreadful year for him even without its ultimate closure) I doubt very much was ever actually written down.

[domino harvey]

Was he 'Mike_S'? Always a shame to see anyone go, but especially a fellow board member

[swo17]

Clearly, based on his post history. Not only a board member but one of our few list project participants, and a very well spoken one at that.

[MichaelB]

Yes, that is most definitely him. Happily, after handing over his commission for Eureka's Paper Moon to me (as per his final post here), he went on to write two more booklet essays for them, and completed his final one mere days before he died.

[domino harvey]

Clearly, based on his post history. Not only a board member but one of our few list project participants, and a very well spoken one at that.

He didn't post much in the threads but I believe he quietly participated in every List Project I've compiled

[swo17]

Here are all the lists I ever got from him:

1940s
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Notorious
This Happy Breed
Citizen Kane
Hangover Square
Double Indemnity
Meet Me in St. Louis
Dead of Night
Laura
The Lady Eve
The Maltese Falcon
Casablanca
Now, Voyager
The Glass Key
Shadow of a Doubt
Black Narcissus
Out of the Past
The Third Man
The Lady from Shanghai
The Seventh Victim
The Red Shoes
Spellbound
A Canterbury Tale
Mildred Pierce
Great Expectations
The Queen of Spades
Scarlet Street
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Brief Encounter
Fort Apache
Adam's Rib
White Heat
Saraband for Dead Lovers
Kings Row
Force of Evil
Key Largo
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Ziegfeld Follies
The Magnificent Ambersons
Red River
Beauty and the Beast
My Darling Clementine
A Matter of Life and Death
The Woman in the Window
They Were Expendable
Gaslight
Rebecca
Leave Her to Heaven
The Locket
Rope

1950s
The Searchers
Vertigo
La Ronde
In a Lonely Place
Les Quatre Cents Coups
Ugetsu
Night and Fog
Clash by Night
The Magician
Rio Bravo
Bonjour Tristesse
Night of the Demon
Touch of Evil
The Band Wagon
Pather Panchali
All About Eve
The Picture
Bad Day at Black Rock
Forbidden Planet
Man of the West
Dracula
An American in Paris
Orders to Kill
Singin' in the Rain
Anatomy of a Murder
Night and the City
Rashōmon
Quatermass 2
Some Came Running
Witness for the Prosecution
Kiss Me Deadly
12 Angry Men
The Big Heat
Bigger Than Life
The Big Combo
There's Always Tomorrow
The Killing
Odds Against Tomorrow
While the City Sleeps
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell
Rear Window
This Island Earth
From Here to Eternity
The Tales of Hoffmann
The Cruel Sea
Sunset Blvd.
The Asphalt Jungle
Angel Face

1960s
The Wild Bunch
Seconds
Persona
Psycho
Rosemary's Baby
The Apartment
Harakiri
Ride the High Country
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Leopard
The Innocents
Bonnie and Clyde
Ivan's Childhood
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Winter Light
The Misfits
A Bullet for the General
These Are the Damned
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Silence
The Round-Up
The Battle of Algiers
The Manchurian Candidate
Night of the Living Dead
Accident
Z
The Naked Kiss
The Damned
Week End
The Graduate
Billy Liar
Dark of the Sun
Contempt
Dr. Strangelove
Marnie
Repulsion
Point Blank
For a Few Dollars More
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Play Dirty
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Dirty Dozen
Burn!
Greetings
Quatermass and the Pit
Witchfinder General
Alice's Restaurant
The Devil Rides Out
The Great Silence
The Charge of the Light Brigade

[Lost Highway]

That's terribly sad news. I didn't know him personally, but I greatly enjoyed his posts and reviews and he came across as hugely knowledgable, as smart and as a really nice guy.

[ellipsis7]

15 unforgettable rain scenes for the BFI earlier this year....

[MichaelB]

His last two pieces for the BFI Website, complete with their original author credit:

10 essential Peter Sellers films
Ten great films set in the Tudor period

They were originally published pseudonymously because he'd taken time off work for health reasons and was worried that he might be appearing to be moonlighting - but since that rationale is clearly no longer valid, it made sense to get them signed properly (although I checked with his family first before alerting the BFI).

[hanshotfirst1138]

I came across him as a teen back when it was still DVD Times, his perspectives on a lot of things. Narrow-minded as I was back then, his "crotchety old man" viewpoints gave me ways of looking at films and film criticism that I'd never considered, and opened my up to learning about all kinds of films beyond the flashy care I'd been enjoying. Sad to hear about his passing, I'm sure he will be missed, a proper film fan who took things seriously and gave us all a good name, maybe better than I deserved . He will be missed.