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decision to move its dates for- ward by three weeks to coincide with Raindance 11, from October 24 – November 7.
“For eleven years,” he added, “we at Raindance have been working our socks off to promote independent films – and the high- light of our year’s activity is always our festival showcase. By moving their dates, LFF are help- ing to make an unprecedented festival fortnight for film-makers and film-lovers.
“This has the potential to develop into a perfect partner- ship – similar, perhaps, to the rela- tionship between a festival and its fringe.
“And of course, with Raindance organizing The British Independent Film Awards on November 4, we can provide the ultimate climax to the fortnight.”
GIreat Debate
n July, Vertigo magazine and the Cambridge Film Festival present the inaugural Independent Film Parliament to debate current film policy and its impact on independent film in this country.
Inspired by the success of the Film Parliament held at this year’s Rotterdam Film Festival, the event will address the UK Film Council’s vision for the future of British cine- ma as a Green Paper for debate.
Film-makers and industry pro- fessionals will be invited to join separate committees which will debate the interests of particular sectors: development, produc- tion, distribution and exhibition, education and the archive.
The recommendations from each committee will subse- quently be published in Vertigo and delivered to the UK Film Council and to the DCMS for their consideration.
Further information will be available from the Vertigo and Picturehouse websites: www.picturehouses.co.uk www.vertigomagazine.co.uk
Straight From The Horse’s Mouth
By Ronald Neame with Barbara Roisman Cooper (Scarecrow, £21.95)
T
the story of British cinema. Steeped in film – his father
Elwin was a successful photogra- pher-turned-director, his mother, the legendary beauty Ivy Close, was a busy actress – Neame remained at the cutting edge of filmmaking for nearly 60 years.
As an assistant cameraman he worked with Hitchcock on Britain’s first-ever sound film, Blackmail. He then lit nearly 40 films including In Which We Serve, One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing and This Happy Breed.
In a famous partnership with David Lean, he produced and co-wrote Brief Encounter and Great Expectations. Then, as if he hadn’t already demonstrated suf- ficient versatility, Neame, at 36, finally became a successful director with hits like The Poseidon Adventure, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, The Man Who Never Was, Tunes Of Glory and The Horse’s Mouth.
In this long-overdue, revealing and extremely readable memoir, Neame, who became a BAFTA Fellow in 1996, writes with clarity and candour about his work and his many collaborators including Lean, Judy Garland, John Mills and Alec Guinness.
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life: The Inside Story of Handmade Films
By Robert Sellers (Metro, £16.99)
D
manager, reti- cent American Denis O’Brien, were the unlikely part- nership at
the heart of Handmade Films.
In a little over ten years, between 1979 and 1990, Handmade stamped its indelible mark on UK filmmaking with a very British mixture of the glorious- ly creative and utterly crass.
For every Life Of Brian, Time Bandits, A Private Function and Withnail & I, there were, sadly, too many like Bullshot, Water, Shanghai Surprise and Cold Dog Soup.
Packed with good on-set sto- ries and some hair-raising accounts of financial misman- agement, Sellers had interviewed all the major players except, sig- nificantly, the founding fathers, nicknamed “Bialystock and Bloom” (after The Producers) by Eric Idle.
Harrison, of course, died in 2001 but since a huge amount of flak in the book is directed very personally at O’Brien it would have been rather fascinating to hear his side of things.
Writing Comedy
By Ronald Wolfe (Robert Hale, £10.99)
F
book – subti- tled A Guide To Scriptwriting for TV, Radio, Film & Stage
– now arrives
in a revised
and updated edition.
Wolfe, who with his writing partner Ronald Chesney, was responsible for sitcom hits such as The Rag Trade, Meet The Wife and On The Buses, combines handy hints with useful asides from the likes of Andy Hamilton, Jack Rosenthal and Alan Plater.
The book opens with a resounding “No” to The Big Question – “can you really teach anyone to write comedy?” – but its succeeding pages at least offer some hope.
by Quentin Falk
The Marx Brothers Encyclopaedia
By Glenn Mitchell (Reynolds & Hearn, £15.95)
T
some would
suggest you
go no fur-
ther than
Groucho,
Zeppo,
Chico and
Harpo, celebrated in this com- prehensive updated companion originally published in 1996.
“They honed their talents in vaudeville, came into their own on Broadway and gained immortality on screen,” is Foreword writer Leonard Maltin’s useful summation.
From A for Abandoned Projects to Z for Zukor, Adolph, it’s all here in a pleasantly wieldy for- mat complemented by some helpful illustrations.
Variety International Film Guide 2003
Edited by Peter Cowie (Button/Virgin, £17.99)
T
world cinema”, as it describes itself, hits 40 with its usual mixture of information, surveys and opinion.
For this Ruby anniversary edi- tion, the five Director-Of-the-Year profiles are Paul Thomas Anderson, Mira Nair, Jacques Audiard, Walter Salles and... gasp, Gaspar Noé of Irreversible notoriety.
Philip Kemp’s UK film survey concludes, “the strong ideas are there all right, but the industry seems incapable of giving them the exposure they need to make an impact.”
book reviews
he life and career of Ronnie Neame OBE – alive,
well and 92 years young – is
alking of comedy
greatness,
irst published in 1992, this
invaluable
ubbed “The Beatle And The Banker”, shy Scouser
George Harrison and his
he “ultimate annual
review of
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