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Sir John Mills celebrates a life in
the (home) movies
T he thought of watching someone else’s home
movies is hardly the most appealing of prospects. But when those movies were shot by one of Britain’s best loved actors, over a
fifteen year period starting in 1946, they take on a spe-
cial significance.
Sir John Mills’
Moving Memories is
part social history,
part candid footage
of Hollywood royal-
ty at work and at
play, as well as a
fascinating journey
through the remark-
able life of a remarkable man.
Produced by Sir John’s son Jonathan, the film is directed and edit- ed by Marcus Dillistone, who became friendly with the family after he asked the actor to narrate the introduction to his documentary, The Troop.
“We hit it off straight away,” says Dillistone. “He came to the Royal Premiere of The Troop, and then early last year I got a phone call asking if I’d
be interested in making a film about his life based on some home movies that had been discovered in his attic. He had 12,000 feet of 16mm home movie footage, that hadn’t really been seen for 40 years.
“When I started going through it I realised that they really covered a hal- cyon period in the
British cinema, and an important peri- od in Sir John’s life. There are pictures from when Hayley was born, and shots at the various houses they lived in. The nice thing for me, having
home movies of my own, was that the genre was the same but they featured all these incredibly well known faces.”
Transferring the footage to Fuji tape, the next task was to decide what to use and what to leave out, and then obtain some contemporary interviews to illustrate the film with.
“I could easily have made a film three or four times as long,” says Dillistone. “What we tried to do was
A KNIGHT
A KNIGHT
Photos top: Romping with the children; inset: Ice Cold In Alex; main: little Hayley Mills
EXPOSURE • 24 & 25