Desert Island Films

On the BBC News website a few days ago I read with some disgust the editorial So long, 3DTV. Whilst some of what David Lee says may be true I will ardently defend all things 3D in spite of what he calls "plonker" glasses and mild eye strain. 3D technology was around long before my birth but went out of fashion after the war maybe due to the activities of a 1910 version of Mr Lee. There are some very passable 3D photographs from this era on display at Russborough House just down the road from us. Ever since my childhood I have longed to watch a 3D movie and my lust was not properly satisfied until 2009 when I saw James Cameron's awesome and archetypal Avatar in the cinema.

Avatar and the floating islands of Pandora

My first taste of proper 3D photography was at my parent's church. By "proper" I mean full colour stereoscopic and I thus exclude those red and blue glasses which did no more than tease the desire. Of course I'd love true immersive 3D like holograms and some virtual reality provide but, so far, this technology is not available to the masses. Some visiting missionary brought with him a slide show. Generally these were only marginally more interesting than a sermon but on this occasion the slides were 3D! Of course I made it my business to suss out the projection equipment which, I found, was more or less two projectors side by side Siamese twins style, projecting two separate 35mm stills. I understood the polaroid principle well enough although whether it was circular polarisation as is now used I know not. We were all issued with polarising glasses and - wow! I can still see in my mind one slide in which there were flowers in the foreground which literally flowed out of the frame of the screen and towards the audience.

A film (or any other experience) that ranks high in my pecking order is one that I would gladly enjoy twice, thrice, perhaps any number of times and, when asked after watching a film whether I enjoyed it or not, you will get very little response from me if it was good. To put into words anything so wonderful would be travesty, sacrilege, deprecative. The principle applies equally to 2D as well. The multiple viewings must be suitably temporally spaced else it might amount to over-indulgence: a first slice of strawberry cheesecake delights but the second too soon after might make one feel sick.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I know folk for whom the cinema holds little or no pleasure but, for me, a good film on the big screen is hard to beat. I recently took my grandchildren to a theatre performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was very well done and the boy and girl actors were very endearing but it did not compare to the 1968 film version.

My parents held out against TV until I was a teenager and, even then, watching was restricted. Colour was in its infancy: we settled on the cheaper and more reliable monochrome. Likewise going to the cinema or theatre was both a rarity and a treat, and it has remained so all through my life. There are things that I love doing but that does not necessarily mean that I indulge myself in them. There are other people to consider and, we are told, God watches all. In spite of these restrictions I have managed to watch a number of films of which the following have stood up to my test of time. You might detect a common denominator.

Julie Andrews

Many folk today, especially youngsters, pour scorn on The Sound of Music but I have to say I loved it and would gladly watch it many times more. I love the mountain grandeur and the music, and I will admit that I kind of fell in love with Julie and I remember my father cautioning me of this folly.

Mark Lester

My mother took me to see Oliver (1986) in a large cinema in Southampton. Of all the musicals I have seen I think Oliver ranks the highest. Although it was disappointing to hear, more recently, that Mark didn't actually sing any of his songs! One particular "wow" moment was experiencing surround sound wittingly for the first time as Oliver and the Artful emerge from a narrow side street into the open square in front of St Paul's.

Mowgli

The 1967 cartoon version of The Jungle Book met the test. I have watched this film many times and still enjoy it. And yet the sequel I have seen only once.

Polar Express

We watched Polar Express (2004) one Christmas on DVD. It was the first entirely animated film in which the characters were sufficiently human to instil an emotional response and thus another archetype for me.  I discovered that it might be possible to fall in love with a virtual avatar! Surprisingly for a staid establishment, the IET publishes some interesting thoughts here in an article "Love and sex in the Robotic Age". And anyway (back to Polar Express) as I have mentioned elsewhere,I loved the railway theme particularly where the train leaves the track.

Neel Sethi as Mowgli

I've only had the chance to watch Favreau's excellent 2016 version of Jungle Book in glorious 3D once, but I reckon it meets the test and I look forward to a sequel.

Magnificent set in Hugo

Some while back I posted my approval after watching Martin Scorsese's Hugo (2011, ) and later alluded to its making. I have watched this film several times though regrettably not in 3D, and regard it as an artistic masterpiece and also amazing acting by Asa Butterfield speaking of whom his The Space Between Us (2017) looks like it might be worth testing although some reviews are rather damning.

In all it seems I am an incurable romantic.

All the Mowgli stories

My parents had a large blue case-bound book "All the Mowgli stories" being the two Jungle Books in one edition. I loved the stories, I loved the illustrations.

Prompted by the film The Jungle Book I have just finished re-reading these stories and at the close I cried and cried. I have to admit that the original stories far exceed the film in depth and emotion, great as Jon Favreau's production and Neel Sethi's acting was.  Kipling was a master story teller: the film was in 3D but the stories have many more dimensions. I can only hope that Favreau uses more of the original material in the much anticipated sequel.

The original stories are now, of course, public domain and can be downloaded from the internet free of charge.

Jungle Book

I went to see the new Jungle Book in 3D. If I were to sum the film up in one word I would say "beautiful". The sheer beauty and realism amazed me, knowing how the whole film was shot in a studio and the only human actor you see is the boy who apparently first had to be taught how to act. In the film he is superb, so natural, such a good match to the younger Mowgli in Kipling's original stories. Stories that were an essential part of my childhood and which I still love to read.

There have been various Jungle Book films including 1942 and 1994 but till now the only one that has counted had been the 1967 Disney cartoon which I will gladly re-watch any number of times. The plot of the new film is a predictable but satisfactory mix from the cartoon and the original book - but I went for the experience rather more than the plot, and the experience did not disappoint.

Virtually everything else you see in the film, apart from the boy, is CGI. I found a good description of the making here and here:

When you have that much hair on an animal, and you have 5 to 15 animals in a scene, and then you have every blade of grass and piece of floating dust, you’re into a tremendous amount of computing power.”... That required “literally thousands of computers,”... and sometimes it would take two or three days to render a shot... as powerful as the computers were, they ultimately were just taking cues from the human innovators who spent years on the film.

This film defines new standards, just as its predecessor Avatar was. I honour Jon Favreau for his achievement and look forward to the sequel.

And what's with everyone filing out now-a-days when the credits begin?  Back when I was a boy one was obliged to stay until the National Anthem finished. Because I went with a group it would have been antisocial of me to stay to the bitter end - but I just don't get it.  If a film (or a book, or a concert) is at all good I want to extract every last ounce of goodness as well having some interest in who did what. In this instance I sadly missed reprises from the cartoon's musical numbers.

Take Finding Forrester for example, a film that ranked reasonably high - if you had walked out before the credits you would have missed Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's most excellent medley Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

And as for popcorn, rustling paper bags and talking during a movie - I just cannot understand the mentality. If a film is an audio visual smörgåsbord as this one was then it is plain disrespectful to do ought but become satiated. A film in which I would deign to eat popcorn must rank very low on my scale.