The wonderful flicker box

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Movie
German title The wonderful flicker box
Original title The Magic Box
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1951
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Boulting
script Ray Allister ,
Eric Ambler
production Ronald Neame
music William Alwyn
camera Jack Cardiff
cut Richard Best
occupation

The wonderful Flimmerkasten (Original title: The Magic Box ) is a British film by director John Boulting from 1951 .

The film deals with the life of the British photographer and inventor William Friese-Greene (1855–1921).

action

The inventor William Friese-Greene lived separated from his wife and was in financial difficulties when he attended a film conference in London in 1921. He is saddened that all those attending the conference are business people. He tries to make a speech, but nobody listens to him. He sits down again and thinks back to the early days of cinema.

The young Willie works as an assistant for the photographer Maurice Guttenberg. Dissatisfied with the working conditions, he opens his own studio. At first business is not going well, but little by little he can open more studios. More than working in the studio, however, he is interested in tinkering with film cameras. He spends huge sums of money on his work, so that he is soon broke. At the beginning of the First World War, his sons go to war, also to use their wages to free their parents from their debts.

A business partnership fails and Friese-Greene is again destitute. In the end, however, he succeeds in playing a short film that he recorded in Hyde Park. Overjoyed, he runs into a policeman on the street. The stunned policeman doesn't quite understand what invention Friese-Greene is presenting to him there.

Back at the conference, Friese-Greene stood up again and tried to speak, but was forced to sit down again due to his incomprehensible stammering. Back in place, he collapses and dies. The doctor who is called finds just enough money in his pockets for a cinema ticket.

background

The film was made as a contribution by the British film industry to the Festival of Britain in 1951. Many British actors waived their usual fees in order to be involved in the production. Down to the smallest supporting roles, the film was cast with film stars such as Laurence Olivier , Joyce Grenfell , Miles Malleson , Michael Redgrave , Eric Portman , Emlyn Williams , Richard Attenborough , Peter Ustinov , Cecil Parker and Kay Walsh . Oscar winner Robert Donat took on the leading role .

The screenplay was written by Eric Ambler , based on the controversial biography Friese-Greene: Close-up of an Inventor by Ray Allister from 1948. The book and film portray Friese-Green as the "inventor" of moving images in 1889, though Louis Le Prince had already succeeded in doing this in 1888. Of course, it is undisputed that Friese-Green is one of the pioneers of film art.

The film premiered in December 1951. On January 21, 1952, it ran regularly in British cinemas.

criticism

The lexicon of international film ruled that the film production was a “convincing biography told in flashbacks” and “a monument to a largely forgotten film pioneer”. In the supporting roles, too, the film is cast with “contemporary celebrities”.

Variety described the film as a work of "great seriousness and righteousness", charged with the "drama of real life", which is particularly convincing thanks to "excellent" acting and "intelligent direction".

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The wonderful flicker box in the lexicon of international filmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  2. ^ The Magic Box in: Variety , December 31, 1951