Author Topic: Philip French retires  (Read 4810 times)

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Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Philip French retires
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2013, 07:39:54 PM »
What applies to "Heaven's Gate" and "The Lone Ranger," also applies to the films of Ken Russell.

And why does a critic sound so reasonable, when you hear him or her speak, and so unreasonable, when you read one of his his or her reviews?

Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Philip French retires
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2013, 08:41:21 PM »
I just got finished reading Philip French's interview and question and answer session, and like "Heaven's Gate" was underappreciated, when it was first released, and appreciated for what it was today, so I think sometime in the future that "The Lone Ranger" will be appreciated for what it was, just as it was underappreciated when it was first released. Unfortunately, for underappreciated films, such as "Heaven's Gate" and "The Lone Ranger," it is always too late. They will never get the full credit that they deserve, if they had been fully appreciated, when first released, by most audience members and most critics, excluding Philip French, who were not smart enough, for various reasons, to appreciate them.

Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Philip French retires
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2013, 08:23:52 PM »
PS Mark Kermode will take over the role in The Guardian.  Kermode is a major Ken Russell fan.

I have seen clips of Kermode on YouTube, and he is a major fan of Ken Russell. Though, what that means now that Ken is dead and no longer making films, I cannot say.

Offline Iain Fisher

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Re: Philip French retires
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2013, 04:46:17 PM »
PS Mark Kermode will take over the role in The Guardian.  Kermode is a major Ken Russell fan.

Offline Iain Fisher

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Philip French retires
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2013, 04:45:24 PM »
Philip French is film reviewer for the British newspaper The Guardian, and he is retiring after 50 years in the job.

He said on the release of The Devils "Ken Russell's best work was done by the early 1970s. First his poetic TV essays on Elgar and Delius. Then, for the big screen, his bravely flamboyant adaptation of Lawrence's Women in Love and this sensational adaptation of John Whiting's 1961 RSC play, based on The Devils of Loudun, Aldous Huxley's remarkable 1952 study of how the church and state conspired to exploit an apparent case of demonic possession in 17th-century France in order to destroy Father Urbain Grandier, a charismatic libertine who challenged their authority. The censors, the film's Hollywood producers and the tabloid press reacted to the film much the way the French authorities did to Grandier in 1634..."
from The Observer 25 Mar 2013 (The Observer is the Sunday companion paper to The Guardian) here
www.theguardian.com/film/2012/mar/25/devils-ken-russell-classic-dvd-french

Refreshing to have thoughtful reviews on Ken.

He was interviewed on his retirement, and various people asked him questions.  I liked Ken Loach's question "Why are you retiring so early"  The interview was by Elizabeth Day in The Observer, Sunday 25 August 2013 here
www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/25/philip-french-tribute-readers-questions