Rhys Ifans is persuasive and Charlotte Church game in this raucous Dylan Thomas adaptation
Concluding the 100th anniversary celebrations of Dylan Thomas’s birth, here is a ramshackle visualisation of the poet’s 1954 radio drama. Thomas’s Under Milk Wood has spawned diverse adaptations and tributes – stage productions, a ballet, Stan Tracey’s revered jazz suite and a 1972 film by Andrew Sinclair, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O’Toole and the original radio narrator, Richard Burton.
Probably few other versions are as raucous as this offering from Kevin Allen, who made his name with 1997’s laddish Cardiff romp Twin Town. That film’s star Rhys Ifans persuasively channels Burton’s night-deep tones in his voiceover, as well as playing the haunted seadog, Captain Cat. Also starring is Charlotte Church, more pert than earthy as local siren Polly Garter, but undeniably game for the revelry.
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Concluding the 100th anniversary celebrations of Dylan Thomas’s birth, here is a ramshackle visualisation of the poet’s 1954 radio drama. Thomas’s Under Milk Wood has spawned diverse adaptations and tributes – stage productions, a ballet, Stan Tracey’s revered jazz suite and a 1972 film by Andrew Sinclair, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O’Toole and the original radio narrator, Richard Burton.
Probably few other versions are as raucous as this offering from Kevin Allen, who made his name with 1997’s laddish Cardiff romp Twin Town. That film’s star Rhys Ifans persuasively channels Burton’s night-deep tones in his voiceover, as well as playing the haunted seadog, Captain Cat. Also starring is Charlotte Church, more pert than earthy as local siren Polly Garter, but undeniably game for the revelry.
Continue reading...
- 11/1/2015
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
Michael Caine's early films defined the look of an era, but with scores by John Barry, Quincy Jones and Sonny Rollins they also defined its soundrack
There is a kind of music in Michael Caine's voice: deceptively flat, barely inflected, emitting just the tiniest glints of detached insolence and laconic menace as it maps the area between the pre-war docklands community of Rotherhithe, his birthplace, and Elephant and Castle, where his family was rehoused in a prefab built on bomb-damaged land not far from the location of Shakespeare's theatres. Few people alive know more about the actor's craft than Caine, none is more gifted in the art of underplaying, and that voice is integral to his virtuosity.
But there is music of a more conventional kind in the films that made him famous – when the former Maurice Micklewhite rather unexpectedly became the model of a new kind of English leading man,...
There is a kind of music in Michael Caine's voice: deceptively flat, barely inflected, emitting just the tiniest glints of detached insolence and laconic menace as it maps the area between the pre-war docklands community of Rotherhithe, his birthplace, and Elephant and Castle, where his family was rehoused in a prefab built on bomb-damaged land not far from the location of Shakespeare's theatres. Few people alive know more about the actor's craft than Caine, none is more gifted in the art of underplaying, and that voice is integral to his virtuosity.
But there is music of a more conventional kind in the films that made him famous – when the former Maurice Micklewhite rather unexpectedly became the model of a new kind of English leading man,...
- 1/31/2014
- by Richard Williams
- The Guardian - Film News
London, Dec. 7: British jazz pianist and composer Stan Tracey has passed away due to unknown reasons. He was 86.
The iconic musician, who was described as "a towering figure in British jazz", had a lengthy career spanning 70 years, the BBC reported.
Tracey had claimed many awards in his life, including the first Ivor Novello award for jazz in 2012, an OBE in 1986, and a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2002.
Tracey's greatest works includes 'Under Milk Wood', his 1968 suite based around Dylan Thomas's radio play. (Ani)...
The iconic musician, who was described as "a towering figure in British jazz", had a lengthy career spanning 70 years, the BBC reported.
Tracey had claimed many awards in his life, including the first Ivor Novello award for jazz in 2012, an OBE in 1986, and a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2002.
Tracey's greatest works includes 'Under Milk Wood', his 1968 suite based around Dylan Thomas's radio play. (Ani)...
- 12/7/2013
- by Smith Cox
- RealBollywood.com
Trumpeter who played on every James Bond film soundtrack from Dr No to Skyfall
The trumpeter Derek Watkins, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was recognised by his fellow professionals as the finest lead player of his generation. To see him take his place in a big-band trumpet section or orchestral ensemble was to be reassured that all would be well. Dizzy Gillespie, no mean judge of trumpeters, called him "Mr Lead".
Watkins played on every James Bond film soundtrack from Dr No (1962) to Skyfall (2012), his blazing lead trumpet work evident on Monty Norman's iconic James Bond theme. The 19-year-old Watkins's spine-chilling trumpet growls set the scene on John Barry's Goldfinger (1964) theme, sung by Shirley Bassey, and Watkins was also prominent on Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only (1981) score. As Barry said, Watkins "never failed to deliver the goods".
The film composer John Altman recalled that Watkins...
The trumpeter Derek Watkins, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was recognised by his fellow professionals as the finest lead player of his generation. To see him take his place in a big-band trumpet section or orchestral ensemble was to be reassured that all would be well. Dizzy Gillespie, no mean judge of trumpeters, called him "Mr Lead".
Watkins played on every James Bond film soundtrack from Dr No (1962) to Skyfall (2012), his blazing lead trumpet work evident on Monty Norman's iconic James Bond theme. The 19-year-old Watkins's spine-chilling trumpet growls set the scene on John Barry's Goldfinger (1964) theme, sung by Shirley Bassey, and Watkins was also prominent on Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only (1981) score. As Barry said, Watkins "never failed to deliver the goods".
The film composer John Altman recalled that Watkins...
- 3/25/2013
- by Peter Vacher
- The Guardian - Film News
Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this weekTheatre
Wah! Wah! Girls
British musical meets Bollywood in new love-against-the-odds show set in the East End of London with a cast of 14, almost all British Asians and a Polish handyman. Peacock,London, Thursday to 23 June.
Posh
Laura Wade has updated her Royal Court hit to point the spotlight once again on the Oxbridge dining clubs that spawned the posh boys currently in power. Duke of Yorks theatre, London, until 4 August.
Betrayal
John Simm stars in Harold Pinter's semi-autobiographical play about an adulterous love affair. The power of the piece is that it works backwards from its bitter end to the moment the affair first sparked. Crucible, Sheffield, until 9 June.
Film
The Raid (dir.
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this weekTheatre
Wah! Wah! Girls
British musical meets Bollywood in new love-against-the-odds show set in the East End of London with a cast of 14, almost all British Asians and a Polish handyman. Peacock,London, Thursday to 23 June.
Posh
Laura Wade has updated her Royal Court hit to point the spotlight once again on the Oxbridge dining clubs that spawned the posh boys currently in power. Duke of Yorks theatre, London, until 4 August.
Betrayal
John Simm stars in Harold Pinter's semi-autobiographical play about an adulterous love affair. The power of the piece is that it works backwards from its bitter end to the moment the affair first sparked. Crucible, Sheffield, until 9 June.
Film
The Raid (dir.
- 5/20/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this week
Theatre
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
With the ever-inventive Rupert Goold both writing and directing, there should be no whiff of mothballs about this staged version of the Cs Lewis classic. Threesixtytheatre, Kensington Gardens, London W8 (0844 871 7693), Tuesday until 9 September.
Chariots of Fire
Sprinting in before the rerelease of the 1981 movie and the Olympics, Mike Bartlett's version promises to be no mere screen-to-stage adaptation. A nifty young cast of rising stars alongside some established talent should make sure this is a show that runs and runs. Hampstead theatre, London NW3 (020-7722 9301), Wednesday until 16 June.
Film
Goodbye First Love (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Two young people pick up the romance that first flowered between...
• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below
Opening this week
Theatre
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
With the ever-inventive Rupert Goold both writing and directing, there should be no whiff of mothballs about this staged version of the Cs Lewis classic. Threesixtytheatre, Kensington Gardens, London W8 (0844 871 7693), Tuesday until 9 September.
Chariots of Fire
Sprinting in before the rerelease of the 1981 movie and the Olympics, Mike Bartlett's version promises to be no mere screen-to-stage adaptation. A nifty young cast of rising stars alongside some established talent should make sure this is a show that runs and runs. Hampstead theatre, London NW3 (020-7722 9301), Wednesday until 16 June.
Film
Goodbye First Love (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Two young people pick up the romance that first flowered between...
- 5/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
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