Saturday 18 March 2017

Jacques Tourneur (2) - Barrie Pattison's memorable encounter (too good for just a comment!)

Jacques Tourneur
Editor's Note: Barrie spent a number of years in London and Europe making, writing about and watching films. He was a significant contributor to Films and Filming, Motion and other publications. In more recent times he has written books devoted to Michael Curtiz and Anatole Litvak. He can be contacted at mozjoukine@yahoo.com.au. This note was received as a comment  on Noel Bjorndahl's post on Jacques Tourneur which can be found here.
One of the most interesting things I did was run STARS IN MY CROWN and LE MAIN DU DIABLE (Jacques Tourneur's father's film which he had never seen) for Tourneur and his family in the Grasshopper Theatrette in Endel Street in London.
The guys from Movie magazine showed up and, having got an appointment for an interview, bolted for the door at the end of STARS,  for fear someone expected them to talk. I didn't want to come out of the box because the final scene left me with tears trickling down my face. Tourneur noted the exodus and thought everyone had hated the film. He was gathering up his hat when I came out dabbing my eyes and got into a conversation that ran an hour.

Should have been more days like that.


1 comment:

  1. Stars always has me in tears from Uncle Faithful's will reading to the end. These days it has me in tears from the VO at the very beginning, when time stops and the past and the present, memory and narrative become a fusion of pure cinema. It's a sublime film.

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