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| 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.
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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