Freeview 81 Film Club Sky 328 newsletter Freesat 306 NOV/DEC 2020 Virgin 445 You can call us V 0808 178 8212 Or 01923 290555 Dear Supporters of Film and TV History, Hello everyone and welcome to all our new supporters who bought the fantastic TPTV 2021 calendar – welcome to the Talking Pictures TV & Renown Pictures monthly newsletter, the largest free club supporting film and TV history! Talking of calendars – we have just a few left, so please do get your orders in quick as ‘Every Home Should Have One’ and they really do help us, plus they make the perfect gift for film buffs! This month we bring you a very special limited edition DVD release of SCROOGE (1951), with the wonderful Alastair Sim CBE, (in our opinion the best Scrooge on film), with optional subtitles for the very first time! It’s a 2-DVD special edition for Dickens’ 150th anniversary. Included on the discs are the original 1951 theatrical trailer and Scrooge (1935) with Seymour Hicks. It’s limited stock with a special price of just £15 with free UK postage (more details over the page). Keeping the Scrooge theme in mind, I’ve made some delightful exclusive baubles, see page 8, perfect for those ‘Bah Humbugs’ (I’m sure we all know one!)… By popular request, I’ve also made some cufflinks this month, see pages 26-27 for the designs. We have a host of special offers to help you with gifting this year, so I do hope you find something of interest. Look out for the BFI 2-DVD box set Stop! Look! Listen! on page 14, featuring nostalgic films on road safety. One features current affairs presenter Frank Bough, who sadly died this October. We also have a piece on dear Margaret Nolan who also recently passed away, largely overlooked by the press. Sir Sean Connery, with whom she co-starred, will be mourned by generations of film fans. November and December on Talking Pictures TV are filled with premieres, some special mentions on pages 32-33 including: The Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon, Checkpoint starring Stanley Baker, A Window in London with Michael Redgrave, the wartime film This England; The Spider and the Fly with Eric Portman and Flame in the Streets with John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Earl Cameron and Johnny Sekka, plus three films from the ‘Doctor in…’ series. You will know that Christopher Beeny was a dear friend of ours and he would have been over the moon to see that Upstairs, Downstairs is coming to TPTV very soon. More details in the following pages. The Cinema Museum in London is desperately in need of funds to become COVID safe, please support them if you can, www.cinemamuseum.org.uk. We use the venue for many of our filmed interviews and it is very close to our hearts. Once a workhouse where Charlie Chaplin lived as a child, it now houses a unique collection of cinema artefacts and memorabilia. Hope you are all staying well in these troubled times, do keep spreading the word about Talking Pictures TV and Renown. It’s so important to keep these names alive, for future generations. Our young Archie loves Laurel & Hardy, Norman Wisdom and George Formby – it’s a joy to hear him laughing at them! We receive many letters from grandparents who enjoy watching films on TPTV with younger family members. I had a super chat on the phone with a viewer in their 20s who has become a fan of Peggy Mount and joins in the ‘Sam Kydd spotting game’. Equally, I had a charming conversation with a 94 year old gentleman who recently found Talking Pictures TV and stated we have ‘changed his life’. Makes it all so worthwhile. Until next month we shall keep those projectors going! Thank you as always for your support, best wishes, Sarah, Noel & Neill You can call us V 0808 178 8212 Or 01923 290555 1 RENOWN PICTURES NEW DVD RELEASE Scrooge A Christmas Carol optional subtitles With for the EXCLUSIVE PRICE FOR OUR “The ever-versatile Alastair Sim very first time. Includes Black SUPPORTERS JUST is impeccable as the miser who £15.00 comes to see the error of his ways & White and Colour Versions. WITH FREE UK POSTAGE through the promptings of the 2-DVD Box Set. Call Now On Freephone spirits of Christmas Past, Present Exclusive! and Future. Michael Hordern 0808 178 8212 makes a splendid Jacob Marley and Mervyn Johns a humble DISC ONE Scrooge Bob Cratchit, while George Cole A Christmas Carol (1951)is perfectly cast as the younger Scrooge Scrooge. Beautifully designed by A Christmas Starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge Ralph Brinton and directed with Carol (1951) with Kathleen Harrison as his complete finesse by Brian charwoman, George Cole as the Desmond Hurst, this is not to Black & White AND young Scrooge, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit, Mervyn Johns as be missed...” Radio Times Colour Versions Bob Cratchit, Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin, Stars: Ernest Thesiger as Marley’s undertaker; and Alastair Sim CBE, Patrick Macnee as young Jacob Marley. Michael George Cole OBE, Hordern plays Marley’s ghost, as well as the adult Kathleen Harrison, Marley. Peter Bull narrates, reading Dickens’ words at Sir Michael Hordern the beginning and end of the film; he also appears CBE, Mervyn Johns, on-screen. The well-known tale of the miser who sees Hermione Baddeley and the errors of his ways through a series of ghostly Jack Warner OBE. visitations is perfectly portrayed in the best-loved film Directed by: version of Dickens’ festive tale. Brian Desmond Hurst. INCLUDES Includes both Black & White and Colour versions. ORIGINAL DISC TWO THEATRICAL BONUS FEATURE: SCROOGE (1935) TRAILER Stars: Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Robert Cochran and Mary Glynne. Directed by: Henry Edwards. Having played the role both on stage and in a silent film, Seymour Limited Edition Release Hicks is Scrooge in the first sound version of the Charles Dickens classic. Renown Pictures are delighted to present a fully restored 2K transfer from the original film Call Now On Freephone elements. This is easily the best screen version of 0808 178 8212 2 the much loved yuletide tale. Or 01923 290555 3 From the British Film Institute Memories of a life in films: This Working Life The Launch of Talking Pictures TV – next steps. STEELSTEEL Part 15, by Noel Cronin A Century of Steelmaking on Film Much was needed on the technical side of broad- Rare documentaries, animations casting. We were ready to transmit from Vauxhall and short films focusing on the Bridge, but a schedule had to be put together on nation’s steel industry. paper, then MediaPaedia, a company that Sarah had found, put the TV schedule together electronically and passed this to the playout 2-DVD box set company. MediaPaedia timed out all the programmes as per the paper Year: 1901-1987; £19.99 schedule, adding the adverts in the commercial breaks – eight minutes Colour and Black & White per hour of programming is the permitted time for adverts. Also the Sound and Silent shorter films, information, holiday, cars etc – anything of short length Running Time approx: 416 min – which we named ‘Glimpses’. These started literally as fillers, but Steel was the driving force behind the proved so popular that they have become a permanent fixture. Second Industrial Revolution, shaping We also needed an advertising agency and settled on a small company many regions of the UK. In its heyday that was rich in experience and although our knowledge of this area over 450,000 people worked in the steel was very limited, Media15 turned out to be a good choice. industry and its influence still lives on. Although we have a library of our own feature series, we needed to This double DVD set features 23 rare licence other films to feed a hungry station. My experience told me documentaries, animations and short films spanning the twentieth century. Highlights include footage of the the major film distributors would not be interested in dealing with a building of the New Tyne bridge in 1928 and the rare 1945 film Steel fledgling independent company. This was very much the case, so we which was shot by award-winning cameraman Jack Cardiff. called on all the smaller distributors, who, I am glad to say, were Disc One happy to work with us. The learning process was well under way, with Parkgate Iron and Steel Co., Rotherham Mrs Worth Goes to Westminster (1949) deadlines, do’s and don’ts flying and with a limited budget and (1901) Steel in South Wales (1950) inhouse staff of three it was tough going. His Majesty’s Visit to the Clyde (1917) The Building of the New Tyne Bridge Disc Two Next month: launch day and success, despite (1928) River of Steel (1951) the odds stacked against us! Steel (Civics and Commerce series) Ingot Pictorial No 27 (1956) Producer Noel Cronin founded Talking Pictures TV and (1933) Steel Town (1958) Renown Pictures and is contributing his memories to the Mastery of Steel (1933) Men of Consett (1959) newsletter. Ever since his entrance into the world of film British Steel (1939) The Big Mill (1963) as a young man, Noel has been interested in preserving Teeth of Steel (1942) Steel for the Seventies (1970) the heritage of lost and forgotten films, shorts and Steel (1945) Women of Steel (1984) programmes, and for many years has gathered, restored The Ten Year Plan (1945) Northern Newsreel No 7 and preserved this wonderful heritage which would otherwise be lost.