The Unmutual Reviews: "RedReflections" DVD
Review by Tom Mayer.
I recently had the opportunity to watch the Quoit Media DVD release of the
never-before-screened Cold War documentary, Red Reflections, produced
and directed by Richard Owen and Eric Mival. The project chronicled a group
of international students on a four-week train journey through Eastern Europe
into Russia. Filmed in black & white, the documentary was to be screened
by Yorkshire TV in 1967, but never aired due to the rapid transition to color
programming at the time. As a result, this DVD is the first opportunity in
almost 50 years for audiences to see the film. It will also be of interest
to fans of Patrick McGoohan, as it features a previously unheard "guest
narration" recorded by the actor at the time he was making The Prisoner
(co-director Mival was music editor on the series at the time).
I was already familiar with one of Mival's other projects as a director --
the 1975 short film, It Happened Here Again, which documented the
making of the feature films It Happened Here (1964) and Winstanley
(1975), both directed by the team of Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo. When
I heard Red Reflections was being released, I was obviously interested
to see it, but I kept my expectations low -- I assumed it would be a grainy,
slow-moving travelogue of bleak landscapes and deserted cities. Instead, I
was pleasantly surprised at how interesting it turned out to be, both as a
contemporary (1966) commentary on society and as a perfect time capsule of
that era seen from today's perspective. The film's intent was to show how
people living under Communist rule behind the Iron Curtain were not a faceless
army bent on destroying Western society. As the students discover in their
travels, the people they encounter are surprisingly similar to themselves
in values and perspective (many are fellow students of the same age as well).
Likewise, the cities they visit in Hungary, Poland and Russia are surprisingly
beautiful with stunning architecture that has witnessed centuries of historical
events.
Much of the photography features the hand-held "cinema-verite" style
that was in vogue in the sixties, yet many sequences are balanced out with
fluid tracking shots filmed from the train the students travel on. The editing
is top-notch as well -- at 39 minutes, the story zips along at a steady pace
that keeps the narrative moving and never allows the viewer to become bored.
The film also avoids overusing its narration. In many instances the voice-over
pauses, letting the viewer silently experience the atmosphere of each city.
The sequence in Czechoslovakia is particularly well done, with images of the
architecture and landscape of Prague scored only with sounds of nature and
the tinkling of an ancient music box. I was so engrossed in the first several
minutes that I forgot McGoohan's voice-over was still to come. I won't spoil
the context of how his narration is used, but it is perfectly appropriate
and highly entertaining. Although it lasts just a few seconds, admirers of
his work can't help but smile when they hear it -- his delivery possesses
the sparkle and energy of 1966-67 when he was appearing in Danger Man
and The Prisoner.
The only real criticism is the somewhat sub-par sound quality. Most of the
narration is at an acceptable level, but several sequences of interviewees
speaking on location are difficult to make out. Interestingly, this issue
is addressed by the directors themselves on the DVD interview extra. Mival
explains that they did not have "synched sound" on their camera
and thus had to record the audio separately. Later in editing, he had the
difficult task of manually synchronizing the sound to the film.
The DVD is presented window-boxed in a 4:3 ratio, with the picture quality
being surprisingly good. In a few instances the film suffers from specks and
dirt, but this can be attributed to the age of the print, and the fact that
the DVD was mastered from most likely the only copy ever made. (Potential
viewers in North America should be aware that this is a UK-manufactured disc
viewable only on Region 2 players.) As a result, those interested in mid-20th
century history or the Cold War era should find this "new" film
worth a look. Congratulations (fifty years late!) to Owen and Mival for providing
a fascinating insight into a pivotal time of the 1960s; and kudos to Quoit
Media for filling two small cultural gaps -- one in the history of documentary
film, and the other in the career of Patrick McGoohan.
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I'd like to dedicate this review to Robby Griffith (1957-2015).
He was a longtime coworker of mine, a Shakespearean actor/enthusiast, and
a fan of 1960s TV. His favorites from that time were Batman, The Wild, Wild
West and The Prisoner (he once told me the first time he'd ever heard of Drambuie
was from watching "The Girl Who Was Death"). We were always trading
obscure film and TV recommendations, and I was planning to lend him my copy
of Red Reflections. I'm sure he would have enjoyed it...
"Red Reflections" is available at The Village Shop for £14 including free worldwide shipping, The Quoit Media Website HERE, eBay, and below from Amazon .