Nominate a Biography: the directors' quotes
David Lean
"In 1981, before setting off for India, David made a visit to the National Film Archive in Aston Clinton. In July of that year, a parliamentary Green Paper had stated, "the case for comprehensive national archives of sound and visual recordings has yet to be made."
"That's the English attitude in a nutshell," wrote David. "In this country the government is all too ready to give its support to the performing arts. We are in awe of the theatre, ballet and opera, but when it comes to the flicks we aren't interested. We don't take them seriously.
"The same is true of the industry itself. Go to the Archive and see the brilliant film directors and artists we have produced - and just look what has happened to them. It's not talent we lack, but people who are prepared to take a financial gamble on that talent. It's a question of confidence, and an understanding of what film can do." p.658
David Lean, by Kevin Brownlow, 1996.
Muriel Box
"I took to the work like a duck to water and soon was assigned to several other films for the Ministry of Information. But Road Safety for Children, the third or fourth, the script of which I had prepared and written myself, was taken out of my hands at the last minute by Arthur Elton, head of the Films Division at the MOI when he heard I was to be its director. The reason, he informed Sydney (then executive producer), was that he did not feel it was the type of picture suitable for a woman to direct! Sydney was asked to suggest an alternative and Ken Annakin, who had just directed his first documentary, English Justice, found favour in Elton's eyes and was given the job instead.
This was the first time I had been discriminated against in my work on the grounds of sex. I regret to say it was by no means the last." p.162-3
Odd woman out: an autobiography, by Muriel Box, 1974.
Lindsay Anderson
"In January 1955, at the suggestion of Karel Reisz, who was in charge of programs at the National Film Theatre, Lindsay organized a John Ford retrospective. And in the late spring Hannah Weinstein arrived from Hollywood to produce a British TV series. A tough good-hearted radical, she was a friend of the American directors Joseph Losey and Cy Endfield, who had taken refuge in London after being blacklisted as Communists by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Although Hannah was not blacklisted, Hollywood studio executives had compiled an unofficial grey list, and I believe she came to England because she was on it. She not only helped Losey and Endfield pay their bills by signing them to direct episodes of Robin Hood, but took Lindsay on board. Typical, he used to say, that he should owe his first chance to work in a British studio to an American." p.79
Mainly about Lindsay Anderson, by Gavin Lambert, 2000.
Derek Jarman
"As characterised by Jarman, theirs was a relationship of cat and defenceless mouse which, on the opening night - because Nureyev developed 'flu - resulted in a last-minute announcement that the star would not be able to dance. In the event, he did, and in Jarman's costume, and wearing a cap he had earlier scorned. Game, set and match to a rather shaken mouse. Later that month, Ashton wrote politely to Betts: 'Derek did a wonderful job and was very easy to work with and practical and sensible. He made a real contribution'."
From Derek Jarman by Tony Peake, p135
