Amelia and the Angel

Last updated
Amelia and the Angel
Directed by Ken Russell
Written by Ken Russell
Anthony G. Evans
Produced by Ken Russell
Starring Mercedes Quadros
Míka van Bloemen
Helen Ulman
E. Collins
Elisha Manasseh
Helen May
Release date
  • 1958 (1958)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Amelia and the Angel is a 1958 British film directed by Ken Russell. It was his second completed film after Peep Show. The movie was seen by Huw Wheldon and led to his offering Russell a full-time job.

Contents

Plot

A schoolgirl, Amelia, attempts to find an angel costume in time to appear in her school play.

Cast

Production

Russell was then a photographer who wanted to get into the film industry and thought of the idea. He says he was influenced by La Belle et Bete and The Red Balloon . [1] [2] Quadros was the daughter of an uruguayan diplomat and was recommended to Russell by a friend. Russell's wife Shirley did the costumes.

Filming took two weeks and was financed by Russell himself – the budget was "peanuts... about 100 pounds" he said. [3] Russell said Quadros "was delightful, no trouble at all – as long as I gave her scary whirlwind rides in an old, broken-down Morris 8 I had she was as good as gold. I remember she fell over on the steps of the Albert Memorial at one point and broke her hand, the poor devil. In most of the film, she has her right hand turned away from the camera." [3]

Reception

The film screened in cinemas in 1958 for the Experimental Film Committee. [4]

Russell showed the film to Huw Wheldon at the BBC and led to Wheldon offering Russell a job on Monitor. The director later said "A lot of people who were trying to get work on Monitor at the time made films about things like the barrow-boys of Elephant and Castle. Mine was such a change from anything like that and Huw was impressed by it because it was so unusual; he wasn't expecting a film of that sort of quality."" [3]

The film has remained popular over the years. "It's just a nice story, that's all," said Russell. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Russell</span> British film director (1927–2011)

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Russell</span> American actress (1924–1961)

Gail Russell was an American film and television actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret O'Brien</span> American film, television and stage actress

Angela Maxine O'Brien is an American actress. Beginning a prolific career in feature films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at age four, O'Brien became one of the most popular child stars in cinema history and was honored with a Juvenile Academy Award as the outstanding child actress of 1944. In her later career, she has appeared on television, on stage, and in supporting film roles.

<i>Tommy</i> (1975 film) 1975 British film

Tommy is a 1975 British musical fantasy drama film written and directed by Ken Russell and based on the Who's 1969 rock opera album of the same name about a "psychosomatically deaf, mute, and blind" boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader. The film featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including the band members themselves, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, Robert Powell and Jack Nicholson.

<i>Billion Dollar Brain</i> 1967 British film by Ken Russell

Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the 1966 novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist. The "brain" of the title is a sophisticated computer with which an anti-communist organisation controls its worldwide anti-Soviet spy network.

<i>A Taste of Honey</i> British 1958 play by Shelagh Delaney

A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was adapted into an award-winning film of the same title in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huw Wheldon</span> British broadcaster (1916–1986)

Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, was a Welsh broadcaster and BBC executive.

<i>Dreamchild</i> 1985 British film

Dreamchild is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter, directed by Gavin Millar, and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd. The film, starring Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley, is a fictionalised account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

<i>Lisztomania</i> (film) 1975 film by Ken Russell

Lisztomania is a 1975 British surreal biographical musical comedy film written and directed by Ken Russell about the 19th-century composer Franz Liszt. The screenplay is derived, in part, from the book Nélida by Marie d'Agoult (1848), about her affair with Liszt.

<i>Salomes Last Dance</i> 1988 British film

Salome's Last Dance is a 1988 British film written and directed by Ken Russell. Although most of the action is a verbatim performance of Oscar Wilde's 1891 play Salome, which is itself based on a story from the New Testament, there is also a framing narrative that was written by Russell.

<i>Savage Messiah</i> (1972 film) 1972 British film

Savage Messiah is a 1972 British biographical drama film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM. It was directed and produced by Ken Russell, with Harry Benn as associate producer, from a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the 1931 book Savage Messiah by H. S. Ede. Much of the content of Ede's book came from letters sent between Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and his lover Sophie Brzeska.

Elgar is a British drama documentary made in 1962 by the British director Ken Russell for BBC Television's Monitor series. It dramatised in vigorous style the life of the English composer Sir Edward Elgar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Ann Russell</span> British film costume designer (1935–2002)

Shirley Ann Russell was a British costume designer. In a career spanning over four decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across film and television. She was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Costume Design for the films Agatha (1979) and Reds (1981).

Voyage of the Damned (<i>Doctor Who</i>) 2007 Doctor Who episode

"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. First broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2007, it is the third Doctor Who Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. The episode was written by Russell T Davies and directed by James Strong.

Monitor is a British arts television programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 on BBC and ran until 1965.

<i>The Boy Friend</i> (1971 film) 1971 British film by Ken Russell

The Boy Friend is a 1971 British musical comedy film written and directed by Ken Russell, based on the 1953 musical of the same name by Sandy Wilson. The film stars Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Tommy Tune, and Max Adrian, with an uncredited appearance by Glenda Jackson. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made extensive edits to the film for its American release. The missing material was restored and the film was re-released in 1987. The Boy Friend was released on DVD on 12 April 2011.

<i>French Dressing</i> (1964 film) 1964 film by Ken Russell

French Dressing is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Ken Russell and starring James Booth, Marisa Mell and Roy Kinnear. Its plot concerns a deckchair attendant in the run-down seaside resort of Gormleigh-on-Sea who is promoted to publicity officer. In an effort to drum up interest in the town he organises a film festival and invites a major French film star. The event is soon thrown into chaos by the machinations of jealous mayors from rival towns.

<i>The Aeronauts</i> (film) 2019 film directed by Tom Harper

The Aeronauts is a 2019 biographical adventure film directed by Tom Harper and written by Jack Thorne, from a story co-written by Thorne and Harper. The film is based on the 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air by Richard Holmes. Produced by Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman, and Harper, the film stars Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay.

Dance of the Seven Veils is a 1970 British television film about German composer Richard Strauss. The film, directed and produced by Ken Russell, was only screened once by the BBC. Following condemnation for its gratuitous sex scenes and the depiction of the composer as a Nazi sympathiser, Strauss' estate took out a legal injunction, banning the use of the composer's music on the film's soundtrack.

The Lion's Mouth is a 2000 film directed by Ken Russell. It was known as Leonmania.

References

  1. ↑ The pieces of the puzzle that is me Russell, Ken. The Times; London (UK) [London (UK)]11 Nov 2008: 13.
  2. ↑ Observer Review: FILM: THE FILM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: Ken Russell: The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956) Lamont, Tom. The Observer 28 Nov 2010: 33.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Observer Review: FILM: AMELIA AND THE ANGEL 1957: 'It got me into the BBC and launched me': Ken Russell. Russell, Ken. The Observer26 Sep 2010: 14.
  4. ↑ EXPERIMENTAL FILMS THREATENED: Committee without funds Our London Film Critic. The Manchester Guardian12 May 1958: 5.


Shortfilm2.svg

This short film–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.