Ride of the Valkyrie (1967 film)

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Ride of the Valkyrie
Directed by Peter Brook
Screenplay byPeter Brook
Produced by Lindsay Anderson
Oscar Lewenstein
Starring Zero Mostel
Frank Thornton
Julia Foster
Cinematography David Watkin
Edited byMarlene Fletcher
Music by Howard Blake
Production
companies
Woodfall Film Productions
Holly Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • 1967 (1967)
Running time
14 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Ride of the Valkyrie is a 1967 British short comedy film directed by Peter Brook and starring Julia Foster, Zero Mostel, and Frank Thornton. [1]

Contents

Plot

An opera singer (Zero Mostel), dressed in full costume and dress, must navigate through the busy city streets to get to the theatre in time for his performance in Wagner's 'The Ride of the Valkyrie'.

Cast

Production history

It was originally commissioned by producer Oscar Lewenstein, then a director of Woodfall, as one third of a 'portmanteau' feature entitled Red, White and Zero , with sections supplied by Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz [2]

Reisz dropped out with his section becoming Brook's Ride of the Valkyrie. The two other planned sections of the film developed into what became Richardson's Red and Blue and Anderson's The White Bus . Of these, only The White Bus received a theatrical release in the UK. [3]

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References

  1. McFarlane, Brian (1997). An Autobiography of British Cinema: As Told by the Filmmakers and Actors who Made it. Methuen. p. 13. ISBN   978-0-413-70520-4.
  2. Lindsay Anderson, Paul Ryan (ed) "Never Apologise: The Collected Writings", Plexus, 2004, p.105
  3. Paul Sutton (ed.) The Diaries: Lindsay Anderson, London: Methuen, 2004, p.146n.