Philip French celebrates 50 years of writing about film for newspaper and magazines and for The Observer, where he has had a regular column since 1978. French spent his formative cinema-going years in Bristol between 1948 – when he arrived at the age of 15 – and 1959 – when he left the city. 1959 was the year the New Wave arrived, and French started writing on film.

In this conversation event French looks back on these years, the cinemas he visited and the films that he saw. He shares what he learned from books on films (the few that were available at that time), from film societies, and from what he discovered for himself, including the influence on his life of a double-bill of Ace in the Hole and Horse Feathers screened at the Ritz Brislington.

The conversation is accompanied by clips from some of the films that most influenced French. These include:

Rome Open City (1945) Roberto Rossellini
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Robert Hamer
The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed
Un Cjien Andalou (1928) Bunuel/Dali
Ace in the Hole (1951) Billy Wilder
Horse Feathers (1932) Norman Z McCleod
High Noon (1952) Fred Zinnemann
La Ronde (1951) Max Ophuls
Singin' in the Rain (1952) Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen
The Quiet Man (1952) John Ford

Visit the Festival of Ideas blog to read articles and reviews by French.

Related Links:
Festival of Ideas
Philip French at The Guardian

A Festival of Ideas event in partnership with Watershed.

Posted on Sat 11 May 2013.

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