THE MAGIC BOX
UK, 1951, 118 minutes, Colour.
Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, Maria Schell, Renee Asherson, Richard Attenborough, Robert Beatty, Edward Chapman, Roland Culver, John Howard Davies, Michael Denison, Marjorie Fielding, Robert Flemyng, Leo Genn, Marius Goring, Joyce Grenfell, Kathleen Harrison, William Hartnell, Joan Hickson, Thora Hird, Stanley Holloway, Michael Hordern, Sid James, Glynis Johns, Mervyn Johns, Barry Jones, Miles Malleson, A.E. Matthews, John McCallum?, Laurence Olivier, Cecil Parker, Eric Portman, Dennis Price, Michael Redgrave, Margaret Rutherford, Janette Scott, Ronald Shiner, Sheila Sim, Basil Sydney, Ernest Thesiger, Sybil Thorndike, David Tomlinson, Peter Ustinov, Kay Walsh, Emlyn Williams, Harcourt Williams, Googie Withers, Bernard Miles.
Directed by John Boulting.
The Magic Box was made for the Festival of Britain in 1951, an opportunity to celebrate British film-making and British culture soon after World War Two and its deprivations.
The film is based on a biography of William Friese- Greene, an inventor who worked on movie cameras and was one of the many in the 1880s and 1890s who produced cameras. There is a claim that he was the first to invent the camera. However, this invention is attributed to the Lumiere brothers and to Thomas Edison.
The film is complex in its presentation of Friese- Greene in his old age, his memories and flashbacks. He is preoccupied with his work – and is difficult in his relationships, especially with his wives played by Margaret Johnston and Maria Schell.
The film is of interest because of the many British actors who appeared in cameo roles, for instance Laurence Olivier as a policeman.
The film is colourful, a British memoir, directed by John Boulting of the Boulting Brothers (Brighton Rock, I’m All Right Jack, Heavens Above).
1. The entertainment value of the film? The co-operative work of the British film industry in 1950 for the Festival of Britain? A prestige production of the time? Impact now?
2. The particularly British tone and technique of the film? Colour, music, atmosphere, the numerous British guest stars?
3. The character and importance of William Friese Greene? The fact that he was not in the encyclopaedias, his pioneer work? The credit sequences and the tribute and plaques to so many pioneers of film? His work as a pioneer, scientist, his skill? His status by 1921? 1950? How important was he actually in the emerging film industry?
4. The 1921 opening, his age, his eccentricity, dedication to film experimentation, colour? His encounter with his wife, the reasons for the separation, children? His memories? The importance of the flashbacks to the initial encounter, his working on the machines, his assistant bursting in, the encounter with his wife, outings, proposal? The happiness of their marriage? The need for money, his continued experiments, especially with filters? (The way this was visualised?) The problems, bankruptcy? The effect on the children? The need for money, the things that they had to do without, the reliance on help? The character of Friese Greene, of his wife? His dreams and her ability to share In them, the separation?
5. The transition to the second flashback and his memories of Helen, her personality and charm, her verve? The marriage and the comparison with his second marriage? Her sharing his dreams and his work? The birth of the child? Fifteen years of devoted life? The importance of the experimentation, the development of the machines (the way this was visualised and explained?)? The development of the movie camera and projector? Life in Bath, society, their choral work, the detailed sequences of the rehearsals, the actual night and Friese Greene's forgetting? His talk with his fellow scientists and his enthusiasm? Helen's outburst and accusations of selfishness? Money problems? Helen's illness and concealing it from her husband? The building of the machines, the build-up of his eagerness in succeeding? Filming his uncle in the park? The build-up to the scene where he projects the film, the rushing out to invite the policeman in, the policeman's reaction, wonder at where the images came from, saying that Friese Greene must be pleased? The significance of this period in his life?
6. The 1921 sequences, his attending of the meeting, the discussion about the British film industry, his speech and its significance, that he was unknown, his collapse and death?
7. The importance of the structure and the two flashbacks and the order in which they were presented? How dramatically satisfying though unusual?
8. The history of the development of projectors, celluloid, cameras in the 19th century? Vision, dreams, dedication to dreams? The people involved and the repercussion on others' lives? The film as a satisfying human story?
