Tuesday, 8 June 2010Email received late Monday evening:
“Hi Alex
We will need DVD’s of your work. At the moment we only have a Showreel which was great for showing to the British Legion but we need:
Caller (sic) on two DVD’s, one of the Caller and one of the players, so we show it on two monitors from two DVD players
Ghost, the three pieces shown from 1 DVD consecutively
All three looped and in DVD PAL format”
Happily I was well prepared for this eventuallity and had only to package the DVDs in protective wrapping ready for the following day’s post. The communication arrived while we were watching “Charade” a film I had seen previously but, like so many things, could not quite remember how it went. As such the experience was one of repeated mild revelations as twists came to me just before they were revlealed. As the title suggests there was a deal of pretence in the film, storytelling which the slightly blank Miss Hepburn always fell for. I most enjoyed the settings. The opening scene: a ski resort with snowy mountains (sometimes projected), Hepburn dressed head to toe in black masked with huge sunglasses seated in front of reflecting glass only partially concealing swimsuited blondes behind. The empty apartment: stripped by our heroine’s now dead husband. The rooftop: site of the struggle with the claw handed man. It’s giant lit sign smashed in the fight. Cary Grant’s tiny office where all is revealed, a proposal is made and love declared in four parts.
