YouTube user Colin Grimshaw is bringing us videos that have never been seen on broadcast TV. Actors and directors such as Mel Brooks, Malcolm McDowell, Glenda Jackson, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee, Mark Hamill, Terry Jones, Jenny Agutter, Dirk Bogarde, and more. All clips were provided officially by the film company involved with the making of the film being reviewed or discussed. The programme FilmTalk became “industry approved” for reviewing films and obtaining actors to be interviewed.
Mel Brooks was interviewed on 15 April 1975 during his visit to the UK to promote his film Young Frankenstein. The interviewer trying to keep Brooks under control is Mark Caldwell.
In 1975 Malcolm McDowell had made the film Royal Flash. His most famous film to date was then A Clockwork Orange and this, as well as others, is featured in the interview. In fact it’s an interview that almost never happened. “We already had the programme scheduled for London-wide transmission over the ILEA Channel 7 cable network and then we got a phone call! The studio was set ready for the shoot, the cameramen were ready and so was Mark Caldwell the interviewer. But, for some reason, Malcolm McDowell had changed his mind. Some pressure from us made him change his mind back, but, your can tell from the way he comes across that he would rather have not been there…”
Mark Hamill is, of course, best known for the hero Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film Star Wars and its two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. During the week of the UK release of Star Wars in December 1977, he spoke to James Sinclair in the TV Studio at Imperial College London. This is an edited version of the interview removing all copyright clips, even though they were provided officially by 20th Century Fox at the time of the interview.
“In February 1980 we were invited to the home of Terry Jones to talk all things Monty Python and a lot more besides. He was talking to Graeme Shaw.”
In 1975 Christopher Lee was filming To the Devil, A Daughter at the (EMI) Elstree Studios, which are North of London. “Through our EMI contact we managed to arrange an interview that took place in Hammer House which was then located within the studio grounds. Films clips have been removed to ease copyright problems. The interviewer is Mark Caldwell and it was shot (originally) on 16mm film, in black and white. This is the first time it has been seen since that time.”
During the filming of The Omen, Mark Caldwell visited the set of the production and spoke to Gregory Peck. When the film was released he then spoke to the producer Harvey Bernard and the director Richard Donner. “All that remains of the original videotape is a sound recording I recently rediscovered in my collection. The Gregory Peck interview was shot on 16mm film, hence the reduced sound quality and camera sound in the background, the other two were on videotape. The edited master tape did include clips from the film, but as these would not make any sense in audio only I have removed them.”
Glenda Jackson, 1976. This is the un-edited full colour version taken from the only recording made and it’s showing its age too. The master edit with film clips was in black & white.
To our knowledge this is the only full interview that Tim Curry gave about his part in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Recorded during the week that the film was released in 1975, he talks about his roll in the film and whether or not he would play the part again. The interviewer is Mark Caldwell and the interview director is Colin Grimshaw.
In 1975 Dirk Bogarde came back to London to promote a new film, Permission to Kill. In the interview he discusses not only that film, but many others he made during his long career in the acting industry. In 1992 he was knighted and thereafter was Sir Dirk Bogarde. The interviewer is Mark Caldwell and film clips were officially provided by both EMI and Columbia-Warner. This interview is one of several that have never been seen on broadcast TV. Before the recording he walked around every person in the studio and shook their hands, what a nice thing to do! The programme runs for 18mins and was made in black and white.
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