It would be interesting to know whose decisions marred this potentially good film! Buried within the final cut of this gripping work lays a truly exciting story dealing with survival in extreme situations. Between the Director; (failing to differentiate between drama and folly), the writers; (too many fiddled with it and lost sight of the seriousness of the situation), the editor; (missed important shortcomings), and Producer; (Mr Douglas himself) they failed to allow the strongest story elements to shine through. With smart post-production editing, this could have, should have (and still can be) a classic.
Taking a look at the dynamics of this story - there’s Will Denton, Assistant light-keeper who witnesses the terrifying murders of his only colleagues. He is alone in a hostile, desolate situation. He is unarmed, desperate beyond words, hunted from all quarters, and feels helpless at preventing some of the shocking activities he is witnessing.
While this screenplay is based on Jules Verne's fascinating book (the last sent for publication before his death) it only uses Verne's basic situation. Some of Verne's story tends to have its basis in Historical fact. Strangely, the film almost throws away an expensive opening scene (the inauguration of Argentina’s first serious navigational aid 'The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World' on Christmas Day 1865) it does so, by presenting this colorful ceremony under the opening credits! No further mention is given to inform the audience of the significance of this historic event.
The film was released around the world in many varying lengths ~ between 95 and 126 Mins. Shorter versions were released in Australia and the U.K. etc, these were in some ways better...Several of the more overdone scenes were dropped, this offered considerable improvement to the overall believability (although, one cut left a gap in continuity...IE: Denton's underwater flashbacks to his past, following his fall from a cliff)
Surprisingly, the Studio Canal re-issue (in the UK) has removed one of the film's stronger scenes (but sadly left in all the overindulged segments) The scene in question, involves Denton and Montifiore's escape on the antagonist's magnificent white horse. In the original, during the escape, the horse stumbles - breaking a leg, leaving no alternative but to shoot it. This cut leaves us with the question...where is the horse from this point on? Why make this cut and not the others...?
The cast is strong and convincing, even the support characters are interesting: Fernando Rey (Head Light-keeper), Renato Salvatori (Montefiore - ships engineer) with Massimo Ranieri's 'Felipe' adding innocence, warmth, and credibility as apprentice light keeper. The film has a superb look via the work of top French Cinematographer Henri Decae. Decae is credited with creating the look of the French New Wave (his work has since been much imitated but, seldom to the same effect) Working within very difficult locations, Decae's camera is continually in motion, drawing the viewer in, forcing you to feel as if you are part of the action. The locations are eye-popping, with rugged windswept land and seascapes creating a vivid, threatening atmosphere. The quality of the sound recordists' work, both 'on location' and post-production is nothing short of superb.
The Music of multi-talented Piero Piccioni plays an important part, it forms a virtual tone poem, a suite with themes written for each character and situation. His compositions constantly weave from glorious panoramic melodies ~ recollections of the past ~ to exciting gut-tearing panic. Leonard Maltin sums up a longer version fairly well: 'Has some excitement, but is more often unintentionally funny', but he too throws away the high standard of technical quality, and need for stronger editing.
The special effects vary from very good, to average. Scenes involving the use of pyrotechnics are well done indeed. Good examples are, the blasting of Kongre's schooner, with the crew rushing and falling amid explosions and flames, this is always dangerous work, and all done without CGI! The fire in the lighthouse is a standout, with exploding glass and twisting metal. And even though the sinking of a passenger ship is inter-cut with models (not too bad overall) the shots on board, involving the passenger's desperate panic, are quite convincing. It's difficult to understand though, with many well-done effects, why the scene involving a dummy falling over a cliff was so poorly done. The full shot was not even necessary in the film...so why leave it in?
Whoever now holds the rights could give us the good film that’s locked away amid the mess simply by dropping such scenes as:- Denton and Arabella’s kiss (just a tiny clip during the 'charade' set up) - the foolishness of noisy, cross-dressing Pirates cavorting around the light - ease off some needlessly overdone brutality and gore (the short versions did this very nicely) - drop the foolish shots of Denton and Montefiore calmly building a Bonn fire in broad daylight! - drop (or halve) the silly sequence involving Kongre and Arabella following Tarcante’s death ~ these are just some of the unnecessary scenes that helped to sink this otherwise fine production.
Mr. Douglas has given us many great films, and even though this was nearing the end of his distinguished career, it seems he should have taken a far more focused approach. While it’s late, this work is still worth saving, a mere 12-15mins edited from various sections would do this. If the producers had the wisdom to make these modifications pre- release ‘Light’ would have ended up a far better film, even a semi-classic
The Light At The Edge Of The World
There's A Fine Classic Hidden Within This Work
It would be interesting to know whose decisions marred this potentially good film! Buried within the final cut of this gripping work lays a truly exciting story dealing with survival in extreme situations. Between the Director; (failing to differentiate between drama and folly), the writers; (too many fiddled with it and lost sight of the seriousness of the situation), the editor; (missed important shortcomings), and Producer; (Mr Douglas himself) they failed to allow the strongest story elements to shine through. With smart post-production editing, this could have, should have (and still can be) a classic.
Taking a look at the dynamics of this story - there’s Will Denton, Assistant light-keeper who witnesses the terrifying murders of his only colleagues. He is alone in a hostile, desolate situation. He is unarmed, desperate beyond words, hunted from all quarters, and feels helpless at preventing some of the shocking activities he is witnessing. While this screenplay is based on Jules Verne's fascinating book (the last sent for publication before his death) it only uses Verne's basic situation. Some of Verne's story tends to have its basis in Historical fact. Strangely, the film almost throws away an expensive opening scene (the inauguration of Argentina’s first serious navigational aid 'The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World' on Christmas Day 1865) it does so, by presenting this colorful ceremony under the opening credits! No further mention is given to inform the audience of the significance of this historic event.
The film was released around the world in many varying lengths ~ between 95 and 126 Mins. Shorter versions were released in Australia and the U.K. etc, these were in some ways better...Several of the more overdone scenes were dropped, this offered considerable improvement to the overall believability (although, one cut left a gap in continuity...IE: Denton's underwater flashbacks to his past, following his fall from a cliff) Surprisingly, the Studio Canal re-issue (in the UK) has removed one of the film's stronger scenes (but sadly left in all the overindulged segments) The scene in question, involves Denton and Montifiore's escape on the antagonist's magnificent white horse. In the original, during the escape, the horse stumbles - breaking a leg, leaving no alternative but to shoot it. This cut leaves us with the question...where is the horse from this point on? Why make this cut and not the others...?
The cast is strong and convincing, even the support characters are interesting: Fernando Rey (Head Light-keeper), Renato Salvatori (Montefiore - ships engineer) with Massimo Ranieri's 'Felipe' adding innocence, warmth, and credibility as apprentice light keeper. The film has a superb look via the work of top French Cinematographer Henri Decae. Decae is credited with creating the look of the French New Wave (his work has since been much imitated but, seldom to the same effect) Working within very difficult locations, Decae's camera is continually in motion, drawing the viewer in, forcing you to feel as if you are part of the action. The locations are eye-popping, with rugged windswept land and seascapes creating a vivid, threatening atmosphere. The quality of the sound recordists' work, both 'on location' and post-production is nothing short of superb.
The Music of multi-talented Piero Piccioni plays an important part, it forms a virtual tone poem, a suite with themes written for each character and situation. His compositions constantly weave from glorious panoramic melodies ~ recollections of the past ~ to exciting gut-tearing panic. Leonard Maltin sums up a longer version fairly well: 'Has some excitement, but is more often unintentionally funny', but he too throws away the high standard of technical quality, and need for stronger editing.
The special effects vary from very good, to average. Scenes involving the use of pyrotechnics are well done indeed. Good examples are, the blasting of Kongre's schooner, with the crew rushing and falling amid explosions and flames, this is always dangerous work, and all done without CGI! The fire in the lighthouse is a standout, with exploding glass and twisting metal. And even though the sinking of a passenger ship is inter-cut with models (not too bad overall) the shots on board, involving the passenger's desperate panic, are quite convincing. It's difficult to understand though, with many well-done effects, why the scene involving a dummy falling over a cliff was so poorly done. The full shot was not even necessary in the film...so why leave it in?
Whoever now holds the rights could give us the good film that’s locked away amid the mess simply by dropping such scenes as:- Denton and Arabella’s kiss (just a tiny clip during the 'charade' set up) - the foolishness of noisy, cross-dressing Pirates cavorting around the light - ease off some needlessly overdone brutality and gore (the short versions did this very nicely) - drop the foolish shots of Denton and Montefiore calmly building a Bonn fire in broad daylight! - drop (or halve) the silly sequence involving Kongre and Arabella following Tarcante’s death ~ these are just some of the unnecessary scenes that helped to sink this otherwise fine production.
Mr. Douglas has given us many great films, and even though this was nearing the end of his distinguished career, it seems he should have taken a far more focused approach. While it’s late, this work is still worth saving, a mere 12-15mins edited from various sections would do this. If the producers had the wisdom to make these modifications pre- release ‘Light’ would have ended up a far better film, even a semi-classic