Rent Red Ensign (1934)

Riveting - Red Ensign review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Aka Red Ensign Cracking little early Michael Powell film set in the shipyards of Glasgow. The crash of ‘29 has decimated British trade and the merchant navy have most of their ships laid up. Visionary shipbuilder David Barr (Banks) has the idea of a new type of ship - cheaper and more efficient but needs the backing of the board. He over-reaches on his ambition and loses the support so puts up his own money but as this too runs out leaving the ship unfinished and the ship-workers up paid. He then embarks on an even riskier sceme with the support of heiress June (Goodner) using ever shiftier methods. Chuck in romance , industrial sabotage and forgery and cram all this into 66 minutes and a powerhouse performance from Banks obsessed with getting the ship built and it’s a real gem. The scenes of the shipbuilding look straight out of Pathe news and although at times his rousing patriotic speeches can sound a bit corny today overall it’s all rather rousing. On a personal note my Grandfather was a riveter on the Clyde at this time (he worked on the old Queen Mary) giving the film a historical note - 4/5

Ear Defenders - Red Ensign review by CH

EAR DEFENDERS

“Name?” “Rivett.” Not perhaps cinema's most resounding exchange, but it is a neat joke for, in the space of an hour, Michael Powell's Red Ensign (1934) tells an absorbing tale – inspired by a newspaper story - of an attempt to revive the Scottish shipbuilding industry. For all its air of a quota quickie, it has much in common with the decade's documentary movement.

Here are many shots of moribund yards, and some well-nigh exciting scene of very loud rivetting as Leslie Banks, a designer and shareholder in the firm, plots to build a fleet which will bring renewed prosperity to the area, and to the country. He is not only up against his own Board but there are attempts to sabotage it all by a rival (a pleasingly unsavoury Alfred Drayton). This recalls the arson which gave Powell's film earlier that year the title of The Fire Raisers. It also starred Banks, whom Powell called an actor's actor, and Carol Goodner who reappears here as a trustafarian on the Board and, naturally, provides piano-playing love interest.

Powell called her “my big discovery”. He had seen her in the West End in an American play. “She hadn't got much of a figure, but she had expressive eyes and a quiet intensity that was quite unforgettable. In addition she was highly professional. I decided that what I liked about American actresses was that they were not content with speaking a lot of words: they knew that there was a real woman hidden somewhere amongst all that verbiage and they were trying to find her”.

As he also recalls of the contemporary audience, they did not know what to make of it. “The elaborate staging of the shipyard, the big, sweeping exteriors, the high standard of performance and sincerity of the actors, the overall seriousness of my approach to directing our story, made them run for cover."

No need to do so now but savour it in its own right – and as a prelude to his great run of films with Pressburger.