My copy of the Elstree Calling (1930) DVD has arrived, so I’ve given the disc a quick spin.
As expected, the quality of the transfer is a step up from the various bootleg DVDs (which were taken from VHS recordings of a UK Channel 4 broadcast) although there’s plenty of print damage throughout the film, from scratches to film shrinkage.
The film is an interesting curio that Hitchcock completists will want in their collection, although the extent of Hitchcock’s involvement has never been definitively established. The bridging sequences, with Gordon Harker trying to pick up the broadcast on a primitive television set, were directed by Hitchcock and James M. Vest has speculated that he directed all of the Donald Calthrop, including the slapstick “Taming of the Shrew” sequence with Anna May Wong.
DVD menus…
Opening titles…
Tommy Handley…
Teddy Brown…
Gordon Harker in one of the bridging sequences directed by Hitchcock…
Helen Burnell…
Donald Calthrop…
Cicely Courtneidge’s dancers…
The Three Eddies…
Gordon Harker in the final bridging sequence directed by Hitchcock…
Just to let you know – that’s Helen Burnell in the colour screenshot above, not Cicely Courtneidge.
PermalinkGood luck with the new website – and also it is nice to see “Elstree Calling” getting a DVD at long last!
Many thanks for the correction!
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