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Michael Reeves

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Cine-literate and single-minded, Michael Reeves took onexploitative film production companies, the British censors, and even VincentPrice to create a unique vision of savage poetry and lacerating despair:Witchfinder General.
Paperback / softback
264 Pages
31-July-2003
$38.43
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Cine-literate and single-minded, Michael Reeves took on exploitative film production companies, the British censors and even Vincent Price to create a unique vision of savage poetry and lacerating despair: "Witchfinder General". He died aged 25 in 1969, between the end of Swinging London and the collapse of the British film industry - an apt candidate to represent all that could have been. This critical biography claims Reeves as the great, lost auteur of British cinema and traces his conception of film back to his childhood and formative experiences. Benjamin Halligan examines Reeves' films in the context of the times, citing "The Sorcerers" and "Witchfinder General" as foreshadowing and critiquing the psychedelic and revolutionary zeitgeist. Reeves' earlier work on the fringes of the freewheeling European exploitation cinema is also covered, with particular emphasis on the "Revenge of the Blood Beast".Drawing on recollections from colleagues, friends and family - many speaking here for the first time - draft scripts, correspondence and original documentation pertaining to the controversial censorship of "Witchfinder", and Reeves' struggle with his own, private demons, Halligan creates a complete picture of this elusive, driven figure and his films. He speculates on what Reeves would have gone on to achieve, and why this should still matter.

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    Product Details
    ISBN-13
    9780719063510
    Author
    Benjamin Halligan
    Publisher
    Manchester University Press
    Published
    31-July-2003
    Format
    Paperback / softback
    Pages
    264

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    $38.43
    Ships in 3-5 business days

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    Michael Reeves

    $38.43

    Description

    Cine-literate and single-minded, Michael Reeves took on exploitative film production companies, the British censors and even Vincent Price to create a unique vision of savage poetry and lacerating despair: "Witchfinder General". He died aged 25 in 1969, between the end of Swinging London and the collapse of the British film industry - an apt candidate to represent all that could have been. This critical biography claims Reeves as the great, lost auteur of British cinema and traces his conception of film back to his childhood and formative experiences. Benjamin Halligan examines Reeves' films in the context of the times, citing "The Sorcerers" and "Witchfinder General" as foreshadowing and critiquing the psychedelic and revolutionary zeitgeist. Reeves' earlier work on the fringes of the freewheeling European exploitation cinema is also covered, with particular emphasis on the "Revenge of the Blood Beast".Drawing on recollections from colleagues, friends and family - many speaking here for the first time - draft scripts, correspondence and original documentation pertaining to the controversial censorship of "Witchfinder", and Reeves' struggle with his own, private demons, Halligan creates a complete picture of this elusive, driven figure and his films. He speculates on what Reeves would have gone on to achieve, and why this should still matter.

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