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<table width="778" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td class="filmmastbg" valign="bottom"> <div class="mastheadfilm">Magic Box, The (1951)</div> </td> </tr> </table> </td></tr> <tr><td width="30"> </td> <td valign="top"> <table width="740" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr> <tr><td width="435" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="435" height="20" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2" height="24"><p class="smg">Courtesy of STUDIOCANAL </p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" height="149"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="417"> <tr> <td colspan="3" height="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="10" alt="" border="0" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="32" valign="top" rowspan="2"><img src="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/files/1075738.jpg" alt="Main image of Magic Box, The (1951)" /></td> <td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="10" height="10" alt="" border="0" /></td> <td valign="top" width="366" height="12"> <table width="95%" border="0" style="font-size: 0.6em;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="credsum"> <tbody><tr style="display: none;"><td colspan="2"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">35mm, Technicolor, 118 mins</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> <tr><td>Directed by</td><td>John Boulting</td></tr><tr><td>Production Company</td><td>Festival Film Productions</td></tr><tr><td>Produced by</td><td>Ronald Neame</td></tr><tr><td>Screenplay by</td><td>Eric Ambler</td></tr><tr><td>Original biography by</td><td>Ray Allister</td></tr><tr><td>Photography by</td><td>Jack Cardiff</td></tr><tr><td>Music by</td><td>William Alwyn</td></tr></tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <div class="castsum"> <p>Cast: Robert Donat (William Friese-Greene), Margaret Johnston (Edith Friese-Greene), Maria Schell (Helena Friese-Greene), Richard Attenborough (Jack Carter), Frederick Valk (Maurice Guttenburg), Eric Portman (Arthur Collings), Laurence Olivier (Police Constable 94-B)</p><a href="credits.html" class="smg-link">Show full cast and credits</a> </div> </td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <div class="plotsum"> <p>The life and largely unsung work of William Friese-Greene, a British cinema pioneer who claimed to have invented the first moving picture camera.</p><a href="synopsis.html" class="smg-link">Show full synopsis</a> </div> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <p>Made for the 1951 Festival of Britain as the film industry's primary showcase for its history, technology and associated glamour, <cite>The Magic Box</cite> is a largely uncritical adaptation of <cite class="party">Ray Allister's</cite> rose-tinted biography of British film pioneer <cite class="party">William Friese-Greene</cite>. Its central thesis, that Friese-Greene was the primary inventor of moving pictures, has since been debunked (notably by the historian Brian Coe in a series of articles for <em>Screen</em> magazine published in the 1960s), though the pendulum has since swung back in Friese-Greene's favour, albeit still tempered with realism</p><p>He's played by Robert Donat in one of his most likeable performances, portraying an irrepressibly enthusiastic optimist whose brilliance as an inventor was fatally undermined by his incompetence as a businessman and overly casual attitude towards his family's needs. Clearly aware that this is hardly the most original of stories, screenwriter <cite class="party">Eric Ambler</cite> attempts a more heroic narrative by means of a complex double-flashback structure, but this is ultimately somewhat contrived and confusing, working against the otherwise straightforward simplicity of <cite class="party">John Boulting's</cite> direction.</p><p>If the film offers relatively few cinematic pleasures besides <cite class="party">Jack Cardiff's</cite> typically lustrous Technicolor photography, star-spotters have a treat in store, with a well-known face playing almost every role, right down to the portraits on display in Friese-Greene's studios. Most of these appear too briefly to make much of an impression beyond a quick flash of recognition, though more substantial speaking roles are given to <cite class="party">Richard Attenborough</cite>, <cite class="party">Eric Portman</cite>, <cite class="party">Margaret Rutherford</cite> and, most memorably, <cite class="party">Laurence Olivier</cite> as an unnamed policeman literally pulled off the street by an excitable Friese-Greene and made to watch his experiments.</p><p>More specialist tastes are also catered for, with the loving presentation of Friese-Greene's equipment, from Victorian magic lanterns to his own inventions. Ambler creates several scenes specifically to allow Friese-Greene to explain their underlying principles in often considerable detail, such as his lecture on the persistence of vision to his girlfriend Helena (<cite class="party">Maria Schell</cite>). The film concludes with Friese-Greene's attempt at developing a colour process, which is depicted as being a failure. However, it would subsequently be refined by his son Claude, who used it to shoot his ambitious travelogue <cite>The Open Road</cite> (1924-6) a few years after his father's death. At the time <cite>The Magic Box</cite> was made, this had been entirely forgotten, though its subsequent restoration has strengthened and secured the reputations of both Friese-Greenes as important British film pioneers.</p><p class="bricksrc">Michael Brooke</p> <img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="10" border="0" alt="" /> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"></td></tr> </table></td> <td width="1" class="verticaldots"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td> <td width="312" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="312" height="20" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="3" height="1" border="0" /></td><td><p class="smg">Click titles to see or read more <img src="../../../images/film/icon_arrow.gif" class="noblock" border="0" alt="" /></p></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="15"><img src="../../../images/gt/GT_film_clips.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="" border="0" /></td> <td class="rh-headcell-film"><span class="thumbhead-film">Video Clips</span></td> </tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="3" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../media/stream.jsp?id=1083662" class="clipmenu-link"><img src="../../../images/icon_film.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />1. Persistence of vision (2:02)</a></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../media/stream.jsp?id=1083673" class="clipmenu-link"><img src="../../../images/icon_film.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />2. Crackpot experiments (1:48)</a></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../media/stream.jsp?id=1083687" class="clipmenu-link"><img src="../../../images/icon_film.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />3. The breakthrough (6:08)</a></td></tr> <tr><td valign="top"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="10" height="25" alt="" /></td></tr> </table></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="10"><img src="../../../images/gt/GT_articles.jpg" class="rh-thumbpic" alt="" border="0" /></td> <td class="rh-headcell-film"><span class="thumbhead-film">GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO</span></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="3" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../media/gallery/1075667/index.html" onclick="gallerypopUp(this.href);return false;" class="clipmenu-link"><img src="../../../images/icon_camera.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />Original posters</a></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../media/mfb/1007412/index.html" onclick="scriptpopUp(this.href);return false;" class="clipmenu-link"><img src="../../../images/icon_document.gif" alt="" vspace="2" class="clipmenu-icon-right" border="0" />Monthly Film Bulletin review</a></td></tr> <tr><td valign="top"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" width="10" height="25" alt="" /></td></tr> </table></td></tr> <tr><td class="underline" colspan="2"><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="rh-item"> <tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="20"><img src="../../../images/gt/GT_tv_clips02.jpg" alt="" class="rh-thumbpic" border="0" /></td> <td class="rh-headcell-film"><span class="thumbhead-film">SEE ALSO</span></td></tr> <tr><td><img src="../../../images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="3" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="../../../people/id/1299516/index.html" class="clipmenu-link"><img 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