Customer Reviews

Another Sky

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"Rose, a demure and prim governess, arrives in Marrakesh to begin a new job as a paid companion to a wealthy English expatriate. As she explores the exotic environs of her new home, she is seduced by the men, music, and mystery of Morocco. The only film directed by screenwriter and film critic Gavin Lambert...ANOTHER SKY was inspired by Lambert's peer and friend, Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky). The dreamy black and white cinematography by Walter Lassally captures the steamy atmosphere of North Africa in the 1950s, where a colony of expatriate artists and writers thrived in a bohemian existence."

"Another Sky" quite possibly was inspired by the writing of Bowles, whose "Sheltering Sky" was published in 1949, and which obviously shares some themes in common with this 1954 film. The title itself may be a reference to Bowles. However, Lambert didn't actually meet Paul Bowles until after he'd made the film.

Legend has it that director Nicholas Ray, an admirer of the film, introduced Lambert (in America) to Bowles, Tennessee Williams, and others of the crowd that would be his for the rest of his life.

This is the only film Lambert ever directed, though he did write and collaborate on screenplays through the years. He worked with Williams on "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", for instance, which also shares some themes with "Another Sky".

It seems to me astonishingly avant-garde -- visually, politically, emotionally -- for 1954. Worth seeing even if it were just a travelogue, but the story of a Westerner casting herself adrift in a distant culture is also compelling. Dvd extras include a 20-min. doc with friends & acquaintances sharing anecdotes of Bowles & Lambert, Tangier & Hollywood.

This is a low key drama written and directed by Galvin Lambert, screenwriter of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. It was inspired by Paul Bolwes' The Sheltering Sky and is about a lonely English governess who ends up being a village man's wife in the Moroccan desert. How did this happen? She explains. It's not very pretty. The tale is one of a first world foreigner misunderstanding the culture of a 3rd world country he/she chooses to live in until it takes over their lives usually in a warped way. This film is exceptional in being the only film Gavin Lambert ever directed and in it's interesting take on the story. It was very nicely restored and is beautiful to look at. The Moroccan setting is interesting and exotic. Recommended for film buffs and connoisseurs of film classics. I found it very interesting.