Product Details

• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6302600308
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,577 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Benjamin Britten and Arthur Benjamin, October 2, 2010

By 

meg (santa monica, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Benjamin Britten [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There are four films included here. COAL FACE, from 1935, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti near the beginning of his British sojourn, shows us the hardships of a coal miner's work life. The 1936 NIGHT MAIL "stars" the nighttime workers of the postal service as themselves, going about their business on the movable sorting office that was the postal express train to Scotland. Both of these feature rhythmic scores written by Britten to match the workers' pace, and NIGHT MAIL concludes with W.H. Auden reciting a poem he wrote to match the rhythms of the night train clacking along the tracks.

INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRA, from 1946, is one of the few films directed by noted conductor, arranger, and composer Muir Mathieson. In it, conductor Malcolm Sargent "deconstructs" the components of a symphony orchestra (The London Symphony) so that we may hear them individually. Likewise he "deconstructs" a Benjamin Britten fugue based on a theme by Henry Purcell, so that we may hear its component parts before the orchestra obliges us by performing it in unison. The film is an excellent introductory teaching tool and entertaining for music fans no matter their expertise.

Similarly entertaining and educational and revealing of the components of form is Mathieson's 1948 STEPS OF THE BALLET, in which cult dance star Robert Helpmann explains basic movements and poses of dance, as well as the other arts which go into producing a ballet for the stage. In this film we see the "work in progress" and collaborative efforts of the set designers, stage managers, choreographer and composer. Although this Kino set is intended to showcase the work of Benjamin Britten, the composer of the music for this ballet film is actually Arthur Benjamin. It is a mistake acknowledged on the Kino website and may account for why this particular video is no longer available from Kino.