George Romero: It was the first film I got completely involved with. An
aunt and uncle took me to see it in downtown Manhattan when it first
played. And that was an event for me since I was about eleven at the
time. The imagery just blew me away completely. I wanted to go and see a
Tarzan movie but my aunt and uncle said, “No! Come and see a bit of
culture here.” So I thought I was missing out. But I really fell in love
with the film. There used to be a television show in New York called
Million Dollar Movie. They would show the same film twice a day on
weekdays, three times on Saturday, and three-to-four times on Sunday.
Tales of Hoffmann appeared on it one week. I missed the first couple of
days because I wasn’t aware that it was on. But the moment I found it
was on, I watched virtually every telecast. This was before the days of
video so, naturally, I couldn’t tape it.
Those were the days you had to rent 16mm prints of any film. Most cities
of any size had rental services and you could rent a surprising number
of films. So once I started to look at Tales of Hoffmann I realized how
much stuff Michael Powell did in the camera. Powell was so innovative in
his technique. But it was also transparent so I could see how he
achieved certain effects such as his use of an overprint in the scene of
the ballet dancer on the lily ponds. I was beginning to understand how
adept a director can be. But, aside from that, the imagery was superb.
Robert Helpmann is the greatest Dracula that ever was. Those eyes were
compelling. I was impressed by the way Powell shot Helpmann sweeping
around in his cape and craning down over the balcony in the tavern. I
felt the film was so unique compared to most of the things we were
seeing in American cinema such as the westerns and other dreadful stuff I
used to watch. Tales of Hoffmann just took me into another world in
terms of its innovative cinematic technique. So it really got me going.
So true...
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