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By examining photographs of Bryher, I've identified her officially uncredited role in the film, starting with her appearance behind the hotel's bar smoking a cigar and picking up the phone, nearly 3 minutes in as HD calls from her room in panic. So thanks, David, for calling my attention to this film again, because on previous occasions I had believed the on-screen credits and assumed that Charlotte Arthur was playing that character, and that Bryher, daughter of the richest man in England, was the off-screen producer. Otherwise, I've just stumbled upon the only other surviving film (lost for nearly 80 years) from Kenneth MacPherson and Bryher, the 6.5 minute Monkeys' Moon, featuring understated performances by their pets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09S3knF75v0 Barry On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:14:21 +0100, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >And further to my last, I've just watched one of the sections of the film, >and have to say that H.D.'s acting is, er, *special* ... > >On 15 June 2011 20:50, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Thanks for that link, Barry. >> >> The other day I was watching a documentary on the life of the British film >> and stage comedian Alistair Sim. In it his widow recalled that it was only >> during the Second World War that 'Alistair started acting human' (on the >> stage, that is!) before then, she said, people wanted *acting*. >> >> Now to see just how erm distinct H.D.'s acting is >> >> >> >> >> On 15 June 2011 19:02, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >>> I've witnessed this film on the two occasions it was screened in >>> Washington DC, at the National Gallery of Art and the American Film >>> Institute. I remember H.D.'s acting as particularly "over the top", but now >>> that I discover the whole silent film available online in 8 separate parts >>> (to which has been added an undergraduate freely improvised jazz orchestral >>> soundtrack), you can decide for yourself starting at: >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YOnSBjBG30 >>> >>> >>> Barry >>> >>> >>> On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:44:07 +0100, David Bircumshaw < >>> [log in to unmask]> wrote: >>> >>> >I didn't know about this: >>> > >>> >"A ground-breaking film for its treatment of race and sexuality, >>> >Borderline(1930) was directed by Kenneth >>> >Macpherson, editor of the influential intellectual film journal *Close >>> >Up*(1927-33), the first British journal dedicated to film as a >>> >modernist art form. Macpherson had previously made three short films, but >>> >this was his first feature and by far his most ambitious effort. >>> > >>> >Borderline stars the poet H.D. (real name Hilda Doolittle) and >>> Macpherson's >>> >wife, writer Winifred Bryher, both on the editorial board of *Close Up*, >>> as >>> >well as the black American actor, singer and political activist Paul >>> >Robesonand his wife, Eslanda >>> >Robeson. The narrative is relatively simple, depicting an inter-racial >>> love >>> >triangle, but Borderline's attempts to portray the extreme psychological >>> >states of its characters render it a quite complex film." >>> > >>> > >>> >http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/443504/ >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> >-- >>> >David Joseph Bircumshaw >>> >Website and A Chide's Alphabet >>> >http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk >>> >The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html >>> >Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw >>> >twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave >>> >blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/ >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> David Joseph Bircumshaw >> Website and A Chide's Alphabet >> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk >> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html >> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw >> twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave >> blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/ >> > > > >-- >David Joseph Bircumshaw >Website and A Chide's Alphabet >http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk >The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html >Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw >twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave >blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/