Passages

[zedz]

Is this the Benson of Benson's World?

Wow, that name is a blast from the past. I ordered from them in pre-internet days.

[colinr0380]

Same here. It was my go to place to buy DVDs from post-Choices Direct and pre-MovieMail!

[Oedipax]

I, too, remember ordering from Benson's World back in what were, for me at least, the early days - when getting an R2 DVD as someone in an R1 country still felt rather exotic. Very sorry to hear of his passing.

[artfilmfan]

I, too, remember ordering some R2 DVDs from Benson's World. And don't forget that it's through his Eureka Entertainment/MoC that we got the Naruse Vol. 1 DVD set. I'm sorry to learn of his passing.

[domino harvey]

That's in fact how/where I got my set!

[hearthesilence]

The Cubs' hopes for a championship.

[fdm]

Marty Ingels

[fdm]

Cory Wells

[vidussoni]

Maureen O'Hara

[bearcuborg]

Maureen O'Hara

I wouldn't mind listening to The Quiet Man soundtrack as I passed.

[otis]

Philip French

[A man stayed-put]

Philip French

Very sad news. He had a true love for, and deep knowledge of, films and his reviews were always a pleasure to read.

[MichaelB]

And almost simultaneously, veteran Sight & Sound editor Penelope Houston.

[colinr0380]

Extremely sad news. I did like Peter Bradshaw's piece on Philip French very much, which at the end reminded me that as much as film criticism might simply sound like just sitting watching the same film that anyone else sees, a great film critic is someone that has their own personality and approach to the films they see that also comes through in their reviews, making them into a kind of audience companion to what can often seem like the overpowering images thrown onto the cinema screen. It seems as if the best critic should display a (sensitive but robust) sensibility that shouldn't overpower the task of assessing and commenting on films, but which becomes particularly noticable once a particular person has gone and we are left wondering what they would have made of a film that they did not get a chance to talk about.

[ellipsis7]

Philip French, basically a really great film critic, for him every film stood in the context of what had gone before & the wider range of artforms... He will be be sorely missed & long may his legacy last...

[MichaelB]

Quite aside from being a great film critic, he was also a genuinely lovely human being. It's been immensely cheering reading all the personal anecdotes over the last 24 hours or so, because they all perfectly match my own experience. I never knew him well, but I did have to deal with him on and off for the past 26 years, and it was always an absolute pleasure.

Two things I particularly recall, both of which give some insight into the kind of honest and conscientious man he was: firstly, when he not only turned up for a separate press show of Samuel Beckett's Film but actually led the first third of his column with it, arguing that it was the only important film opening that week (few other critics would have done that and many simply wouldn't have been allowed to), and secondly when he publicly retracted his Cannes verdict on Jan Švankmajer's Faust, saying that a second viewing had changed his verdict from "baffling and boring" to "astonishing". It's very very rare for a critic, especially at his level of fame, to admit that he simply didn't "get" something first time round - usually, they stick to their original verdict come hell or high water for fear that anything else might be a sign of weakness. But for me, that kind of honesty is what takes real strength.

His passing isn't quite the end of an era, as Derek Malcolm and Nigel Andrews are still active, although only the latter still has the same berth at the Financial Times that he first occupied back in the 1970s. But it does very much feel as though a significant chapter in British film criticism has now ended. RIP.

[Dylan]

Cinematographer Charles Rosher Jr., who's probably best known for his beautiful work on Robert Altman's 3 Women and A Wedding.

[dx23]

Al Molinaro

[FrauBlucher]

Al Molinaro

With Weezer

[GaryC]

Quite aside from being a great film critic, he was also a genuinely lovely human being. It's been immensely cheering reading all the personal anecdotes over the last 24 hours or so, because they all perfectly match my own experience. I never knew him well, but I did have to deal with him on and off for the past 26 years, and it was always an absolute pleasure.

Two things I particularly recall, both of which give some insight into the kind of honest and conscientious man he was: firstly, when he not only turned up for a separate press show of Samuel Beckett's Film but actually led the first third of his column with it, arguing that it was the only important film opening that week (few other critics would have done that and many simply wouldn't have been allowed to), and secondly when he publicly retracted his Cannes verdict on Jan Švankmajer's Faust, saying that a second viewing had changed his verdict from "baffling and boring" to "astonishing". It's very very rare for a critic, especially at his level of fame, to admit that he simply didn't "get" something first time round - usually, they stick to their original verdict come hell or high water for fear that anything else might be a sign of weakness. But for me, that kind of honesty is what takes real strength.

His passing isn't quite the end of an era, as Derek Malcolm and Nigel Andrews are still active, although only the latter still has the same berth at the Financial Times that he first occupied back in the 1970s. But it does very much feel as though a significant chapter in British film criticism has now ended. RIP.

Barry Norman was born seven days before Philip French in August 1933 and is still writing a column for Radio Times. Nigel Andrews is a mere youngster in comparison to them - born 1947, so he's a year older than Tony Rayns.

RIP indeed. I didn't really met him, but was in the same room as him a few times back in the days I went to press shows. I've been reading The Observer since the early 1980s so he's probably the critic I've been reading the most for the longest time.

[ellipsis7]

The Observer presents an eight page tribute supplement to Philip French in today's issue, including this extensive of individual comment & recall from figures as diverse as Clive James, Claire Tomalin, Marina Warner, Christopher Nolan & Ken Loach (to name just a few)...

This also from the BFI website, a piece by critic & BFI Southbank Programmer Geoff Andrew remembering French...

[flyonthewall2983]

Fred Thompson. "Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan".

[Lazertron]

Fred Thompson. "Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan".

Fred will be missed - his participation in Hunt for Red October (as stated above) is a staying one for me. Just read that he was a lawyer and US senator as well.

[otis]

Danièle Delorme

[Numero Trois]

Iraq War douchebag Ahmad Chalabi