From the violent realism of Taxi Driver to the poignant romance of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More and the burning controversy of The Last Temptation of Christ, Scorsese’s uniquely versatile vision has made him one of cinema’s most acclaimed directors. The life and career of this pre-eminent American film-maker are explored in this documentary, which includes an in-depth interview, exclusive footage of him working on Good Fellas and a wealth of clips.
Jasper Johns
Johns emerged as the pre-eminent force in the American art scene in the late 1950s. Today, as his work fetches record prices at auction, the meanings of his paintings, his imagery and his changing style continue to be the subject of controversy. This film provides a rare look at the life, career and inspiration of this unique artist. It includes both new and vintage conversations with the painter, as well as unusual footage of Johns at work in his studio.
Storming the Citadel
This programme was made shortly before Motherwell’s death in 1991. In the early 1940s, together with Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko and Kline, he created a distinctly American school of painting – Abstract Expressionism – and shifted the centre of modern art from Paris to New York. He talks eloquently about this movement and the hardships that preceded success, and is seen painting in his studio, creating a collage in Provincetown and preparing for a major New York retrospective.
Helen Hayes
The American actress Helen Hayes, whose career spanned six decades, died in 1993. In this portrait, made when she was in her nineties, she revealed herself as never before in a series of interviews about her life in theatre and cinema. There are film clips showing her opposite the likes of Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, and Burt Lancaster and she re-enacts scenes from two of her greatest stage triumphs: Mary of Scotland and Victoria Regina. Colleagues including José Ferrer, Angela Lansbury and James Stewart, contribute to this profile.
Waldo Salt
Waldo Salt (1914-87) weathered more than fifty years as a screen-writer in Hollywood and his credits include successes such as Midnight Cowboy, Serpico and The Day of the Locust. This profile, which includes archive footage of Salt himself, uses film extracts and interviews with Jon Voight, John Schlesinger, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford to probe the subtle art of his writing and the joy he found in the collaborative process of film-making.
Willi Sitte
“It is self-evident that nobody can live in a society and at the same time be free from it. Hence everything we do or don’t do has a political dimension, and that includes our work as artists.” This view, expressed by Sitte, one of the painters who played an important role in the artistic life of the German Democratic Republic, indicates the commitment he shared with many of his contemporaries to use art as a force for social change. In this profile, Sitte is seen at work and reviewing recurring themes in his paintings.
Malcolm Morley
Since 1957 the British painter has lived a reclusive life in America. He remains aloof from the art world and avoids association with the ‘isms’ of contemporary art, though he pioneered many of them – most notably Photo-Realism – and was once described by art critic Robert Hughes as “the man whose methods have been relentlessly plundered by a generation of artists”. In this programme, the elusive Morley talks at length about his art and is seen working in his New York studio.
Dancemakers: Lar Lubovitch
The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company exhibits a characteristic New York vitality and energy. Their idiosyncratic style of movement is loose-limbed and athletic, with a casual exuberance that asks not to be taken too seriously. Music is often the catalyst for Lubovitch’s choreography, and this is demonstrated by the two works performed in this studio recording: Concerto Six Twenty-Two, danced to Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major K622, and North Star, to music by Philip Glass.
The Schönberg Cycle: String Sextet Op. 4 (Verklärte Nacht)
In a series of specially-staged performances, The Schoenberg Quartet – Janneke van der Meer (violin), Wim de Jong (violin), Henk Guittart (viola) and Viola de Hoog (cello) – perform Schoenberg’s complete works for strings. The recordings benefit from the creative use of visual techniques, and the intimate camerawork, focus on detail and superb sound quality which studio conditions facilitate. The quartet is joined by Arleen Augér (soprano) for the String Quartet No. 2, and by Jan-Erik van Regteren Altena (viola) and Taco Kooistra (cello) for Verklärte Nacht.
String Quartet in D
27′
String Quartet No. 1 in D minor Op. 7
46′
String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor Op. 10
33′
String Quartet No. 3 Op. 30
33′
String Quartet No. 4 Op. 37
36′
String Sextet Op. 4 (Verklärte Nacht)
31′
String Trio Op. 45
21′
A 52-minute companion documentary is available to accompany these performances.
In this documentary, made to accompany The Schoenberg Cycle, the Schoenberg Quartet is seen preparing for their performance of the cycle in Los Angeles in 1989. Their tutor is the violist Eugene Lehner, a member of the former Kolisch Quartet, which, in ist day, worked extensively with Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Bartók, premiering many of their works. Ronald, Lawrence and Nuria Nono Schoenberg, as well as staff at The Schoenberg Institute contribute to this fascinating film.
Stella Adler
Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro, Warren Beatty and Candice Bergen are among the noted performers who studied with Stella Adler, the charismatic and influential American acting teacher who died in 1992, three years after this evocative portrait was made. Combining an interview with archive stills and film footage, recollections of colleagues and students, and sequences of her at work with actors, the programme shows that the terms ‘style’, ‘scope’, ‘size’, ‘power’ – key words she used in class – aptly describe Adler herself.