The Spoils of Poynton

I am delighted to have the Spoils of Poynton in DVD. I saw it in Black and White in 1970 - we didn't have colour until February 1971.

Another post refers to primitive cinematography and I feel this needs explaining. These early (pre c1975) BBC dramas are mainly made in the studio on video tape (not long before they would have been live), The studio system used three or four very large colour TV cameras trundling round on trollies, and the scene was controlled from a control room. Generally entire scenes had to be done in one go as editing was still hard to do. Actors had to do 10 minutes or so without errors - not just words but being in exactly the right place.

So you can;t compare the style with a film, it's more like a stage play with a few 16mm filmed inserts. The great advantage was that the drama depended on dialogue rather than action. Seeing these things in colour I am amazed by the costumes and sets - and notice all the unnecessary extras in the shop scenes.

Spoils of Poynton mainly depends on Gemma Jones, a delightful performance. You had to have real actors in those days!

The Golden Bowl, also on the BBC R1 box set, is the ultimate production in this old style. Hardly anything happens but it really captures the Henry James style.