Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
An actor.
On the island
Eight records
Late Extra
Castaway mentions this as his first film; no music disc explicitly chosen — transcript likely erroneous.
This is Rodrigo's concerto for Aaron Hueth, played by Nathiso Jepes, who is my favorite guitarist. And I think he does a beautiful, beautiful, bewitching job.
Pipes and Drums and Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
this was played with tremendous effect at Winston Churchill's funeral, do you remember? And they came out of um Saint Paul's and uh into the march again and they piped up my home and it was just shattering.
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathétique'
this appeals to me not only on account of his masterly playing, but also because it brings back memories of old times. You may remember that this was featured in the film I did with Anne Todd, The Seventh Vale.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
by listening carefully, it gives me something rather positive to do on this desert island, I could improve my German and perhaps pick out the words.
I've chosen a record of Judy just to bring her into play at this point.
Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314
This is a hero of the moment, of this era, because he plays the flute. Magically.
I'm sure that you've all heard, but if you haven't, I think this gives you a great deal of joy.
My ManFavourite
I also love jazz very much. and uh I love people singing the blues. And so um I offer Billy Holiday singing My Man.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:59Despite all your success, you packed your bags and left us. You weren't very happy?
Uh … happy but I felt that um that there were more stars than there was work for in this country. There were other reasons and one of them being the very powerful reason that I'd never been to Hollywood and since that is that was the center of film making I thought that I should have a stab at it and see how I would get along there thinking that it'd be very nice to be constantly employed and also bask in the sun in one's leisure hours. Yes, and it worked out all right. Yes, it did. It required a great deal of obstinacy on my part because the first five or six films that I made there were dreadful duds. But I wouldn't give up and I decided that I would stay there, particularly since my wife loved it.
Presenter asks
2:01What's the pattern of film-making at the moment in Hollywood? Things have changed very much there, haven't they?
Yes, there are comparatively few films made uh in the big studios in Hollywood. Most of them, happily, are made away from the studios. Sometimes uh even if they don't go outside the country, they're made uh in New York or in the south or whatever locale the story demands, and they profit thereby because they get away from the assembly line precision was the order of the day in the studios.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The luxury
What do you think of the film set up here [in Britain]? Is it healthier than when you left in 1946?
I think so. There seems to be less of an effort to hit the international jackpot, and the filmmakers the strictly British filmmakers seem to be more content to make something which is strictly British and which perhaps will pay off in a in a limited English market. I'm thinking of the great English comedies, of course, for which we have now become famous, and some of the uh lower budget things like this famous Saturday night and Sunday morning. With films of this scale, they can have uh uh a truth and uh a national integrity which is unavailable if you try to do it on a splashy or pretentious scale.
Presenter asks
4:14Now, is it true that the youngest [of three sons] is the one who was spoiled?
I don't know whether I was spoiled. I was spoiled in a sense because my brothers were expected to go into the um textile business, which they both did. And uh I was supposed to be the most scholarly of the three. Whether that is true or not, I also cannot testify. But in view of this, my father put his hand in his pocket and allowed me to go to Cambridge.
Presenter asks
5:56What were your extracurricular activities at Cambridge?
I rode. … But uh I wasn't terrific. I thought there was something rather mystical and aesthetic, I don't know what, something to be gotten out of Rang, which in fact there is. … But then, in my third year, I decided that I was wasting a lot of time because I could be reading in the university library. I could um be taking advantage of being a student of leisure. And um Improving my mind.
Presenter asks
8:06What was your first job [as an actor]?
Well, I had no contacts with the theatre, and so I just answered advertisements in the stage, which is, you know, the the trade paper. And ultimately I got a job in a travelling melodrama. Which gave me just what I wanted. I it gave me the experience so that I could go back to agents and producers
Presenter asks
16:17And you left us and went off to Hollywood. What was your thinking there?
It was because at that time the the English film industry was limited to the number of uh really talented people I'm not talking about actors, I'm talking about directors who worked in it. … Whereas I thought at that time that I would uh give myself a better chance in Hollywood. And also we'd met a lot of attractive Americans during the war, and the idea of going over to America and see what it was all like appealed to us also If you wanted to be an international star, which I'm ashamed to say I did want to be at that time, that was the place to be.
Presenter asks
22:18How did you get on with [Alfred Hitchcock on North by Northwest]?
Well, it's very easy to get on with him. It's not the most exciting type of work because he was such a wonderful technician and such a wonderful planner. I mean, his blueprint for a film was something that you couldn't fault. … And although we all got al got along fine and he had a certain regard for his props, including the actors it really was a question of doing exactly what you were told. That's right, he knew exactly what each of us could do, and for that we were cast.
“It required a great deal of obstinacy on my part because the first five or six films that I made there were dreadful duds. But I wouldn't give up and I decided that I would stay there, particularly since my wife loved it.”
“I think so. There seems to be less of an effort to hit the international jackpot, and the filmmakers the strictly British filmmakers seem to be more content to make something which is strictly British and which perhaps will pay off in a in a limited English market.”
“I'd love to have been a musician.”
“If you wanted to be an international star, which I'm ashamed to say I did want to be at that time, that was the place to be.”
“I have many preoccupations such as listening to grammar phone records and writing now and then and looking after the garden also. We live in Switzerland. And uh Which is a lovely place to live in.”