ianlouisiana Review of Saraband

Saraband (1948)

"Charabancs for dead lovers -what's that all about?".....

[7/10 · 16 January 2018]

.....demanded my slightly deaf Uncle Charlie when my aunt read out the local cinema guide. Not charabancs,saraband - it's a dance",she replied with all the authority of a woman who ran Ballet and Tap classes from her parlour for 30 years. I favoured "Lassie" myself but I didn't get a vote and off we trooped to one of the town's four cinemas. Two hours later on the bus home Uncle Charlie maintained he still didn't know what it had been all about. "Lovely costumes",said my aunt. I sat there drawing faces here I had breathed on the window. There was a film about parachutists next week,maybe we could go and see that. "Saraband for dead lovers" was a huge flop with picture goers in its time. Despite good production values and sterling performances its subject matter - an obscure European aristocrat mostly unknown to an audience who were generally strongly opposed to anything even vaguely Germanic three years after the end of World War 2. In recent years more politically sophisticated audiences have caused a reassessment to have been made and it is now accepted as a well -made beautifully produced piece of work,an early example of exquisite use of colour in a British picture. Seventy years later I can hardly blame my eight year old self for finding it less than absorbing. Mr P.Bull makes some interesting references to it in his mem which is well worth looking out.