Let's be realistic.

Dreadfully Boring

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

.....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.

Long before the film was made, I read the book it is based on, namely Konigsmark by A.E.W.Mason. I found the book enthralling and was more than eager to see the film, which turned out to be equally magical, exciting and romantic. To my mind the actors were superbly cast and the sets and costumes so beautifully designed that I felt I was living the events myself and the book and the historical period came vividly to life. I do hope that copies of the film have not been lost and that one day it will reappear perhaps in a remastered form. It is one of the gems of forties' British film-making and deserves to be seen by a present-day audience.

Amazing, amazing film that, sadly, virtually no one knows about. This Ealing historical romance, filmed in muted Technicolour tones, is just stunning. If you are one of the "Stewart Granger was a smarmy bastard who can't act" club, you obviously haven't seen this film. Granger and Joan Greenwood play the doomed lovers of the title to perfection. Flora Robson should have been nominated, and won, the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her excellent performance. This film contains many visual delights, not least a five minute montage where Greenwood tries to make her way through a masked crowd of revelers to meet her lover. It's an exhilarating, tense sequence that culminates in a passionate kiss. Truly one of the overlooked treasures of the 20th century. This is a big statement, but the film should be as well known and widely seen as other great British films of it's vintage, such as Lean's Great Expectations and Reed's Odd Man Out. Seek this one out at every opportunity! 10/10 +++++

This is the type of film that shows how one can find interesting small moments in an otherwise rather average film. Buried in the middle of this film is a five minute beautiful example of a montage by rhythm as Joan Greenwood tries to make her way through a chaotic masque ball in order to meet her lover. The sequence climaxes with a series of flash pans and POV shots as we are thrust into the center of the action with the character. The filmmaker inserts fast POV shots of close ups of the masked revelers. The cuts and flash pans are edited rhythmically with the music and make for a wonderful example of a well-executed montage sequence. Show just this sequence to film students.