THE PINEWOOD STORYThe Authorised History of The World’s Most  Famous Film Studio
by Gareth Owen with Brian Burford; published Reynolds & Hearn This is the authorised history of Pinewood, based on the archive material held by its owners, and the memories of the legendary stars and technicians whose work has contributed to the studio’s global reputation. Author Gareth Owen takes the reader inside Pinewood with over 200 stunning illustrations that show the growth of the studio. The Pinewood Story offers an intriguing behind-the-scenes glimpse of some of the best known films and television programmes ever made. The story is brought fully up-to-date with a concluding chapter by Michael Grade, which looks at Pinewood’s exciting future under its new owners. This book is the culmination of over three years research, which has included unprecedented access to the archives at Pinewood and numerous interviews with many of the studios’ luminaries. AMPS members can obtain copies for £19.00 post free direct from Gareth Owen, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Bucks SL0 0NH THE NATIONAL SOUND ARCHIVE.Based in the new British Library building at St Pancras, The National Sound Archive (NSA) is one of the largest in the world. Playback, their newsletter-brochure, is in a folded AS format which opens out into a wellillustrated A4format. It is published three times a year. with information on the NSA’s current and future activities; also included are short articles of interest about the collections housed at St Pancras. The NSA also organises lecture programmes and, from time to time, exhibitions of artifacts from the collections which cover all types of music, the spoken word, oral history interviews and industrial and wild-life sounds. Playback is published free of charge, so if you are interested give them your postal details and they will send it to you. For further information contact: The British Library National Sound Archive 96 Euston Road, London NW! 2DB. Telephone: 020 7412 7440; Fax: 020 7412 7441, E-mail: nsa@hl.uk Why not take a look at their web-site: www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive. | MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 Having to be in London during the week of 26 July, I took advantage of taking in the AMPS film show at Pinewood’s Theatre 7. Mission Impossible 2 is not exactly my type of movie; those such as Emma, Elizabeth and Sense And Sensibility are more to my taste. The ridiculous car chase near the start of the story almost had me walking out, however I stuck it out and was glad of it when the story reached Sydney, Australia. Good use was made of the city and its environs, this kept me sitting in my seat wondering which location I would recognise next; what a welcome change from New York and Los Angeles. I’m not sure whether I kept up with the plot. Car stunts, motorbike duels and other special-effects sequences went on too long, so that when the story resumed after each such episode I had to work out all over again who was who and what they hoped to achieve. The cliff-hanging sequences (superb scenery) and the ridiculous gun battle in the chemical factory were beyond belief, but then it’s only a movie. There were several pleasant changes from the usual present-day American movies: the lack of foul language and profanities (though the female lead threw in a few ‘bloodies’ at the beginning, presumably to please Australian audiences) - no nudity, and sexual intercourse hinted at but not shown - and the dialogue was mostly understandable. I was worried about the damage done to, and the writing-off of, prestigious executive cars. I hope that when complete digitisation comes I’ll be able to see an end title telling me ‘No motor vehicles were actually damaged in this production.’ All in all, I’d rather see a British ‘Bond’ movie. BOB ALLEN |
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