On Friday, January 9 Rye Castle Museum arranged a 12th Night Party. The tickets went fast and the capacity was for about 30 people. Five tables were arranged, two in the middle of the room and one in each aisle between all the artifacts, beautifully arranged. As everyone arrived they were given a choice of red, white or mulled wine. Each was told to choose their table and eventually the participants sat down and were told in turns to fetch some food.
It was a feast: salmon, prawns, salads, cheese and more. Much chatter at the tables and a lot of admiration in the queue for the wonderful main meal and the variety of sweets prepared by Jen and David Tomkinson and their daughter, Charlotte. Jen also organised the next part of the evening.
After enjoying the sit down meal, tables needed to be cleared and chairs set up for the talk by Pete Allen, a film buff and enthusiast, on the making of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, the film that’s now as much a part of Christmas as mince pies. While explaining a little about himself and what he wanted to impart to the audience he showed slides, all of it really interesting. Despite being a box office disaster on its release, and the film that signalled the demise of the career of one of the pioneers of cinema, how did a film, which one critic called a “turkey dinner” go on to be named the seventh best film in Channel 4’s poll of the 100 Greatest Films Ever Made?
Pete Allen says he came across this film doing research for another talk about Hollywood’s lost movies and films which were penned but never made it to the screen. This particular film was already a favourite because of his love of the star, Jimmy (as he called the actor James Stewart), whom he had watched in many other films. He also was a fan of Frank Capra whose output was mainly before the Second World War and nearly non-existent after.
The film script itself went through various changes, archived, looked at again then vanished again until Capra came across it and bought the rights. It still took some time and strife with screenwriters before Capra was able to get it into the mainstream, even though he was a known Italian-American film director, producer and screenwriter himself, a creative force behind several award-winning films between 1930-1940.
As said, initially it seemed the audience did not enjoy this kind of film but in 1990 it was classed as the “cultural, historically significant movie” by USA Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. In 2002, Channel 4 took up the film and it was revealed in Britain as the third best film in the fantasy genre of classic American movies. “The most profoundly pessimistic of tales of human existence ever to achieve a lasting popularity.” It did surprise Frank Capra, born 1897 and died 1991.
Pete Allen is now the Director of the RC Sheriff Trust, a charity set up by playwright and author RC Sheriff. Pete had many creative jobs before arriving here, one of them being the Arts Developing Officer for Elmbridge Borough Council where he was responsible for The Royston Pike Series, as well as The Big Picture Young People’s Film Workshop. No surprise that he also has worked extensively as a professional theatre director and film maker. He is a public speaker on many subjects and can be contacted here
Another talk has been organised at the Rye Castle Museum, East Street on 12 February, at 7.30pm, Tales of a Prop Man by Pete Benson, a humorous account of his career. His book will be on sale at the talk.
Image Credits: Chris McGrath , Heidi Foster , Pete's website, allowed by Pete , Chris Mc Grath .