Small Treasure      (31.10.10)
  

  Peter Firmin and Dan Postgate (Oliver Postgate's son) have made
   a most marvellous discovery. They've recently found 40 rusty
   reels of 16mm film buried in the detritus of the old pig shed studio
   on Peter's farm, in Blean, near Canterbury. This was the same
   studio and the same farm where Peter, and Dan's father, teamed
   up to create and animate their precious SmallFilms series,
   back in the day.

   Amongst the reels were 26 "new" Ivor the Engine films. These
   were the original black and white films, made for Associated
   Rediffusion sometime between 1962 and 1964. They've not
   been seen in over forty years. In addition, they've also found reels
   of film from "The Seal of Neptune" and "The Mermaid's Pearls"
   two of SmallFilm's earliest productions...

   The reels have been passed on to Kaleidoscope, the
   Midlands-based tv research organisation, and there's every
   chance that they'll now be restored and released for our viewing
   pleasure once more - which is terrific news. Up until now,
   we've had to make do with the remade "Ivor" episodes, produced
   by SmallFilms in the 1970's. These were commissioned by
   the BBC, and featured updated versions of those Redifussion
   originals, filmed in colour. They're completely wonderful, of
   course, but now we have their predecessors again.. And those
   two long-lost series... oh... what a pss-t-koffing find!...

                                              More: SmallFilms  Kaleidoscope

 
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