It was with regret that I read in a
recent issue of
'Film and Video Maker' that Tony Rose
had died at the age of 78.
In cine and video clubs of today this will cause little reaction,
but three decades ago his name was synonymous with amateur film making.
When editor of the monthly magazine 'Movie Maker' he had a
team of journalists that forged a link with the many cine clubs and
societies that existed then, not only in the U.K. but also internationally
The 'Ten Best' competition that the magazine organised each year was
held in high regard, with the winning films being shown at the National
Theatre in London, followed by the presentation of the trophies by
a celebrity from the professional stage or film world. It was in fact
the amateur equivalent of 'The Oscars'
Having been to one of these past occasions and to another about five
years ago when the ten best was held in a hotel in Blackpool, I was
greatly disappointed the latter being no way comparable with the prestigious
event of the earlier years.
Tony Rose came to our club on at least two occasions that I can recall
to judge our 'Bournes Cup' competition in which I had entered a short
partly animated film entitled 'Alcoholics Anonymous'. Afterwards he
suggested to me that I should enter it for the ten best current at
that time, but obviously he had not been on the initial selection
panel because it had been already rejected.
Another member of the Movie Maker team who visited our club was Ivan
Watson, then affectionately known to us enthusiasts as 'Uncle Ivan',
through his very bold down to earth articles on film making. He too
came to judge a competition but emphatically refused to use one of
our judging slips - dare I say that it was similar to those we use
today.
No doubt we were envied by other clubs by having such distinguished
guests visit us but fortunately both of these gentlemen lived comparatively
close, Tony at High Wycombe and Ivan at Aldermaston.
We had two ten best winners - Gordon Rowley whose animated cactus
film was shown on T.V. only about one year ago, also Tim Wood who
won coincidentally with yet another animation in plasticine.
All of this is now history, but it is nice to know that our club was
fortunate enough in those days to gain visits from quite important
people and win two Ten Bests that were screened at the National Theatre.
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