phil.rich

...and I think it features footage from 'Magic Ride'.

Hello again,

Just to let you all know, I managed to get a copy of 'Magic Ride' from the Wessex Film Archive in Winchester. It cost £15 and was transferred to a DVD for me.

A website for the place can be found here: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wfsa.htm

The guy who deals with the archiving/transferral is called David Lee (david.lee@hants.gov.uk).

Additionally, i've been in touch with Michael Wadding (see above) and his documentary about the QE2 is in the final weeks of production. Apparently set to air Saturday Feb 28th on BBC2.

Hi Phil

 

Still have not managed to get a copy of the film. Interestingly on the QE2 40th Anniversary we had a presentation of it in the Theatre with one of the stars of the file Anna Betnick. I have a photo of her at the bottom of this page : QE2 40th Anniversary.

 

There was word that we would be able to secure a DVD but this never happened. It was interesting to hear Anna recolections of the filming, I think she was quite overwhelmed by people's interest.

Thanks for that! Very interesting that they are still showing these films on special occasions. The film marks something of a narrative departure from material produced by P&O, Union Castle and Cunard themselves around the same time, so I'm quite keen to find out more and write about it. I love the 'horror' scene where Betnick's character finds herself within the ship mid-construction and runs away from the sparks of welding torches and the like! The music is also interesting (Manfred Mann and Sandy Denny's involvement particularly). I am surprised there appears to be so little about the film out there, but I intend to have a look in the Cunard Archive at Liverpool University after Sept 20th (it's closed for indexing at the moment) and see if I can spot anything.

When was the 40th Anniversary showing? Also, I don't suppose you know of any contacts for those who may have been responsible for screening the film? I'm on something of a detective work drive at the moment!

It's great to find someone who has seen this though - I've spent the last couple of years watching films it feels like no one has seen!

Got the name wrong on the film I looking for, it's called "Magic Ride" by Universal, produced by James Archibald, written and directed by Don Higgins. Any more details welcome.

Sorry to bump this and that it's about 2 years late, but I was wondering if you ever found any details on this film. I've just been Googling it because i'm currently doing a PhD project on cruise films and recently watched "Magic Ride" at the Wessex Film Archive. It's pretty interesting as cruise films go, as is the involvement of Universal. Just thought i'd write here on the off-chance that anyone knew anything about the film/its availability.

Would have PMed but couldn't find the function!

Cheers in advance,

Phil