Kevin Cryan
MV Fellow
I love Midnight Voices!
Posts: 1144
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Re: Philip French Aug1933- Oct 2015
« Reply #1: 01.11.15 at 09:23 » |
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The Observer
Writers, directors, actors, colleagues and friends remember an exceptional critic who never fell prey to phrase-making and who loved and lived the world of film
Sunday 1 November 2015 08.00 GMT
Clive James, critic and broadcaster
Quote:In my early days as a pundit on BBC radio arts programmes, Philip was often my producer, and there was never a better one, although he had a sharp temper if he caught me slacking. The stammer which he lived with so bravely kept him from being the broadcaster he might have been, so he made sure his contributors were at their best on his behalf. He was brighter and better-informed than any of them.
His only weakness was to believe that Heaven’s Gate was an unjustly neglected masterpiece; but that might have been an example of his generosity of appreciation exceeding, for once, the bounds of reason. Otherwise he was impeccable, and his diligence was a chastening example to all of us. I read his Observer column every week, wondering how he did it. Love helped: he was mad about the arts, which is always the best start to being sane about them.
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Kevin Cryan
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