A young American writer visits a famous author in the English countryside, and notices antagonism between the author and | dG1fQWJ4RFhFOEZlcWM
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Hi there, I'm Ridley Scott. I'm excited to be introducing the author of Beltrathio, a
00:13 drama made for television by my brother Tony Scott in 1974 and recently rediscovered by
00:20 the BFI National Archive. I had developed a company called RSA in 1968 which had become
00:38 very successful and Tony joined me six years later after completion of his course at the
00:44 Royal College of Art Film School. Although we made television commercials at RSA, we
00:50 both had serious feature ambitions which had been demonstrated by Tony's first short, One
00:55 of the Missing, in 1969. This was an adaptation of an Ambrose Beer story which became one
01:02 of the films chosen to launch the new screen at the National Film Theatre, now BFI Southbank.
01:08 Tony and I decided that with the success of RSA we could now afford to start up a separate
01:12 company called Scott Free Films and therefore would have the capability of developing material
01:18 for us to direct. When TF1 in Paris invited us to partner in one of the five films celebrating
01:24 Henry James, the author of Beltrathio was ours to produce and so doing we chose Robin
01:31 Chapman to adapt it into a screenplay. This was a great opportunity for both of us to
01:35 expand our directing ambitions into long form. So as brothers we had to toss a coin as to
01:42 whom would do the first directing gig. Guess who won?
01:47 James is an admirer of mine. Indeed, that must be very pleasant for you.
01:52 Mrs. Gresham's such a splendid hat. You've come just in time Mark. I've been trying to
01:57 convert Beatrice to Chrysanthemums but she won't budge.
02:01 D'Altino, come and shake hands with our guest. Mark is perfectly well as he is.
02:08 I want to shake hands. How do you do American Sir?
02:16 Very well thank you. Beltrathio was a story that depended on complex
02:21 psychological subtext but just as importantly needed the intense atmosphere that Tony did
02:27 so well in his previous work. Furthermore, Tony was particularly passionate
02:32 about Henry James as a storyteller. The quality of Beltrathio assisted Tony in
02:37 securing his first Hollywood gig, The Hunger with David Bowie, Susan Sarandon and Catherine
02:42 Deneuve, which would be followed fairly quickly with Top Gun and all the success that came
02:48 with it. Whilst Tony became associated with action thrillers, Beltrathio reminds us that
02:54 Tony was a great storyteller and a very accomplished director of actors.
02:59 Goodbye my dear. Such delicious scones. Till next Saturday.
03:04 D'Altino and I will walk to the gate with you. Stay with me my darling.
03:11 Can't I go with Papa? Not if I ask you to stay with me.
03:15 Please don't ask me Mama. I must ask you if I want you to. Come here
03:21 darling. What does Papa say?
03:24 Let him choose Beatrice. I don't think I can choose. I've been an awful
03:31 lot with Mama today. And very little with Papa. My dear fellow,
03:35 I think you've chosen. Tony would have been delighted that Beltrathio
03:38 was being seen again by a whole new generation of filmmakers and audiences. Good films made
03:44 for television can so easily be forgotten. So it's terrific that his film has been rediscovered
03:49 that by the British Film Institute.