Fools and a Flower

+ intro by season curator John Wyver

Jack Rosenthal’s comedy drama explores the race to launch the television service.

  • Total running time 110min

Review: The Man with the Flower in His Mouth Recreated

BBC 1970. Director Hal Burton. 20min

+ The Fools on the Hill

BBC 1986. Director David Giles. With Shaughan Seymour, Nicholas Farrell. 72min

In 1970, the arts magazine Review reunited the cast and production team of The Man with the Flower in His Mouth, the pioneering 30-line television transmission of Pirandello’s drama, which was originally co-produced by Baird Television and the BBC. It included a recreation of several minutes of the broadcast. The Fools on the Hill is Jack Rosenthal’s loving, comic recreation of the television service at Alexandra Palace as it prepared for opening night in November 1936.

See the talk New Writings: Magic Rays of Light with John Wyver.