*THE RAINBOW BOYS op.163 (February 1973)

Canadian feature film directed by Gerry Potterton starring Donald Pleasance. Kate Reid and Don Calfa
Published by: Highbridge Music Ltd
Commissioned by: Potterton Films, Montreal
Instrumentation: Orchestral

[Key to Abbreviations]
Duration: 30 mins
First Performance: Recorded by players from The Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by HB, February 1973, RCA, Montreal.
Recordings Available
Much Records Quebec, EP

Notes

Featuring Donald Pleasance, Kate Reid, Don Calfa, Director Gerry Potterton, Editor Marlene Fletcher

Performances

15th August 2021 Donald Pleasance. Kate Reid,Don Calfa, Canadian cinema release

Directed by Gerald Potterton

Music by Howard Blake

15th August 2021 Donald Pleasance,Don Calfa. Kate Reid, Canadian cinema release

Director Gerry Potterton

Editor Katherine Reynolds

Music composed and conducted by Howard Blake

Montreal Symphony Orchestra led by Jack Rothstein

Reviews


..films with this kind of innocence and brilliant character portrayal should be dragged back from obscurity.

gvrdeu (canada), Cinertia blogspot, 21/6/2005


Competent direction and writing are lacking for this Canadian film shot in picturesque British Columbia, featuring Donald Pleasence as a gold prospector named Logan. Of rather an unstable disposition, Logan nevertheless keeps company with a widow played by Kate Reid when he is not panning for gold with little success, and suddenly the lives of the pair are disrupted by a young man from Brooklyn, Mazella (Don Calfa). Mazella shows Logan a book that describes possible locations of untapped gold mines in the Pacific Northwest and his discussion of them stimulates Logan to search for the "Little Lemon Mine" prospected by his late father who had failed to reach its lode. The oddly mingled trio spontaneously journeys, upon Mazella's quaint three wheeled motorcycle, into a wilderness on the track of the Little Lemon for which Logan has an old map, and they have some uninspired adventures along the way. Director Gerald Potterton's script wants clarity, lacks continuity, and even a better cast could not give it harmony, as Potterton's woeful attempts at humour do not amuse. One might expect that whenever a director is responsible for a film's screenplay, he should know how to tighten the action to align a story with his perceptions in order for the cast to avoid relying upon ad libbing, but such is not the case here, where torpor prevails and competent editing is an unfulfilled requirement. Pleasence therefore resorts, with scant control from the helm, to his customary hamminess while Reid simply seems to be befuddled throughout, leaving Calfa of the three principals owning the acting laurels, although his part as written lacks definition. The most rewarding aspect to this misfire, apart from the scenery, is its interesting scoring by always effectual Howard Blake, and although it seldom is matched with action on the screen, that is not a fault of the composer, but rather of generally shabby post-production efforts.

rsoonsa@b@b books, Mountain Mesa CA, 5/6/2004

Related Autobiography Chapters


THREE SUSSEX SONGS, DIVERSIONS FOR CELLO AND PIANO, THE ROTHSTEIN VIOLIN SONATA (1973)

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