edwin blog
Just another WordPress site

Delhi (1938)

Shot by the legendary Jack Cardiff – the Oscar-winning cinematographer of ‘Black Narcissus’ – this is one of a number of short films that he made in India in the late 1930s. As much a study to show off his brilliant Technicolor photography as it is a portrait of Delhi, this film presents the city – and the period – as rarely seen before. After a brief historical and architectural preamble, the film moves into an extended sequence that shows the Jama Masjid and stunningly coloured saris among the gardens of the Red Fort. Then it’s off to New Delhi to see how the British (in the form of architect Edwin Lutyens) ‘taught the Indians’ how to build… However, despite the colonial pomposity of the commentary, the record of New Delhi in the ’30s is extraordinary – especially the scenes of Connaught Place that appear as a sea of calm and green lawns. (Robin Baker) This film is part of ‘Before Midnight’ – a touring programme of 27 films shot in India prior to Independence. Further information at www.independentcinemaoffice.or…You can watch over 1400 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank, London and at the new QUAD centre for art and film in Derby – http www.derbyquad.co.uk