The Boy Who Turned Yellow

BFI NFTVA-TIK DATORREN KOPIA/COPY FROM BFI NFTVA/COPIA PROCEDENTE DE BFI NFTVA

A schoolboy suddenly turns yellow while travelling on the underground and is later visited by an alien, Nick, who emerges from the family television and takes him on a tour of the Tower of London. Caught and accused of treason, he is about to be beheaded when he manages to get home with Nick's help, and return to his original colour. A final footnote to the Powell-Pressburger collaboration came in 1972 through the unlikely agency of the Children's Film Foundation (CFF). Pressburger had submitted a script for a children's fantasy film speculatively, after his return to England from living in Austria. Powell happened to be serving on the CFF board at the time and agreed to direct The Boy Who Turned Yellow. It is tempting to trace many familiar Archers' themes in this magical tale of a boy who suddenly turns yellow. But it remains no more than a delightful sketch for the major work that Powell and Pressburger together or separately, could no longer create in the British cinema of the seventies. Ian Christie (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger: Arrows of Desire)

YEAR   1972 PRODUCTION   Roger Cherrill Ltd./The Children's Film Foundation DIRECTOR   Michael Powell SCREENPLAY   Emeric Pressburger PHOTOGRAPHY   Christopher Challis MUSIC   Patrick Gowers, David Vorhaus EDITION   Peter Boita CAST   Mark Dightam (John Saunders), Robert Eddison (Nick), Helen Weir (Mrs. Saunders), Brian Worth (Mr. Saunders) RUNNING TIME   55 m.

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