Henry Moore: London 1940-42

The Series of Shelter Drawings

Eliminating all narration, this film explores, on several metaphoric levels, the very nature of human consciousness and creativity. With the image of people descending, before a blitz, to spend a night in the subterranean, artery-like tubes of the subway system, the film draws us into the artist's inner mind, where the creative process occurs, and also into subconscious levels of experience - a dream world where fears and anxieties coexist with a curious stillness. We gain an insight here into how Moore's interests related for a while to those of the Surrealists. The film is calm, yet charged, an atmosphere complemented by the delicate yet tense music of Marius Constant.

`... pictures of exceptional quality. Silently the film demonstrates that great art can easily dispense with commentary, and the value of the drawings is thus enhanced. The newsreel sequences at the beginning and the end contribute in producing an impressive atmosphere.' UNESCO

`A revelation: a strength and force disclosed, a mastery made clear' Sunday Times, London

`It's uncanny, Anthony Roland, the master of the montage and dissolve ... The film melts moment by moment into a living and breathing homage to the people of London.' Michigan Education Journal

For more information see section 20 and section 25

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.