Rime of the Ancient Mariner

1st watched 9/14/2001 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Raul de Silva): Interesting adaptation of poetry on film, as well as a short documentary on the poet(Samuel Coleridge) in the 1st half of this video. Not quite as breathtaking as it could have been if they had decided to actually make a movie about this, but this is definetly a different art form and it should be valued as that and not compared to a movie rendition. Redgrave keeps you captivated by his consistent influctuations in his voice in the parts that needed it. The animation was ok but not spectacular but it did give you a little help in following the story if you don't happen to be a good listener of olde English(like myself). All in all this is a different and interesting viewing experience, which is always good to have when you've watched hundred of movies like myself.

The blend of biography with poetry and live action with animation makes this a true work of art. The narration by Sir Michael Redgrave is moving. The length of the work makes it easily accessible for class room exposure or TV/Video time slots.

As an temporary adjunct instructor at a small college in Rochester, NY I had complained to my friend, the late Hollywood actor, Sterling Hayden (who had been a master of tall ships as a young man before being discovered by Paramount Pictures) that I was having trouble getting my students to take the time to read Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner let alone study it. Sterling, who loved the piece, countered that since I was a successful filmmaker; why not try to bring the epic poem to life on film? He urged me more than once.

After some struggle I located enough funding to put together the efforts of fine illustrators from both the 19th and 20th Centuries who had rendered scenes from the epic poem. This would visualize a hoped for narration by a gifted actor.

Also with some research I soon discovered that British actor, Sir Michael Redgrave had once taught the poem as a schoolmaster early in his career. I flew to London and had him narrate the poem for me. He did a very fine reading, exactly as written by Coleridge. The film took two years to complete due to the highly technical nature of photoanimation performed on an Oxberry Master series animation stand for the visualization and my efforts to film the art using good technique and exposures.

The six international film festival prizes and universal media critical acclaim that followed aside, what I found most rewarding was the letters from teachers as far away as Australia where the film had been broadcast --- thanking me for helping to make this great, immortal piece of literature, written in Coleridge's rough idea of Elizabethan English, accessible to their students. Sterling Hayden was right all along and many students and lovers of the poem are in his debt.

As it is the epic poem speaks to the sanctity of all life on earth- a message perhaps more appropriate today than when it was first imagined and written in 1798. No longer available on VHS it has been available on DVD since April, 2007. Please go to www.Amazon,com to see the DVD listing for this film.

The production received first place recognition in international competition at five of six film festivals in the United States. Of the six entries, it received six prizes. The two primary artists used in the depiction from the past two centuries, Gustave Dore and Willy Pogany are both well known throughout the world. This was one way to salute them and express gratitude for their efforts with the Coleridge work, which I found extraordinary. If the viewer understands they are separated by many decades and why they were united here, the idea to have one style in the film is subjugated.

Raul daSilva, producer-director.

After seeing this piece, I couldn't feel anything but pity for Coleridge. His poem, a true classic, is truly mishandled in this bumbling attempt to glorify an epic that doesn't need the favor. The rhythm is off, the drawings are rather ugly and confusing, and the live-action shots are stupid (and often misplaced). The feel of the poem is lost and muddled.

28 years ago, I had the opportunity to view the film, fresh off the presses, so to speak. This visualization of the timeless classic, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, produced by writer-director, Raúl daSilva, was actually completed in 1975, and is a first-of-its kind film. The director once lived here, in Rochester, NY. When he produced it, he was the executive producer for Eastman Kodak's industrial ad agency. Rochester is one of the three cities where it was created. The others are London and New York City. Some seascapes were taken as far south as the Cayman Islands. The original reason he created this reading of the timeless epic poem was to help students better understand it. The Coleridge work heralded in the Romantic movement in English literature.

In my view, shared by Library Journal, NPR, PBS and other critical reviews, Raul daSilva greatly succeeded. The film received a rave review from the Democrat & Chronicle when it premiered here at the Eastman House Dryden Theater. The reviewer noted that the director also wanted to celebrate the efforts of past illustrators to bring life to the great poem.

Among those illustrators is the historically significant 19th Century engraver, Gustave Doré, whose illustrations brought visual power to this and other poems and stories. By incorporating Doré's illustrations, the film succeeds on two levels: one, in bringing to the screen the immortal poem itself; and two, in letting viewers enjoy the work of a great illustrator.

This Samuel Taylor Coleridge work speaks to the sanctity of all life on Earth. Although written in 1798, the world still struggles to get its message.