"Puttin' On The Ritz", a tribute to Antoinette Starkiewicz!


Antoinette Starkiewicz 


Many years ago my friend Nigel showed me a copy of this little gem of a film created by Antoinette Starkeviewicz in 1974. It was her first animated film made when she was a student at London Film School.




I never had the pleasure of meeting Antoinette. I only got to know of her fine film because my good friend Nigel Buesst preserved a 16mm film copy from many years ago and had it digitised by Callum at Memorylab.



I made this new upgraded copy from Nigel's file of the film to clean it up and sharpen it a bit. 

Bill Mousoulis sent me this:

"Here are some photos of the Long Play screening in 2018, with PUTTING ON THE RITZ and GEORGE AND NEEDLES playing. John Ruane's short that he shot was played also: PORTRAIT OF A PAPER BOY.'



Antoinette with Nigel at Long Play screening in 2018


Unfortunately the copy we have here may not be true to the colour as presented in Antoinette's original film owing to deterioration over the years, older film prints tending towards magenta. There is another version available on YouTube which shows the film in what might be closer to the original colour, but it's not as sharp. (See below)


This version was posted on Youtube one month ago by:

Surrealism In Motion

Includes Channel 4 and Four-Mations title cards. Ripped from a home-recorded VHS (1st November 1992). Thanks to George's Retro Channel for sending me his tape. Lost media prior to his upload. No copyright infringement intended. Uploaded to preserve and promote only. This channel currently does not and will not generate monetary gain from advertising or other means. If you are the creator or copyright holder and wish for this video to be removed, please contact me via Twitter (@SurrealMotion) or the e-mail address provided on my channel - instead of striking my account.





Okay friends, this is a hard game!

I'm going to post it like this, just as I have written it this morning, in the hope that others may fill in some missing pieces.

I hope some of Antoinette's friends may respond to this and help me with issues of colourisation.

pt



Comments

  1. DJKFebruary 7, 2023 at 4:03 PM

    This is a terrific little film. I first saw it at Longplay Cinema-Bar a few years ago courtesy of Bill Mouslouis and Chris Luscri who had just started their Unknown Pleasures screenings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bill MousoulisFebruary 8, 2023 at 4:46 PM

    And, of course, this is a tribute because Antoinette passed away on Dec 31, 2022, at the age of 72. At least Facebook is good for SOME THINGS, like death notices/tributes (and also promoting screenings).

    ReplyDelete
  3. AlexandraFebruary 8, 2023 at 11:41 PM

    Fabulous movie.Searched for her paintings.Did not find much

    ReplyDelete
  4. PTFebruary 9, 2023 at 11:25 AM

    Alex, I think we would benefit from some of Antoinette's friends picking up on this post. Perhaps she was the sort of person who didn't put her work out in public. I have a friend who creates the most beautiful mandalas but she only gives the occasional one as a gift to her friends. She doesn't exhibit her work. I've asked her for permission to present some of her work on this blog but she just doesn't want to do that at all. We could only know more about Antoinette's paintings apart from here animations, if some of her friends give us information.

    ReplyDelete

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