MAGIC BOX

Original 10 inch x 8 inch Still of ROBERT DONAT (cranking a replica of William Friese-Greene’s first movie camera) and MARGARET JOHNSTON compare points with director JOHN BOULTING and Oscar winning cameraman JACK CARDIFF who are showing off the intricacies of the modern Technicolor camera on the set of the Festival of Britain film the 1951 John Boulting Biographical Drama THE MAGIC BOX, based on the biography “Friese-Greene, Close Up of an Inventor” by Ray Allister with a screenplay by Eric Ambler.

This biographical drama gives an account of the life of William Friese-Greene, who first designed and patented a working cinematic camera. This claim is subject to some controversy, but evidence now tends to support it. The film was completed and shown just before the end of the 1951 Festival of Britain, but the general release was not until 1952. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene’s tireless experiments with the “moving image,” leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappointments, as others hog the credit for the protagonist’s discoveries.

The still is in very good condition with a synopsis tacked to the reverse.