White City

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

Let me repeat my "ouch" comment in big letters.

OUCH.

Here's Pete's script for a Keith Moon movie.

After reading this, I'm thinking Pete laid similar groundwork for both the 
TOMMY movie and for QUADROPHENIA.  The difference is in what the 
director/writer made of the treatments.  Roddam did a great job on QUAD, and 
Russell didn't on TOMMY (my opinion, anywho).  Since they ran out of money 
and didn't finish this, I guess it remains to be seen what kind of film 
Lowenstein would have made of the whole thing, but as far as meaning goes, 
there's a gaping hole in the film as released.  No wonder it's so enigmatic.

Pete's stories fall into a category called Magical Realism, and this is 
really hard to represent on film.  It's works really well for the rock 
opera, as the symbolism forms up in the murky clouds of smoke that rise up 
out of the audience and swirl above our heads.  It works pretty well in the 
script form, too, as I followed it without any problems.  BUT, there doesn't 
seem to be enough dialog here to carry it.  Pete has done a lot of work on 
setting up fantasy segments to show the symbolism, and that part is 
perfectly clear, but the director has got very little to work with for the 
rest of the film.  Presumably the songs will provide some message, but many 
viewers won't pick those up.

Interestingly, the symbolism here is very similar to that in QUADROPHENIA 
the movie.  Assuming Roddam started with the same sort of treatment, he 
filled in an excellent movie, and pulled off the symbolism, as well.  I 
wonder if Lowenstein was at a loss as to how to represent the symbolism, or 
if he didn't like what was said?  It's very revealing of Pete's feelings at 
the time, and involves other characters that are easy to identify.  Also, it 
makes me wonder if Pete works out pain in his projects, as a sort of 
catharisis.  Most folks go to support groups, but Townshend puts it all out 
there for the world to see.

Anybody else have comments on it?


keets