BBC News Report on "Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn" Premiere

“Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn” to Debut September 2nd

Press conference and debut to be held at Howard's former home

Tom Hamilton's feature length documentary “Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn” will be screened in the cinema room at Howard's former home in Dorking, Surrey. The long-awaited screening will coincide with a press conference and the unveiling of a plaque in Howard's honor at Stowe Maries.

The film, five years in the making, looks at the life, career and passions of Leslie Howard, best known for his role in “Gone With the Wind.” While chronicling his Hollywood film and New York stage careers, it also reveals much of the informal Leslie through never-before-seen home movies and the memories of his surviving daughter Doodie. The film also takes an in-depth look at this role and importance in the British war effort and the events leading up to his disappearance in 1943.

 The narrator of the film is Derek Partridge, in whose life Leslie played a brief but incredibly important role. Partridge, who was seven years old at the time, gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight on June 1^st 1943 so Howard could have a seat. This brings a poignant and personal feel to the story.

After the launch of the film in September, “Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn” will be entered into key film festivals and will be shown in the United States on Turner Classic Movies.

Leslie Howard Personal Film Footage Found by Documentary Maker

The Guardian, September 12, 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/12/leslie-howard-found-footage

An Update on "Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn" (formerly called "A Quite Remarkable Life"

Over the last few months, I’ve had emails and read postings by quite a few people who want to know where and when they can see this documentary. They have heard about it for two or three years and are eager to see what we made of Leslie’s life, career and loves. A few even noticed that there was a scheduled TCM screening in December last year, which was mysteriously dropped as the date approached. They ask me why this happened.

Here’s the story.

We had a private screening of a “working copy” of the film in Toronto last September and this was attended by Leslie Howard’s daughter, her husband, members of the crew, and others who had asked to see it. The screening went extremely well, with Howard’s daughter expressing herself as very pleased with the results.

The reaction from Turner Classic Movies and Warner Brothers was also very positive and upbeat, with Turner immediately giving it a slot in the December schedule.

I thought a little editing would improve the film, and I began working on this with the intention it would be finished in time for the December screening.

All of this, the filming of the interviews in Canada, the UK and Lisbon, the transferring of fragile home movies and photographic material, and now the return to Canada to show the (more or less) finished results to Leslie’s daughter, was possible through the passion and generosity of a number of dedicated Leslie fans. These were people in all walks of life who were prepared to give their time, their skills and in some cases funds in order to see the story told properly.

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to those people.

However, there is still a major funding issue. Since this documentary covers the actor’s whole career, including his work for the British War effort, there are essential film and audio clips which are not covered by the agreement I have with Warner Brothers. In order to clear these clips, which include some of Howard’s best-remembered appearances, and to complete the various post production aspects of the film, I need to raise a further £30,000 ($46,000).

I had hoped to raise some of this from the payment I expected from Turner in return for the first screening of the documentary. I was led to believe this would be at least £10,000. With this in place, I felt it wouldn’t be too difficult to raise the remaining completion funds, possibly from pre-sales to other television networks.

Unfortunately, budgetary constraints at Turner meant they were not in a position to pay anything like the amount I had hoped for; therefore, the scheduled screening had to be postponed indefinitely, pending the necessary funds being found. I worked for a time with a consultant who seemed certain he could raise the necessary funds through business loans; however, this stalled on the matter of his terms– over and above those of any lender he might find - which I felt were unfairly favouring his company, whilst providing no guarantee of success.

Over the weeks following my return to England, I worked on the re-edit and explored funding options. I was forced to lay the project aside for a time in order to concentrate on matters closer to home and with Christmas and New Year's upon us, it simply didn’t feel like the right time to be trying to raise the extra funds.

Now that it’s spring and the re-edit is finished, the time is right to find these remaining funds. I’m currently contacting funding agencies who may be willing to fund the completion of this project. In addition to the possibility of public funding, I’m also looking at the possibility of grass roots funding – from film fans themselves.

On this grass roots level, I hope that we can find 200 individuals willing to contribute $150 (or £100) to this project. Initially we are simply looking for a pledge which can be made via email to myself. Once we have received a minimum of 100 pledges, we will then ask each person to pay their contribution into a Repo Films holding account, from which post-production expenses will be met. Whilst 200 of such contributions will not cover all of these expenses, I am confident we can find a backer for the remainder.

However, the main requirement of these contributions is that they need to be made in as short a period as possible. Ideally if we can have all commitments in hand by June 15th, 2010 with a view to the contributions themselves being made during the latter half of June, we will have a substantial fund in place in which to carry through the post-production requirements in as short a period of time as possible.

Everyone who is able to contribute will receive a copy of the completed documentary, along with exclusive bonus material consisting of unused interviews, unseen archival material, and “making of” footage and sound. You will also receive a thank you credit on the finished film (so please indicate if and how you would like to be credited).

AFTER THE FILM IS COMPLETE

My objective once rights and post-production is paid for is that the film will be seen and it’s subject discussed as widely as possible. Aside from it’s place in such specialist channels as Turner, Arte, BBC 4 and Sky Cinema I will be entering it into as many film festivals as eligible and also offering screenings at the major film schools and universities where film is a major part of the syllabus. Aside from biographical value, “The Man Who Gave a Damn” offers great insights into British and American film production in the 1930’s and provides a fresh perspective on the production of one of the most famous films of the last 100 years.

But beyond this, I think the film has great sociological value in its exploration of the propaganda work Howard undertook in the early years of WW2 and the influence he had on America’s involvement in the conflict, an influence which has been largely forgotten over the years. To this end I plan to organise a number of events, initially in the UK but later in Canada and the United States, aimed at the large numbers of WW2 historians and enthusiasts to whom we will show the film, and have Q & A sessions possibly involving some of those who appear.

This in itself will be linked with the development of a further project, a documentary dealing with circumstances surrounding the shooting down of Leslie’s plane, an unsolved mystery not solved to this day, which will examine the effect this had on allied morale at the time (1943) and will also look at the stories of some of the other passengers who were aboard. A large amount of material for this project has already been shot, as it was carried out in parallel with the shooting of “The Man Who Gave a Damn.”

So those of you who are able to contribute funds, whether it is $150.00 or more (or less), will be contributing not only to the completion of a film, but also to the re-evaluation of an important, neglected figure in the first half of the 20th Century.

Thomas Hamilton

Repo Films