Audiences Offered Second Chance To View New Film
By ROBERT W. PLYLER
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8/12/2007 - CHAUTAUQUA — Audiences at the Chautauqua Cinema are being offered their second opportunity within a week, to see an inspiring new film, and to meet and ask questions of the filmmaker.
Monday and Tuesday, at 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 8 p.m., the Chautauqua Cinema will show the film ''Amazing Grace.'' At the conclusion of each showing, the filmmaker, Ken Wales, will be present to discuss the film with the audience and to answer their questions.
Nearly everyone is familiar with the popular hymn ''Amazing Grace,'' which exists in literally hundreds of arrangements and is one of the most popular hymns ever written. Some people know that the words were written by John Newton, an Englishman who served as the captain of a slave trading ship, which brought captive Africans to America in conditions of filth and terror, to be trained for lives as slaves.
Far fewer know that Newton became the mentor to an energetic young clergyman named William Wilberforce, and that Wilberforce succeeded in getting the English parliament to first outlaw the profitable slave trade, and then to outlaw slavery itself.
The film is the story of Wilberforce's heroic efforts, despite fierce odds, including the preaching of churches that slavery is approved by the Bible and therefore, to oppose it is evil.
We spoke with Wales by telephone, before his departure for Chautauqua.
Wales is a successful film executive, whose credits as a producer include the popular television series ''Christy,'' and the feature films ''The Great Race,'' and ''The Revenge of the Pink Panther.'' He was, for more than a decade, the business partner of famed director Blake Edwards, and is known to have introduced Edwards to his wife, Julie Andrews.
I asked how a former Vice President for Production of Walt Disney Studios happened to be coming to Chautauqua.
He replied, ''My father was a minister in the Disciples of Christ, for more than 50 years. He often came to Chautauqua for rest and inspiration. He brought me here several times throughout my youth, and I have come several times on my own.
''Among the people to whom my father served as pastor, was a charming woman named Joan Brown Campbell. She is now head of the Department of Religion at Chautauqua. I was talking with her last winter about a number of things, and she suggested that I come during the season, with my film,'' he said.
Wales began his association with the film industry in a remarkable way. He said he owes it all to Walt Disney.
''Disney was of the opinion that scientific samplings and poll results were all well and good, but if you want to understand an audience, you need to talk with some individuals. Just at the time he was opening the first theme park and starting the first Mickey Mouse Club, Disney called the principal of Santa Monica High School and asked if there was a student who he thought would benefit from a week of touring and working in the Disney offices,'' he said. The principal recommended Wales.
Disney showed the young man films and asked his opinion, introduced him to people who worked in all areas of the studio, from animators to technicians to directors, and took him to the as-yet unopened Disneyland, and asked him which rides he wanted to ride and what he thought about all the rides, and the park itself. Throughout the week, he answered questions openly and plainly for the young man, who still quotes back what he was told.
''I asked why Bambi's mother had to be killed by the hunters, and why he had to be shown fleeing for his life through the forest fire,'' Wales said. Disney answered, ''The true measure of a person is how he deals with troubles. Too many people try to make family-oriented films and television by just showing happy, glowing things. That doesn't prove much. In any Disney film, you're going to see people finding the courage to do what's right, even in the face of danger.''
As a result, Wales has tried, throughout his long and successful career, to encourage people who wanted to do what was right, and this film is just one example.
On the last day of the week's experience, Disney drew out his personal checkbook, and gave the young man a check for the full amount of tuition for four years at the University of Southern California School of Film Studies.
''Amazing Grace'' stars Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce, the crusading Member of Parliament, and Albert Finney as John Newton, the former slave trader who came to write the famous hymn.
Gruffudd has made many films and television series, including ''Black Hawk Down,'' and is probably best known as the title character in the ''Horatio Hornblower'' television series.
Finney burst into the public's notice in the late 1960s, in the title role of the film ''Tom Jones,'' and has had a long and distinguished career in films and on the British stage.
''Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Wilberforce. I've heard it said that if it hadn't been for the events shown in the film, it might have been nearly another century before the United States was free of slavery,'' Wales said.
The Chautauqua Cinema is located beside and slightly behind Norton Hall, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution.
Monday and Tuesday, at 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 8 p.m., the Chautauqua Cinema will show the film ''Amazing Grace.'' At the conclusion of each showing, the filmmaker, Ken Wales, will be present to discuss the film with the audience and to answer their questions.
Nearly everyone is familiar with the popular hymn ''Amazing Grace,'' which exists in literally hundreds of arrangements and is one of the most popular hymns ever written. Some people know that the words were written by John Newton, an Englishman who served as the captain of a slave trading ship, which brought captive Africans to America in conditions of filth and terror, to be trained for lives as slaves.
Far fewer know that Newton became the mentor to an energetic young clergyman named William Wilberforce, and that Wilberforce succeeded in getting the English parliament to first outlaw the profitable slave trade, and then to outlaw slavery itself.
The film is the story of Wilberforce's heroic efforts, despite fierce odds, including the preaching of churches that slavery is approved by the Bible and therefore, to oppose it is evil.
We spoke with Wales by telephone, before his departure for Chautauqua.
Wales is a successful film executive, whose credits as a producer include the popular television series ''Christy,'' and the feature films ''The Great Race,'' and ''The Revenge of the Pink Panther.'' He was, for more than a decade, the business partner of famed director Blake Edwards, and is known to have introduced Edwards to his wife, Julie Andrews.
I asked how a former Vice President for Production of Walt Disney Studios happened to be coming to Chautauqua.
He replied, ''My father was a minister in the Disciples of Christ, for more than 50 years. He often came to Chautauqua for rest and inspiration. He brought me here several times throughout my youth, and I have come several times on my own.
''Among the people to whom my father served as pastor, was a charming woman named Joan Brown Campbell. She is now head of the Department of Religion at Chautauqua. I was talking with her last winter about a number of things, and she suggested that I come during the season, with my film,'' he said.
Wales began his association with the film industry in a remarkable way. He said he owes it all to Walt Disney.
''Disney was of the opinion that scientific samplings and poll results were all well and good, but if you want to understand an audience, you need to talk with some individuals. Just at the time he was opening the first theme park and starting the first Mickey Mouse Club, Disney called the principal of Santa Monica High School and asked if there was a student who he thought would benefit from a week of touring and working in the Disney offices,'' he said. The principal recommended Wales.
Disney showed the young man films and asked his opinion, introduced him to people who worked in all areas of the studio, from animators to technicians to directors, and took him to the as-yet unopened Disneyland, and asked him which rides he wanted to ride and what he thought about all the rides, and the park itself. Throughout the week, he answered questions openly and plainly for the young man, who still quotes back what he was told.
''I asked why Bambi's mother had to be killed by the hunters, and why he had to be shown fleeing for his life through the forest fire,'' Wales said. Disney answered, ''The true measure of a person is how he deals with troubles. Too many people try to make family-oriented films and television by just showing happy, glowing things. That doesn't prove much. In any Disney film, you're going to see people finding the courage to do what's right, even in the face of danger.''
As a result, Wales has tried, throughout his long and successful career, to encourage people who wanted to do what was right, and this film is just one example.
On the last day of the week's experience, Disney drew out his personal checkbook, and gave the young man a check for the full amount of tuition for four years at the University of Southern California School of Film Studies.
''Amazing Grace'' stars Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce, the crusading Member of Parliament, and Albert Finney as John Newton, the former slave trader who came to write the famous hymn.
Gruffudd has made many films and television series, including ''Black Hawk Down,'' and is probably best known as the title character in the ''Horatio Hornblower'' television series.
Finney burst into the public's notice in the late 1960s, in the title role of the film ''Tom Jones,'' and has had a long and distinguished career in films and on the British stage.
''Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Wilberforce. I've heard it said that if it hadn't been for the events shown in the film, it might have been nearly another century before the United States was free of slavery,'' Wales said.
The Chautauqua Cinema is located beside and slightly behind Norton Hall, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution.
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