Chariots Of Fire

Starring: Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers Director: Hugh Hudson Original UK Premiere: 1981 Dvd Release: 6th August, 2001 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish

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Chariots of Fire is a British film from 1981 directed by Hugh Hudson, winner of four Academy Awards, among which that for best picture. The title is an extract from the words of William Blake s poem & did those feet in ancient time. The movie is based on the true story of two British athletes competing in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Englishman Harold Abrahams, having overcome racial & class prejudice in order to compete, finds himself up against the Flying Scotsman, Eric Liddell in the 100 metres, but Liddell drops out of the event because his religious convictions prevent him from running on a Sunday. However, Liddell is allowed to compete in the 400 metres instead. The story is deceptively complex, Abrahams & Liddell being vastly different characters who face adversity in quite different ways. The movie also features actors Ian Holm & Dennis Christopher. The music, which also won the movie an Academy Award, was composed by Vangelis. The other two Oscars were won for screenplay & costumes.

The come-from-behind winner of the 1981 Oscar for Best Picture, Chariots of Fire either strikes you as either a cold exercise in mechanical manipulation or as a tale of true determination & inspiration. The heroes are an unlikely pair of young athletes who ran for Great Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympics: devout Protestant Eric Liddell , a divinity student whose running makes him feel closer to God, & Jewish Harold Abrahams , a highly competitive Cambridge student who has to surmount the institutional hurdles of class prejudice & anti-Semitism. Theres delicious support from Ian Holm & John Gielgud & Lindsay Anderson as a couple of Cambridge fogies. Vangeliss soaring synthesised score, which seemed to be everywhere in the early 1980s, also won an Oscar. Chariots of Fire was the debut film of British television commercial director Hugh Hudson & was produced by David Puttnam.

Nigel Allan Havers is a popular British actor, known mainly for his television work. The son of former Lord Chancellor, Michael Havers, he was born in London. His first film appearance was a small part in Pope Joan, but his first major success came with the leading role in a BBC dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby, closely followed by another BBC drama serial, A Horseman Riding By. By the time he appeared in Chariots of Fire, he was a familiar face on television. Despite appearing in films such as Empire of the Sun & A Passage to India, he never made a name as a film star, but has notched up a succession of starring roles on television. He co-starred for several years in the 1980s BBC sitcom, Dont Wait Up, alongside Tony Britton. Posters Of The Charmer

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Hugh Hudson is a British Academy award -nominated film director. Hudson was born in London, the eldest son of a family of affluent landowners; he was educated at Eton & Harvard University. He then embarked on a rewarding career in advertising, producing, alongside fellow British director Ridley Scott, many prizewinning adverts. This allowed him entrance to the world of film-making ; his first job was as a second-unit director on Alan Parker s Midnight Express. Catching the eye of producer David Puttnam, Hudson was put in charge of what is his now regarded as his most accomplished & well-known film, Chariots of Fire, the story of two British track runners, one a devout Christian & the other an ambitious Jew, in the run-up to the 1924 Olympic Games. The film is said to have revitalized the fading British film industry & it won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture ; Hudson earned a nomination for Best Director.

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