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53-598: Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film , theatre and documentary director , film critic , and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave . He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if.... , which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival in 1969 and marked Malcolm McDowell 's cinematic debut. He is also notable, though not

106-520: A Pilgrim's Progress -inspired road movie; and Britannia Hospital (1982), a fantasia taking stylistic influence from the populist wing of British cinema represented by Hammer horror films and Carry On comedies. In 1981, Anderson played the role of the Master of Caius College at Cambridge University in the film Chariots of Fire . Anderson developed an acquaintance from 1950 with John Ford . Anderson wrote what has come to be regarded as one of

159-492: A 35 mm film longer than 1,600 metres (5,200 ft), which is exactly 58 minutes and 29 seconds for sound films . The term feature film came into use to refer to the main film presented in a cinema and the one which was promoted or advertised. The term was used to distinguish the longer film from the short films (referred to as shorts) typically presented before the main film, such as newsreels , serials , animated cartoons , live-action comedies and documentaries . There

212-487: A Nation (1915) was the first American feature film. The most prolific year of U.S. feature production was 1921, with 682 releases; the lowest number of releases was in 1963, with 213. Between 1922 and 1970, the U.S. and Japan alternated as leaders in the quantity of feature film production. Since 1971, the country with the highest feature output has been India, which produces a thousand films in more than twelve Indian languages each year. In 1927, Warner Bros. released

265-679: A close friend of the late actresses Jill Bennett and Rachel Roberts , Anderson arranged a boat trip to scatter the women's ashes in the Thames River. Professional colleagues and friends were also on the boat and musician Alan Price sang the song " Is That All There Is? ". Anderson included this event in his autobiographical BBC film Is That All There Is? Every year, the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam ( IDFA ) gives an acclaimed filmmaker

318-474: A commercial entertainment program. The term feature film originally referred to the main, full-length film in a cinema program that included a short film and often a newsreel . Matinee programs, especially in the US and Canada, in general, also included cartoons , at least one weekly serial and, typically, a second feature-length film on weekends. The first narrative feature film was the 60-minute The Story of

371-412: A critic, Anderson responded: The problems of commitment are directly stated, but only apparently faced. …The denial of the critic's moral responsibility is specific; but only at the cost of sacrificing his dignity. … [These assumptions:] the holding of liberal, or humane, values; the proviso that these must not be taken too far; the adoption of a tone which enables the writer to evade through humour [mean]

424-733: A feature film should be has varied according to time and place. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute , a feature film runs for more than 40 minutes, while the Screen Actors Guild asserts that a feature's running time is 60 minutes or longer. The Centre National de la Cinématographie in France defines it as

477-595: A professional actor, for playing a minor role in the Academy Award -winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire . McDowell produced a 2007 documentary about his experiences with Anderson, Never Apologize . Lindsay Gordon Anderson was born in Bangalore , South India , where his father was stationed with the Royal Engineers , on 17 April 1923. His father Captain (later Major General) Alexander Vass Anderson

530-584: A prominent film critic. He also later wrote for the British Film Institute 's journal Sight and Sound and the left-wing political weekly, the New Statesman . In a 1956 polemical article, "Stand Up, Stand Up" published in Sight and Sound , Anderson attacked contemporary critical practices, in particular the pursuit of objectivity . Taking as an example some comments made by Alistair Cooke in 1935, in which Cooke had claimed to be without politics as

583-495: A short film series. Early features were mostly documentary-style films of noteworthy events. Some of the earliest feature-length productions were films of boxing matches, such as The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897), Reproduction of the Corbett-Jeffries Fight and The Jeffries-Sharkey Fight (1899). Some consider the 100-minute The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight to be the first documentary feature film, but it

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636-514: A universal standard, to make the technologies more compatible with each other and more user friendly. Shooting movies on digital also led to new technologies for distributing films. Titan A.E. , released in 2000, was the first feature film to be released for viewing over the internet. Digital distribution changed the ways people received and watched media. It also gave viewers access to huge amounts of online content on demand. Objectivity (science) The problem of philosophical objectivity

689-401: A variety of sources (including Ford of Britain ). Each of these founders made a series of short documentaries on a variety of subjects. One of Anderson's early short films, Thursday's Children (1954), concerning the education of deaf children, was made in collaboration with Guy Brenton, a friend from his Oxford days; it won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 1954. Thursday's Children

742-423: Is always the possibility of deliberate misrepresentation of scientific results, whether for gain, fame, or ideological motives. When such cases of scientific fraud come to light, they usually give rise to an academic scandal , but it is unknown how much fraud goes undiscovered. For important results, other groups will try to repeat the experiment. If they consistently fail, they will bring these negative results into

795-472: Is contrasted with personal subjectivity , sometimes exacerbated by the overgeneralization of a hypothesis to the whole. For example, Newton's law of universal gravitation appears to be the norm for the attraction between celestial bodies , but it was later refined and extended—and philosophically superseded—by the more general theory of relativity . The scientific method was argued for by Enlightenment philosopher Francis Bacon , rose to popularity with

848-541: Is more accurately characterized as a sports program as it included the full unedited boxing match. In 1900, the documentary film Army Life was produced by Robert Paul . It was a programme of 33 short films, with a total running time of around 75 minutes, following the training of British soldiers. Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) ran for 35 minutes, "six times longer than any previous Australian film", and has been called "possibly

901-549: Is that a paradigm is contingent on the social order amongst scientists at the time it gains ascendancy. Kuhn's theory has been criticised by scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Alan Sokal as presenting a relativist view of scientific progress. In Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective (1988), Donna Haraway argues that objectivity in science and philosophy

954-431: Is traditionally understood as a kind of disembodied and transcendent "conquering gaze from nowhere." She argues that this kind of objectivity, in which the subject is split apart and distanced from the object, is an impossible "illusion, a god trick." She demands a re-thinking of objectivity in such a way that, while still striving for "faithful accounts of the real world," we must also acknowledge our perspective within

1007-910: The University of Oxford . The next year he entered World War II , serving in the Army from 1943 until 1946, first with the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps . In the final year of the war, he was a cryptographer for the Intelligence Corps , based at the Wireless Experimental Centre in Delhi . In August 1945, Anderson assisted in nailing the Red flag to the roof of the Junior Officers' mess in Annan Parbat, after

1060-428: The "typical", "characteristic", "ideal", or "average". In practicing, truth-to-nature naturalists did not seek to depict exactly what was seen; rather, they sought a reasoned image. In the latter half of the nineteenth-century, objectivity in science was born when a new practice of mechanical objectivity appeared. " 'Let nature speak for itself' became the watchword of a new brand of scientific objectivity." It

1113-598: The Kelly Gang (1906, Australia). Other early feature films include Les Misérables (1909, U.S.), L'Inferno , Defence of Sevastopol , The Adventures of Pinocchio (1911), Oliver Twist (American version), Oliver Twist (British version), Richard III , From the Manger to the Cross , Cleopatra (1912), Quo Vadis? (1913), Cabiria (1914) and The Birth of a Nation (1915). The notion of how long

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1166-479: The Long Distance Runner (1962), and Anderson's own This Sporting Life (1963), produced by Reisz. Anderson's film met with mixed reviews at the time, and was not a commercial success. Anderson is perhaps best remembered as a filmmaker for his " Mick Travis trilogy ", all of which star Malcolm McDowell as the title character: if.... (1968), a satire on public schools; O Lucky Man! (1973)

1219-435: The apparent conflict without rejecting the paradigm. Through ad hoc variations to the theory and sympathetic interpretation of the data, supporting scientists will resolve the apparent conundrum. In extreme cases, they may ignore the data altogether. Thus, the failure of a scientific paradigm will go into crisis when a significant portion of scientists working in the field lose confidence in it. The corollary of this observation

1272-464: The chance to screen his or her personal Top 10 favorite films. In 2007, Iranian filmmaker Maziar Bahari selected two of Anderson's short documentaries, O Dreamland and Every Day Except Christmas (1957), a record of a day in the old Covent Garden market, for his top 10 classics from the history of documentary.[3] Gavin Lambert 's memoir, Mainly About Lindsay Anderson , wrote that Anderson

1325-523: The discoveries of Isaac Newton and his followers, and continued into later eras. In the early eighteenth century, there existed an epistemic virtue in science which has been called truth-to-nature . This ideal was practiced by Enlightenment naturalists and scientific atlas-makers, and involved active attempts to eliminate any idiosyncrasies in their representations of nature in order to create images thought best to represent "what truly is". Judgment and skill were deemed necessary in order to determine

1378-462: The documentary With Our King and Queen Through India (1912), filmed in Kinemacolor and Oliver Twist (also 1912). The first American features were Oliver Twist , From the Manger to the Cross , Cleopatra and Richard III (all 1912). Actor Frederick Warde starred in some of these adaptations. The first Asian feature was Japan 's The Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara (1912),

1431-532: The film Wham! in China: Foreign Skies . He admitted in his diary on 31 March 1985, to having "no interest in Wham!", or China, and he was simply "'doing this for the money'". Anderson's own cut of the tour, titled If You Were There , was never released after George Michael objected to this version. It featured only four songs from the tour. Anderson was fired from the project, and Michael turned out

1484-550: The film that was entitled Wham! in China: Foreign Skies . In 1986, Anderson served as a member of the jury at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival , by invitation. Anderson was also a significant British theatre director. He was long associated with London's Royal Court Theatre , where he was Co-Artistic Director 1969–70, and Associate Artistic Director 1971–75. He directed premiere productions of plays by David Storey , among others. In 1992, as

1537-493: The first Indian feature was Raja Harishchandra (1913), China 's first feature film was Zhang Shichuan's Nan Fu Nan Qi (1913), the first South American feature was Brazil 's O Crime dos Banhados (1913), and the first African feature was South Africa 's De Voortrekkers (1916). By 1915, over 600 feature films were produced annually in the United States. It is often incorrectly cited that The Birth of

1590-569: The first feature-length documentary made in Australia". American company S. Lubin released a Passion Play titled Lubin's Passion Play in January 1903 in 31 parts, totaling about 60 minutes. The French company Pathé Frères released a different Passion Play in May 1903, The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ , in 32 parts, totaling 44 minutes. Defined by length, the first dramatic feature film

1643-412: The first feature-length film with sound, The Jazz Singer , whose audio track was recorded with a proprietary technology called Vitaphone . The film's success persuaded other studios to go to the considerable expense of adding microphones to their sets, and scramble to start producing their own " talkies ". One of the next major advancements made in movie production was color film . Even before color

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1696-643: The fundamental issues are balked." Following a series of screenings which he and the National Film Theatre programmer Karel Reisz organized for the venue of independently produced short films by himself and others, he developed a philosophy of cinema that was expressed in what became known, by the late-1950s, as the Free Cinema movement. He and other leaders in the field believed that the British cinema must break away from its class-bound attitudes and that non-metropolitan Britain ought to be shown on

1749-558: The late 1990s. In 2002, George Lucas ' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones became the first major studio film shot primarily on digital video. The ability to instantly play back footage and quickly transfer footage to computers for editing helped to speed up post-production time. Digital film making was given a big boost in 2005 when the Digital Cinema Initiative created a guide for manufacturers to create

1802-475: The most quantitative social sciences such as economics employ measures that are constructs (conventions, to employ the term coined by Pierre Duhem ). Various scientific processes, such as peer reviews , the discussions at scientific conferences , and other meetings where scientific results are presented, are part of a social process whose purpose is to strengthen the objective aspect of the scientific method. Next to unintentional and systematic error, there

1855-489: The nation's screens. Anderson had already begun to make films himself, starting in 1948 with Meet the Pioneers , a documentary about a conveyor-belt factory. Anderson was invited to join the British Film Institute 's Board of Governors in 1969 with the aim of bolstering support for independent British directors, but left the role after a year. Along with Karel Reisz , Tony Richardson , and others, he secured funding from

1908-436: The nineteenth century, objectivity has come to involve a combination of trained judgment and mechanical objectivity. Another methodological aspect is the avoidance of bias, which can involve cognitive bias , cultural bias , or sampling bias . Methods for avoiding or overcoming such biases include random sampling and double-blind trials. However, objectivity in measurement can be unobtainable in certain circumstances. Even

1961-610: The possibility of scientific understanding being truly objective. In Kuhn's analysis, scientists in different disciplines organise themselves into de facto paradigms within which scientific research is done, junior scientists are educated, and scientific problems are determined. When observational data arises which appears to contradict or falsify a given scientific paradigm , scientists within that paradigm historically have not immediately rejected it, as Karl Popper 's philosophical theory of falsificationism would have them do. Instead they have gone to considerable lengths to resolve

2014-506: The scientific debate. A critical argument on scientific objectivity and positivism is that all science has a degree of interpretivism . In the 1920s, Percy Bridgman's The Logic of Modern Physics and the operationalism presented was centered in such recognition. Based on a historical review of the development of certain scientific theories in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , scientist and historian Thomas Kuhn raised some philosophical objections to claims of

2067-479: The standard books on that director, About John Ford (1983). Based on half a dozen meetings over more than two decades, and Anderson's lifetime study of the man's work, the book has been described as "One of the best books published by a film-maker on a film-maker". In 1985, producer Martin Lewis invited Anderson to chronicle Wham! 's visit to China , among the first-ever visits by Western pop artists. Anderson made

2120-402: The twentieth century trained judgment supplemented mechanical objectivity as scientists began to recognize that, in order for images or data to be of any use, scientists needed to be able to see scientifically; that is, to interpret images or data and identify and group them according to particular professional training, rather than to simply depict them mechanically. Since the latter half of

2173-558: The victory of the Labour Party in the general election was confirmed. Their colonel did not approve, he recalled a decade later, but took no disciplinary action against the junior officers. Lindsay returned to Oxford in 1946 but changed from classical studies to English; he graduated in 1948. Anderson was passionate about film and with his friend Gavin Lambert , and Peter Ericsson and Karel Reisz , co-founded Sequence magazine (1947–52), which became influential. Anderson became

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2226-508: Was homosexual and repressed his orientation, which was seen as a betrayal by his other friends. In November 2006 Malcolm McDowell told The Independent that he believed Anderson was gay, and said: I know that he was in love with Richard Harris the star of Anderson's first feature, This Sporting Life . I am sure that it was the same with me and Albert Finney and the rest. It wasn't a physical thing. But I suppose he always fell in love with his leading men. He would always pick someone who

2279-515: Was a British Army officer who had come from Scotland. His mother Estelle Bell Gasson was born in Queenstown, South Africa , the daughter of a wool merchant. Lindsay was the second son. His parents separated in 1926, and Estelle returned to England with the two boys. In 1932 the couple tried to reconcile in Bangalore, and when Estelle returned to England she was pregnant with their third son, who

2332-526: Was a complex, time consuming, and expensive process that many movie studios were not eager to try. One of the early adopters of the three-strip process was Disney . Some of the most notable films Technicolor processed with three-strip were The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind . Digital Video (or DV) has quickly changed how most films are made. First used to create special effects and animated movies, digital cameras became more common on film sets in

2385-473: Was a possibility in movies, early film makers were interested in how color could enhance their stories. Early techniques included hand tinting : painting each frame by hand. Cheaper and more widely used was toning : dying the film in a single color, used in many films in the 1920s. The film processing lab Technicolor developed the Three-Tone coloring technique that became the standard for color film. It

2438-479: Was at this time that idealized representations of nature, which were previously seen as a virtue, were now seen as a vice. Scientists began to see it as their duty to actively restrain themselves from imposing their own projections onto nature. The aim was to liberate representations of nature from subjective, human interference and in order to achieve this scientists began using self-registering instruments, cameras, wax molds, and other technological devices. In

2491-501: Was away. Both Lindsay and his older brother Murray Anderson (1919–2016) were educated at Saint Ronan's School in Worthing , West Sussex , and at Cheltenham College . It was at Cheltenham that Lindsay met his lifelong friend Gavin Lambert , who became a screenwriter and novelist, and later the director's biographer. The UK had been at war for years when Anderson won a scholarship in 1942 for classical studies at Wadham College at

2544-548: Was marked by special events at the University of Stirling, where the Anderson papers are currently held. All Royal Court, London, unless otherwise indicated: Feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature ), also called a theatrical film , is a narrative film ( motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in

2597-629: Was named Alexander Vass Anderson after his father. The Andersons divorced. Estelle married again in 1936, to Major Cuthbert Sleigh. Lindsay's father remarried while in India. Gavin Lambert writes, in Mainly About Lindsay Anderson: A Memoir (Faber and Faber, 2000, p. 18), that the father Alexander Vass Anderson 'cut (his first family) out of his life', making no reference to them in his Who's Who entry. But Lindsay often saw his father and looked after his house and dogs when he

2650-465: Was no sudden increase in the running times of films to the present-day definitions of feature-length; the "featured" film on a film program in the early 1910s gradually expanded from two to three to four reels. Early features had been produced in the United States and France, but were released in individual (short film) scenes. This left exhibitors the option of playing them alone, to view an incomplete combination of some films, or to run them all together as

2703-547: Was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005. These films, influenced by one of Anderson's heroes, the French filmmaker Jean Vigo , and made in the tradition of the British documentaries of Humphrey Jennings , foreshadowed much of the social realism of British dramatic cinema that emerged in the next decade. These included Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Richardson's The Loneliness of

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2756-618: Was the Australian 60-minute film The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Similarly, the first European feature was the 90-minute film L'Enfant prodigue (France, 1907), although that was an unmodified record of a stage play; Europe's first feature adapted directly for the screen , Les Misérables , came from France in 1909. The first Russian feature was Defence of Sevastopol in 1911. Early Italian features included L'Inferno (1911), Quo Vadis? , The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) and Cabiria (1914). The first UK features were

2809-416: Was unattainable because he was heterosexual . Anderson died from a heart attack on 30 August 1994 at the age of 71. Following the publication of Anderson's diaries and collected writings in 2004 there has been a revival of interest in Anderson scholarship, including several edited collections and monographs addressing his work from a variety of critical perspectives. The centenary of Anderson's birth in 2023

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