Mr Major’s Comments on Cinema – 23 April 1996

Below are extracts of Mr Major’s comments on cinema, made on Tuesday 23rd April 1996.

QUESTION:

[asked about the first time Mr Major visited the cinema]

JOHN MAJOR:

I can’t remember the first time I went to the cinema, but I can remember as a boy I used to go to Saturday morning cinemas. They had a whole series of things that appealed to boys, Tom Micks, Roy Rogers, Tarzan of course, Batman and Robin, Dick Barton, that ages me somewhat, but Dick Barton I seem to remember as well and many of these were series. You went on Saturday at the end of the Saturday morning the film ended at some dramatic moment and you’d return the next week to see what happened and I got into the habit of film going at a very young age.

QUESTION:

[asked if he could remember the first film he saw]

JOHN MAJOR:

I remember a number of films from the forties that I probably saw in the early fifties. The old black and white version of How Green was my Valley. Whether that was the first or not I can’t be certain. It was certainly one of the first films I saw and a very good film it was too.

QUESTION:

[what genre of film does he like]

JOHN MAJOR:

I’m not excessively fond of comedies. Musicals I like, drama I like. I don’t think there’s a special genre, no. I have a fairly full taste.

QUESTION:

[asked if he has any heroes or heroines]

JOHN MAJOR:

Well I wouldn’t call them heroes or heroines, certainly not, but I thought Henry Hathaway was a great director and David Lean was self-evidently a great director and I think as far as actors are concerned, the person who didn’t enjoy a John Wayne film I’ve never yet met. I’ve always enjoyed John Wayne. Humphrey Bogart I think was a great actor. I greatly enjoyed almost everything that Bogart did. So I think they’d be among them, but certainly many more as well. One of the finest acting performances I remember is again a very old film, it’s the Olivier version of Richard III which I’ve watched more times than I can remember.