Burnt Retina is the never-ending work in progress of an inconsumate consumer of films, that happens to be me, Peter Walsh. By day I study them, and the intricate business structures which established cinema as an institution, specifically in the Edwardian period, more specifically in Yorkshire. I cover some unheralded names like Sydney Carter’s New Century Pictures, Frank Mottershaw’s Sheffield Photo Company, and the brilliantly unique Jasper Redfern Esq. All this is towards a doctoral thesis at the University of Sheffield.
The thesis does however not leave much scope for all the brilliant cinema that came beyond the Yorkshire region, after 1911. Which is where this blog comes in. It’s far from academic, and thoroughly personal. Like any good blog should be.
Broadly the focus is on the films that linger, the ones that you can’t forget, the ones you can’t un-see. Sometimes that’s because it’s just a brilliant film. Othertimes it’s because it shows you something you shouldn’t see, possibly because it’s a little sacred, or even just because ‘The Man’ has told you not to. On occasion it might even be because the film is just too terrible to forget.
On other occasions I even review stuff I’m allowed to see for free. Anyone with free stuff to send and in want of an opinion feel free to get in touch.
So come along on a journey through the highs and the lows of the ever-shifting brows of taste. Just don’t ask me where we’re going.
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