American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 14

Short Takes

Black Angel Strikes Back
By Jon D. Witmer

When The Empire Strikes Back was first released theatrically in
1980, it was preceded in some 400 U.K. cinemas by a short film
about a knight whose life is saved by a young maiden, whom he
then pledges to free from death incarnate. That film, Black Angel,
was written, directed and produced by Roger Christian, whose
already storied career at the start of the '80s had seen him work as
art director on Alien and Monty Python's Life of Brian after he'd
received an Oscar for his contributions as set decorator on the first
Star Wars.
Despite the film's limited geographical distribution, its influence was significant, as were the careers it helped launch. Christian,
for one, would go on to serve as second-unit director on Return of
the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, as well as to direct such features
as Nostradamus, Masterminds and Battlefield Earth.
Additionally, cinematographer Roger Pratt was notching one
of his first credits in a career that would take him into the ranks of
the BSC and place him behind the camera of such features as
Batman, Twelve Monkeys (AC Jan. '96) and two Harry Potter films -
Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire. "He became a legend,"
Christian says. "I worked with him again on the [Academy Award
winning] short film The Dollar Bottom, then for my first feature [The
Sender], and then Terry Gilliam took him for Brazil." (Due to health
reasons, Pratt was unable to participate in this story.)
Christian developed Black Angel's script while studying direct14

February 2016

ing at the National Film and Television School in Buckinghamshire,
England, where he enrolled after wrapping on Alien. "I conceived a
story about the last moment of a knight's life, when this dream
comes about," says Christian, speaking with AC over the phone
from his home in Toronto. "I took the idea from a book I love called
Pincher Martin by William Golding." In Christian's story, the knight,
Sir Maddox (Tony Vogel), returns from war to find his home in ruins
and his family dead. While pursuing those responsible, he falls into
a lake and is on the verge of drowning when the maiden (Patricia
Christian) pleads on his behalf, "Stay your hand, Lord Death. Take
me instead." Owing his life to this maiden, Maddox determines to
confront her master, the Black Angel.
Christian was sitting in on director Ridley Scott's soundmixing sessions for Alien when Sanford "Sandy" Lieberson - who
at the time was head of 20th Century Fox's U.K. arm - paid a visit.
Christian mentioned his script, and Lieberson asked to read it. "He
called me the next morning and said, 'Do you mind if I send this to
George Lucas?'" Christian recounts. Lucas, who had not been
pleased with Fox's choice for the short film that accompanied Star
Wars, was in the process of personally selecting the short that would
be paired with The Empire Strikes Back in U.K. cinemas.
In short order, Christian was given the green light, along with
a grant. He reflects, "I suddenly found myself with 25,000 pounds
and this ambitious [project], and I was thinking, 'Who can I get to
shoot this?'" He had met Pratt through Gilliam, and as Christian
explains it, "Terry said, 'Why don't you try him out? You've got no
➣
money and I think he's got talent.'

American Cinematographer

Photos and frame grab courtesy of Roger Christian.

Shot on location in Scotland during the late autumn of 1979, the short film Black Angel was made with 25,000 pounds in grant money, two horses,
four actors, a seven-day shooting schedule and a crew of nine.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2016