Friday, August 2, 2013

PIERRE BURTON GRILLS DON SHEBIB

Something I came across this evening on Youtube, is this very interesting interview from The Pierre Burton Show, with Canadian film director Don Shebib. The CBC taping is from 1972; at the time the director's film Rip-Off was about to be released, but Mr. Burton takes the opportunity to give Shebib a hard time about his lack of... literacy. It's done with a modicum of buoyancy, but the legendary Canadian author and interviewer asks all the right questions and at one point makes a sarcastic connecting reference from media guru Marshall McLuhan. It's quite funny. (Burton was known for this style of interviewing: As displayed in the superb 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen, Cohen is grilled in much the same way -- but not for a lack of reading.)

By the way, I've seen this episode of Pierre Burton before as it appears as one of the terrific extras on the Seville Pictures Goin' Down the Road DVD. That film is a top favourite of mine and demonstrates Shebib's skills as a storyteller -- even if he is considered by some to be less than literate.


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