Gary Conklin Films - Notes From Under the Volcano

NOTES FROM

1984, 59 minutes. Produced, directed, and photographed by Gary Conklin.

John Huston's making of Under the Volcano in Mexico was a major cultural event of the 1980's. Previously Malcolm Lowry's 1947 cult novel of the same title was considered cinematically inadaptable. Huston's remarkable directorial style is presented in his interactions with his stars
-Albert Finney, Jaqueline Bisset, Anthony Andrews, Ignacio Lopez Tarso, and Katy Jurado- as well as his legendary cinematographer, Gabriel Figeroa, and painter/set designer Gunther Gerzso.

"This documentary, unlike most "making of" television programs, quickly assembled with snippets of the production and short scenes from the finished film, spends time on the direction of each key scene in the production. Intercut are interviews with the director. Here we find John Huston serene, at the height of his art..."
-Le Monde

"Gary Conklin seems to have gone to the heart of the book and the filmmaking, and his photography as well as his sensibility is fine."
-Sheila Benson, LA Times

"When Canal Plus shows us John Huston directing Under The Volcano, we regretted not having a VCR to record it, and see it over and over again so that we might understand what the act of creation really is and what old age is about."
-Le Canard Enchaîné

UNDER

THE VOLCANO