Death and the Compass [71-minute edit] • Alex Cox • Christopher Eccleston • Peter Boyle

Alex Cox's DEATH AND THE COMPASS was a 55-minute drama made for Spanish TV/BBC in 1992. In 1996, Cox expanded the film into a 96 minute feature. I love a lot of this film, but wasn't thrilled by most of those later additions. For your enjoyment I trimmed DEATH AND THE COMPASS back to a tight 71 minutes. I think this is a better edit, no offense to Alex and editor Carlos Puente.

• Christopher Eccleston as Alonso Zunz
• Peter Boyle as Erik Lonnrot
• Miguel Sandoval as Treviranus

Wiki says this was Eccleston's 2nd film; he was around 28 years old when it was released in 1992.

WHAT I CHANGED: The 1996 addition of multiple extended monologues to camera (by an older, embittered Treviranus) are distracting and unnecessary, telling you things you just saw (or will see) on screen. For me, they bog down the pacing of the film without any upside. I deleted all of those, except for his voice-over before the titles. On the other hand, I kept the 1996 opening segment showing the robbery of the Used Money Depository by Red Scharlach's gang. It's great, adds to the story, and features an example of Cox's favorite film technique: plano secuencia (long, continuous takes shot with a hand-held camera). I sped up the opening credits, as they seemed to linger too long on each text frame. Therefore, the only thing excised is Treviranus' monologues, you see Boyle & Eccleston's full performance.

I claim no rights to ownership. Just wanted to share my edit with you. As a film fan and lover of Alex Cox' work.

After this, find his 2002 film REVENGERS TRAGEDY. It stars Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard, a support role from Derek Jacobi, and a very short appearance from the wonderful Stephen Graham. It's a punk-techno take on the 1606 Jacobean revenge tragedy, with great performances from the leads. It was shot right after Eccleston filmed 28 DAYS LATER.

#drwho #doctorwho #alexcox #repoman #SidandNancy #lovekills #28DaysLater #PeterBoyle #ChristopherEccleston #28dayslater