Merchant Ivory Productions

Now that we've finished Summer Under the Stars on TCM, we get new features for the month of September. One of those is the films of producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory every Thursday night in prime time in September. Merchant Ivory is probably best known for all those sumptuously produced period pieces from the 80s and 90s that are set in the early part of the 20th century. I think I mentioned back when I blogged about Chariots of Fire back in 2008 that I thought it was one of the first movies to look at that era in the beautiful style that Merchant Ivory would later perfect. To be honest, Merchant Ivory came out with The Europeans about two years earlier, one of their first movies that really fits what we would probably think of today as the Merchant Ivory style, although it doesn't fit the period time frame, as it's set in the middle of the 19th century and is very much American and not British in its outlook; it's based on a novel by Henry James.

The Europeans is airing next Thursday; this week sees movies made at the beginning of their careers. Merchant was born in India but Ivory is American. After the two met, they went to India to make movies and it's these made in India movies that are showing on tonight's schedule. I have to admit that I haven't seen any of them, so I'm looking forward to them.