“When the opening scene of WHITE ROCK flashes on the screen, I make a conscious effort to curb my expectations because I’m afraid that if they build too high, I’m bound to be disappointed. But, before I know it, I’m caught up in a heart-racing, pulse-pounding experience. Never before (with the possible exception of the famous Cinerama roller coaster shot) have I seen anything that so deeply and subjectively involves the audience. YOU are flying down the Downhill ski run! YOU are hurtling around the bobsled ice tunnel. YOU are soaring off the 90 meter jump. It is a trip and a half! Add to that superb Panavision anamorphic photography, an outstanding direction by Englishman, Tony Maylam, provocative sound and a magnificent score by Rick Wakeman, and you have for my money the most exciting sports film ever made - and the one against which all future sports films will have to be measured”

HERB LIGHTMAN

“From the first loud close-up crunch of a boot on ice as the bobsleigh took off and hurled down that slippery silvery tube at 75 miles an hour, I was hooked on Tony Maylam’s WHITE ROCK. The cameras have infiltrated everywhere, and we go, queasy and just keeping down our panic, with them. Tied to the foot of the ski jumper we hover in the empty, unhelpful air, caught between the two atavistic impulses of mankind - a desire to fly and a terror of falling. Or we hiss along with the downhill racers, our noses pressed up against what seems pumice-rough snow. Brilliantly directed by Maylam, there is as well an electrifying, multi-sound score by Rick Wakeman and a gratifyingly real, but also impressive gutsy performance by James Coburn.”

ALAN BRIEN

You Too Can Be A Winter Wizard

 

“Take it from me, there is no more exhilarating experience than hurtling down snow covered slopes on a pair of skis, at over 70 miles an hour, with the wind in your face and your heart in your mouth. Not that I’ve actually done it. Wouldn’t dream of doing it - I’m very conscious that gravity can break my bones! I do know, however, that skiing is tremendously exciting from seeing WHITE ROCK, an outstanding new film by writer/director Tony Maylam, which opens in London this week. To be accurate, I didn’t see the film - I was involved in it. And you will be too.

With cameras mounted on the skies themselves, you get the idea of what it is like to slide swiftly downhill with a couple of pieces of expensive wood strapped to your feet. Don’t feel limited, either, other cameras are attached to bobsleighs and give you the nerve-racking sensation of tearing down a twisting, icy corridor at breath-taking speed.

Maylam’s film condenses the various activities, shows them in close-up, and distills in visual poetry from the efforts of various skilled, courageous people to do one thing better than anyone else in the world. It’s exhilarating all right. Never a dull moment for 90 minutes.

The film flows, graceful as a ballet dancer, due to the skilful direction and editing and a scintillating score provided by composer and performer, Rick Wakeman. A treat, whether you’re interested in sport or not.

IAN CHRISTIE