Coming to DVD and Blu-ray: London in the Raw (1964)
We're very excited to discover that the BFI has teamed up with its cult film specialists Flipside for a new series of DVD and Blu-ray releases. Flipside, as regular readers will know, host regular movie events at the NFT (most recently, a Pete Walker night), mixing long-lost or underrated gems with related shorts and where possible, some 'meet and greet' with the people behind those movies. The disc-based releases look to have that same quirkiness and attention to detail.
Kicking off the series is London in the Raw from 1964. As the name suggests, it's a British take on the 'mondo' movie and a look at the underbelly of 60s London, combining documentary footage with staged sequences of seedy bars, beatniks, casinos and cocktail lounges - all done with a cynical, sensationalist eye.
It's been emastered to HD from the original negative and comes packed with extras including an 'alternative, more explicit, version', three London 'sketches' - Pub (Peter Davis, 1962, 15 mins); Strip (Peter Davis, Staffan Lamm, Don DeFina, 1965, 26 mins) and Chelsea Bridge Boys (Peter Davis, Staffan Lamm, 1966, 28 mins), along with the original trailer and illustrated booklet with essay by novelist and critic Stewart Home.
Out the same day as the other titles (see elsewhere on the site), which is 25th May, we should have a review online ahead of that date.
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