DVD Review: Bellissima (1951)

It seems like you can’t turn on the idiot box these days without coming across the newest reality show star turn. Thirteen weeks of Big Brother and the great British public vote for a winner who thinks Shakespeare directed Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet simply because he was the nicest of a particularly motley crew.

Concerns about the dumbing down of TV aside, it does make you wonder what televisual legends we’re going to revere in twenty or thirty years time. Genuine talent seems to be in painfully short supply, and nowadays producers are reverting to the lowest common denominator, which is your basic common-or-garden talent revue. There’s no denying that there are some people in this green and pleasant land that do have genuine skill and presence, but that’s not exactly why people tune in – it’s to see either cute kids being pushed to the front of the stage by pushy parents living a dream vicariously through their offspring, or the judges arbitrarily ripping into self-deluded but honest people.

Look Back at England: The British New Wave

The Pacific Film Archive at the University of California in Berkeley is currently running a spectacular retrospective of British films from the late fifties and early sixties called Look Back at England: The British New Wave. Some of the terrific films being shown in the coming weeks include The Servant (1963), Room at the Top (1958), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Georgy Girl (1966), The Knack... and How to Get It (1965), Alfie (1966) and If... (1968).

If you're in Northern California you won't want to miss the chance to see some of these classic films on the big screen. The program started in early September and runs until October 27th. For more information about this special retrospective and all the films being shown, as well as ticket prices and show times, please visit the official Pacific Film Archive site below.

Look Back at England: the British New Wave

- Kimberly Lindbergs

The Leather Boys (1964)

The films shown as part of the BBC's Summer of British Film are a bit up and down, but you can forgive them for some of the poor/obvious choices when it shows a lost gem like The Leather Boys.

On the face of it, The Leather Boys is about bikers. But it could have been about mods, rockers, teds or any youth cult of the age - because that's just background. The Leather Boys is actually a movie about relationships.

Set in South London, Reggie (Colin Campbell) and Dot (Rita Tushingham) are a young couple on love - and not long after Dot leaves school, they get married and head off to Butlins for a honeymoon. But not long after returning, the cracks already start to show. Dot wants to be a 'kept' woman, while Reggie wants to spend his spare time with his bike and his biker mates at the Ace Cafe.

Cult Clip: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is classic kitchensink, with Albert Finney as the angry young man, Arthur Seaton - heavy drinker and womaniser. It shocked audiences when it hit the big screens 47 years ago, but even without that shock value, it still holds up as a classic and indeed gritty Brit flick.

Enjoy the trailer.

DVD Review: Off The Black (2006)

Tradition dictates that in sports films, there’s always an outsider; somebody who doesn’t quite fit. Of course, there are numerous examples of the crotchety, cynical old pro who hangs around for one last pay-day (Paul Newman in Slap Shot being the high-point of the sub-genre); or the maverick talent that doesn’t play by the rules (Tommy Lee Jones invests his portrayal of baseball hero Ty Cobb with bitter, hulking menace in Cobb). Then there are the ultimate Etrangers, like Arthur Brauss as the titular goalkeeper in Wim Wender’s The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick.

It’s a device designed to focus human interest in what is essentially a team pursuit. Team sports are the ultimate brotherhood: a number of finely-tuned athletes striving together for the common good. There are no individuals, so to make the theme interesting, it is required that one nail sticks out of the wood to snag our attention on the wider story.
   
Off The Black falls defiantly into the latter category of unheralded outsiders. In order to be accurate, it’s important to say that it’s not a ‘sports’ film at all, even though the backdrop to the story and the genesis of the script are heavily involved in what our colleagues across the pond call ‘America’s Pastime,’ namely baseball.

DVD Review: Life For Ruth (1962)

Another long-forgotten 60s flick reissued by Network - but Life For Ruth is a tale that still has relevance in 2007.

Life For Ruth is set in early 60s Durham - not really kitchensink, but with enough realism to make it very believable. The tale revolves around Ruth, an eight-year-old girl and daughter of John Harris (Michael Craig) and Pat Harris (Janet Munro). Playing on the beach, Ruth loses her ball and sets out in a rowing boat with a friend to retrieve it. John Harris spots them in danger, swims out to rescue the pair, but only succeeds in saving the boy - his daughter Ruth is rushed to hospital.

A blood transfusion could save Ruth, but John refuses - he is a member of an unnamed religion that opposes such a thing. Despite the protestations of Doctor Brown (Patrick McGoohan), he maintains that his daughter cannot have blood, fearing it will stop his daughter from enjoying eternal life. Ruth dies - and the doctor wants John Harris to face charges for his actions. The case does go to court, with the jury asked to decide between the legal obligation of a parent to his child or the moral obligation Harris feels towards his religious beliefs.

DVD Review: The Family Way (1966)

We have covered The Family Way previously, but as the DVD has been reissued and as it's a personal favourite, I'm more than happy to revisit the movie.

It's a film that's close to my heart because it was filmed in my hometown (Bolton) - and many of the locations are unchanged today. But it's more than a nostalgia trip, it's a great piece of 60s realism with a top-notch cast including the likes of John Mills, Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Barry Foster, Wilfred Pickles and Liz Fraser and it features an early Paul McCartney score, orchestrated by George Martin.

On the face of it, this adaptation of a Bill Naughton play is a fairly simply tale of neighbourhood whispering. Arthur Fitton (Hywel Bennett) has married Jenny Piper (Hayley Mills), with a honeymoon planned before they return to live with Arthur's parents - Ezra (John Mills), Lucy (Marjorie Rhodes), along with Arthur's brother Geoffrey (Murray Head). But there's a problem - the travel agent has swindled them (and others) out of their money, so married life starts immediately with the in-laws.

Cult Clip: Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

There's not enough Rita Tushingham on YouTube - I'll be doing something to remedy that in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy this rarely-seen trailer for the Girl With Green Eyes, where our Rita plays a young girl in Dublin falling for an older (and married) man.

DVD Review: The L-Shaped Room (1962)

As well as The Raging Moon, another Bryan Forbes movie is getting a DVD reissue this month - The L-Shaped Room, which got lead actress Leslie Caron a well-deserved Oscar nomination in 1964.

It's not obvious Oscar territory - The L-Shaped Room (based on the Lynne Reid Banks novel) is probably labeled as British New Wave or indeed kitchensink if you prefer. Either way, it's a slice of realism set in the Notting Hill area of London, long before the in-crowd took house prices through the roof.

Leslie Caron plays Jane Fossett, a stranger in London, on the run from her French family and the fallout from her pregnancy. After a long search, she finally finds a place to stay within her budget - a rundown house inhabited by an assortment of social misfits. Gradually, these strangers become her friends and in the case of writer Toby, much more. But that happiness starts to falter when Toby finally discovers Jane is pregnant.

DVD Review: The Raging Moon (1971)

In the same year as he starred in A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell used his abrasive Yorkshire tones in a very different movie - Bryan Forbes' The Raging Moon.

In fact, The Raging Moon is about as far away from the Kubrick classic as you can get, but still as watchable for very different reasons. McDowell plays Huddersfield lad Bruce Pritchard, local league football player and typical boy about town. On the evening of his brother's wedding, Bruce becomes unwell, waking up in hospital without the use of his legs. Fearing he will become a burden on his elderly parents in their council flat, he gets a place in a home for people with disabilities - but struggles to adapt to the change in his location and indeed in his physical state.

Then he meets Jill (Nanette Newman), who helps him to develop an enthusiasm for his new life and a new career as a writer. Inevitably, the pair fall in love, surprising everyone by getting engaged - before that happiness comes to an abrupt halt.

Cult Clip: Up The Junction - pub scene (1968)

Here, by request and indeed by popular demand, is the pub scene from sixties classic Up The Junction with Rube and Sylvie (Adrienne Posta and Maureen Lipman) leading the pub singalong of I Need Your Love.

Interesting additional point: Check out Sylvie's look, then compare to the look Any Winehouse currently sports. Is Amy's look an intended tribute? Or is it merely coincidence? I'll let you decide...

The Family Way (1966)

As someone born and (for many years) bred in Bolton, The Family Way is a fascinating look back at my hometown before I was even born. For anyone not local to the town, it's still a great piece of 60s realism, capturing a time and a way of life alien to us now.

Originally a play by Bill Naughton, it transferred well to the big screen thanks to the clever use of the impressive local scenery - from the long terraced streets and dark factory gates to the impressive town centre architecture - along with a heavyweight cast list, including the likes of John Mills, Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Barry Foster, Wilfred Pickles and Liz Fraser.

DVD Review: John Sayles Collection (1980 - 1984)

The true spirit of independent American cinema has always been alive and kicking in the shape of director John Sayles. He moonlights as a screenwriter for big Hollywood projects in order to finance his own pictures, churning out schlock like Piranha for Joe Dante, and next year’s Jurassic Park IV (honestly, how many dinosaurs did they leave on that island?)

   This collection captures three of Sayles’ better-known projects, spearheaded by the critically-acclaimed Return of the Secaucus Seven. Ostensibly set around a yearly reunion of seven friends and former political activists that got busted in the town of the same name, Sayles raised the $30,000 budget himself, filled the cast with unknowns and like most of his other projects did the writing and editing as well as directing.

Cult Clip: Up The Junction (1968)

I'm not sure if Nell Dunn found the film version of her Up The Junction book gritty enough, but compared to most of the swinging London output of the era, it does have a genuine edge - even watching it back today.

Sadly (and inexplicably), the movie isn't available on DVD, but if you want a taste, check out the film's introduction below with the excellent Manfred Mann soundtrack.

Top five cult movies based in Manchester

After reviewing The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (and with so much interest in vintage Manchester with the success of Life On Mars), I thought I'd throw together a list of my top five cult movies with a Manchester setting. If you can add to it (or indeed, strongly disagree), feel free to comment below...

1. Hell Is A City (1960)

A real lost gem, with Stanley Baker as the hardened Inspector Martineau, trying to track down an escaped con who has robbed and killed since his break, whilst trying to keep his family life together. American film noir - with a northern landscape.

2. Mrs Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter (1968)

Manchester beat kids Herman's Hermits have a dog - Mrs Brown - and it could win Herman Tully (Peter Noone) and his mates (The Hermits) some cash - if they can raise the cash to enter her into a race. So off they head from Manchester to London to make some cash as a band. Yes, it's a 60s band vehicle - but an entertaining one all the same.

DVD Review: Hell Drivers (1957)

The 1950s might not have swung like the 60s, but the era did see the advent of some gritty realism in British movies, typified by Hell Drivers.

This 1957 features a cast money couldn't buy 10 years later, but in 1957 it was possible to pull together Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan, Herbert Lom, William Hartnell, Sid James, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum and in a minor role, Sean Connery. But the film is all about Baker as Tom Yately and McGoohan as "Red".

Yately is an ex-con, using a false name to get a job as a "hell driver" - driving trucks at rapid speeds over a short distance - with payment based on the number of trips completed. Top of the tree is Red, also foreman of the yard and an all-round nasty piece of work. The two fall out, compete and ultimately drive to the death.

Billy Liar in Manchester

For one night only, Manchester's Cornerhouse Cinema has a rare big-screen showing of John Schlesinger`s British new wave/kitchensink classic Billy Liar.

A real gem of the 60s, with Tom Courtenay playing Billy Fisher, an undertaker's clerk who dream of escaping his dull existence and his web of lies by running away to London. When he gets the chance to leave for London with Liz (Julie Christie), he has to decide whether to keep living in his dreamworld, or to turn these dreams into reality.

The single showing is Monday November 20th at 6:30pm. I'll see you there.

Find out more at the Cornerhouse website

DVD review: Billy Liar (1964)

After recently reviewing the Billy Liar TV series, it's nice to get reacquainted with the definitive Billy Liar - the feature film from 1964, which has just been reissued by Optimum.

Schlesinger's big screen version of Billy Liar marks a turning point in British film making. The kitchensink style of movie making was coming to an end, under financial pressure from the big studios, who were struggling to sell movies with regional dialects to the US market. Adding to the pressure was the worldwide success of the glossy Bond movies - and demands from studio bosses for more of the same. What Billy Liar did was take the genre out on a high. That's if you class the movie as kitchensink - I'd prefer to view it as a sixties comedy - and a very good one at that.

Billy Liar is Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay), a clerk in a funeral parlour, who escapes his dull existence by retreating into his own little dream world of Ambrosia, as well as weaving a web of lies in both his work and personal life. Billy's real dream to escape his dull existence by leaving for London, working as a script writer for a well-known comedian.

A Taste Of Honey in Manchester

Rarely seen on the big screen, you can the classic piece of kitchensink, A Taste Of Honey, at the Manchester Cornerhouse cinema for one showing only on Sunday September 24th.

Directed by Tony Richardson and starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens and Murray Melvin, the movie is a classic period piece of the Manchester area of the early 60s, helped very much by Richardson's insistence that the film, as much as possible, should be shot out on location.

A Taste Of Honey is an adaptation of Shelagh Delaney’s play about a Salford teenager, Jo, who becomes pregnant by a black sailor. With her mother showing no concern about her situation, she befriends Geoff, a gay man who moves in and looks after her - until her mother returns to shatter their happiness.

The film is showing as part of the Cornerhouse Cinema's Breakfast Club, a fortnightly event that offers a classic movie and a full English (or veggie) breakfast for £8.50. Book early - they often sell out.

Find out more at the Cornerhouse website

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down…”

Kat Doniak takes another look at this kitchensink classic.

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down…” is the most well known and frequently quoted line from this early 60’s classic. It was this anti-establishment energy that earned the film its box office success.

As one of the first of the era’s ‘kitchen sink dramas', born from the British New Wave movement which attempted for the first time to depict the lives of ordinary men, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning caught audiences' attention with its portrayal of working class protagonist, Arthur Seaton, the archetypal ‘angry young man.’

The film follows Arthur (as played by Albert Finney), a brash and out spoken worker, whose weekdays are spent at the factory bench and Saturday nights are spent out in local pubs, usually waking up on the Sunday with Brenda (Rachel Roberts) the wife of a fellow worker. Like many of cinema’s examples of the young working class rebel Arthur Seaton’s life centre’s around heavy drinking, brawling, women and a strong desire to lead a very different life to that of his parents. In his own words the pursuit of a good time is his main concern “…all the rest is propaganda.” However, during the course of the film Seaton begins to learn that his actions have consequences and his relationship with Brenda is already on the path to destruction when he meets the submissive yet sharp Doreen (Shirley Anne Field).

Filmed in the streets and factories of Nottingham Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is as much a record of a way of living as it is a gritty drama. Industrial landscapes with shots of machine shops, back to back housing and working men’s clubs provide the backdrop to Arthur’s story. Brilliant performances are given through out by the film’s central actors with Albert Finney in particular displaying a commanding on screen presence in the lead role. The snappy dialogue based on Alan Sillitoe’s semi autobiographical novel has also ensured that film has retained a sense of freshness. This dialogue is complemented perfectly by a cool jazz score.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, among other things, provides a modern audience with a snapshot of late 50’s/ early 60’s living at a time when post war Britain was on the cusp of change and as Arthur Seaton changes so does the films landscape with its closing shots being of newly developing suburbia. The film ends ambiguously, leaving the question of whether Arthur is doomed to a life of conformity or whether the rebel within never really dies being left to the individual interpretation of the audience.

Find out more about the movie at Amazon.co.uk