The System (1964) gets a DVD release

We mentioned Michael Winner yesterday with a big screen showing of I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name - but that wasn't his only 60s flick worth seeking out, there's also The System.

Dating back to 1964 and again starring Oliver Reed, The System (aka The Girl Getters) is one of those cult British movies few people have seen, with Reed starring as Tinker, the leader of a gang of jacket and tie-wearing youths who are on holiday at a seaside resort- picking fights, terrorising tourists and chasing women.

But Tinker is thrown when one of his potential 'conquests' captures his heart - leaving him as the one being used. It's released by the ever-more-excellent Odeon Entertainment on 21st July, with Amazon selling it for the criminally cheap price of £5.98.

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

Cult Clip: To Sir With Love trailer (1967)

Time for a 60s classic I think. This is the cinema trailer for To Sir With Love - I presume for the US market judging by the almost laughable (but overly serious) voiceover.

But that just adds to the entertainment value to be honest...

Absolute Beginners (1986)

Absolute Beginners - it was the film franchise that couldn't fail. A cult novel that reads like a film screenplay, a 'hip' director and a bag load of goodwill. But it did fail - and unlike most movies that get ripped apart by the critics, this one didn't even get belated cult status. But is it really so bad? Well...

I was one of the people willing this to work. As a schoolkid, I was obsessed with this book, I can still quote chunks of it now. And I really hated this movie version when it came out. Director Julien Temple wasn't a movie man, he was from a music background - and took the brave/foolish decision to turn Absolute Beginners into a musical. In fact, watching it now it seems more like a traditional West End show. There's was another problem too - it was the 1980s. Ok, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but this film has 80s stamped all over it - the hair, the music, the clothing - it was all supposed to be set in the late 50s, but Temple just couldn't pull off that vintage/period feel. A more skilled director probably could. And a more skilled director probably would have ditched most of the music, as well as the wooden leads (Patsy Kensit and Eddie O'Connell).

Beat Girl showing on BBC4 as part of Pop Britannia season

The BBC's latest themed season, Pop Britannia, got off to a decent start last night, with a look at the early Brit pop scene of the 1950s, as well as a couple of cheesy Cliff pop movies - Espresso Bongo and the Young Ones.

This next week looks even better, with a rare showing on the once controversial Beat Girl movie (with killer John Barry soundtrack), a documentary on 60s and 70s pop and a couple of Bowie gems - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and the BBC's own Cracked Actor film (where Bowie goes from goth to white soul boy).

Want a taster of Beat Girl? See the intro below. The full film is on at 7:40pm on Friday 11th January on BBC4.

Quadrophenia Convention in Brighton

If you happen to love Quadrophenia, you might want to attend the Quadrophenia Convention in Brighton.

It's a two-day event in Brighton, running from April 5th to April 6th 2008, with appearances from the likes of Phil Daniels (Jimmy) Mark Wingett (Dave) Phil Davis(Chalky) Toyah Willcox (Monkey) Gary Shail (Spider) Garry Cooper (Peter) and Trevor Laird (Ferdy). No sign of Sting I see.

There's a range of events, talks and of course, a movie showing. You can even have a meal with the cast or a brew - but at a price. See the website for full details. Tickets are from £15.

Find out more at the Quadrophenia website

Review: Young Birds Fly (2007)

I have been privileged enough to be one of the first in the UK to view a new independent film based on Mod Culture and have been asked to write a review of the film by the film’s American director Leonardo Flores. Young Birds Fly is the first feature length film from Mod enthusiast and California State University graduate Flores and is the story of young quiet American girl, Jill, who blossoms into the Los Angeles Mod scene. 

The film tells a detailed tale of Jill’s transition as she discovers the joy and amazement of the Mod scene…the music, the dance moves, the scooters and the fashion. And it really does give you a sense of Jill’s wonderment as she grasps Mod with both of her hands until it is part of the air she breathes.

It takes a brave man to follow in the footsteps of a cult classic such as Quadrophenia. Indeed, Mods and those with an interest in the scene are quick to grab hold of any film made in connection with it, with movies so few and far between. But this isn't just a depiction of contemporary mod in LA, Leonardo has endeavoured to tell a tale that also criticises much of the scene’s lifestyle, showing young Jill’s disappointment and frustration as she discovers the shallow side of Mod.

Rare showing of The Party's Over (1963) at the Barbican

The Barbican is currently running Seduced - Sex and Censorship in the Cinema, a series of banned or censored films from cinema's colourful past. And jumping out from the programme is The Party's Over from 1962.

Guy Hamilton and Anthony Perry’s beatnik era tale stars a young Oliver Reed as part of the bad crowd known as 'the pack', whose lifestyle happens to appeal to the daughter of a businessman living in London.

So why banned? Well, the wild parties, drink and a hint of necrophilia (yes, really) saw it fall foul of the censor, with the film getting a release after a few cuts in 1965, the last time it has been on general view.

The film will be introduced by producer Anthony Perry when it shows on 22nd October at 7:15pm.

Find out more at the Barbican website

Coming soon: Peter Whitehead and the Sixties

Earlier this year, the NFT highlighted the work of film maker Peter Whitehead, a leading light in the 60s counter-culture movement. And to follow that up, the BFI is issuing Peter Whitehead and the Sixties. This doesn't include his most famous work - Tonite Let's All Make Love in London - but it does include first releases for two of Whitehead's other 60s movies and a host of extras, with a total running time of around three hours.

The movies are Wholly Communion (1965) and Benefit of the Doubt (1967). The first of those records the gathering of US and European beat poets at London's Royal Albert Hall for the International Poetry Incarnation, recording the appearances of Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Harry Fainlight, Alexander Trocchi and others, courtesy of a borrowed camera and the knack of being in the right place at the right time. Benefit of the Doubt is Whitehead filming a controversial new play, US, by radical theatre director Peter Brook, as well as challenging Britain’s relationship to America during the Vietnam War.

Cult Clip: The Cry Baby Killer (1958)

In 1958 Jack Nicolson made his film debut as a teary-eyed juvenile delinquent in a low-budget American B-movie called The Cry Baby Killer (1958). In the film Jack plays 17-year-old Jimmy Walker who finds himself in a gunfight against a couple of young thugs. After he mistakenly thinks he's killed someone in the fight, Jimmy goes on the run and takes some hostages in the process.

The Cry Baby Killer was undoubtedly part of the inspiration for John Waters' 1990 musical Cry Baby with Johnny Depp and the movie is well worth a look if you like late fifties era drive-in flicks or just want to see a very young Jack Nicolson in his first film role. The Cry Baby Killer (Back-to-Back Jack Edition) is available on NTSC Region-1 DVD from Amazon. View the original movie trailer for The Cry Baby Killer below and enjoy the terrific theme song:

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Cult Clip: Terrifying Girls' High School (1973)

Watch Japanese school girls destroy their high school in this exciting clip from Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (1972). The film is part of the Japanese Sukeban series which are pinky violence films from Japan featuring older actresses playing angry school girls who fight one another when they aren't taking over their classrooms. Like most Japanese exploitation films you'll find plenty of social commentary underneath all the violence and nudity if you go looking for it. Otherwise these films are just a whole lot of fun.

Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom stars two of Japan's most popular exploitation stars from the early seventies, the lovely Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike. The film was directed by Norifumi Suzuki and it's currently available on Region-1 DVD from Amazon

- Kimberly Lindbergs

DVD Review: Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969)

Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu’s experimental film Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969) is not easy viewing. He mixes  an avant-garde sensibility with horrific and sexual themes that will make many viewers extremely uneasy, but this great looking film has a lot to offer more adventurous audiences.

Koji Wakamatsu had no formal training before he started making films in Japan in the early sixties. He worked for the Japanese film studios for a brief period and then decided to team up with fellow Japanese artists such as writer Masao Adachi and put his filmmaking skills to use in “pink films” which were often independent productions featuring nudity and sexual themes. But that’s really a limited explanation of this complicated Japanese film genre. Western critics often assume Japanese pink films are simply pornographic in nature when in fact they’re often unclassifiable films with an avant-garde style dependent more on eroticism and adult ideas than typical western pornography. Japanese filmmakers frequently use pink films to explore subversive concepts about the nature of sex, death and violence. Pink films also use explicit sexual content to express political and social concerns, which will undoubtedly shock and surprise first time viewers.

This Is England - full DVD details

We have just received the full confirmed details of the DVD reissue of Shane Meadows' This Is England, the much talked-about movie about growing up in the north of England - and as part of the 80s skinhead movement.

If you want to know more, check out our in-depth review. And if that appeals, you might want the DVD, which is scheduled now for 3rd December. It's a two-disc release, including the following extras:

Disc 1: Commentary with director Shane Meadows, producer Mark Herbert and lead actor Thomas Turgoose

Disc 2: Behind the Scenes / Deleted scenes / Guardian interview with Shane Meadows at BFI Southbank / Interview with Shane Meadows (Jason Wood for Picturehouse cinemas), Interview with Mark Herbert / Production Departments: Hair, Make-up and Costumes / Crew interviews & Rehearsals / Production Design
Essays on Skinheads and The Falklands War / Cast Biographies / Theatrical Trailer

It should retail for around £19.99 (although Amazon are already heavily discounting for pre-orders). And if you want to see more from the same director, a Shane Meadows box set will also be released around the same time.

More about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Cosh Boy (1953)

What was the first film in the UK to get an 'X' certificate? That was Cosh Boy - a tale of juvenile delinquency, focusing on Roy, a vicious 16-year-old thug, happy to attack and bully (and 'cosh') anyone to get his way, or some cash in his pocket. And the film even had rom for an early role for Joan Collins!

Here's the film's introduction via YouTube - if you like what you see, I'm afraid this is another movie that's yet to be made available on DVD. But we live in hope.

Cult Clip: Zabriskie Point (1970)

Yesterday saw the passing of Michelangelo Antonioni, but at the age of 94, I'm sure we can all agree it was a good innings.

As a tribute, I could put up a clip of Blow-Up, but let's be a little less obvious and feature this visually stunning clip from Antonioni's sprawling movie of the American counter-culture, 1970's Zabriskie Point, soundtracked by some early Pink Floyd.

We'll never see his like again.

Wild In The Streets (1968)

On the same record buying expedition that netted me The Touchables soundtrack, I managed to score a copy of Wild In The Streets. The LP sounded fantastic, garage punk and acid rock trippiness thanks to Mike Curb, Les Baxter, Jerry Howard and mythical band Max Frost And The Troopers aka The 13th Power….awesome.

Directed by Barry Shear and created under the auspices of ever-so-hip American International Pictures, this has Christopher Jones playing Max Frost, rebel cum self-made millionaire cum acid guru rock star who runs for election as the President of the USA and wins. He successfully gets the vote for 14 year olds, forces everyone over 30 into retirement camps and dispenses LSD as a form of control. He seems unstoppable…or is he?

I saw this film in America a few years ago and time hasn’t diminished my regard for this strongly acted classic of its genre. It really stands head and shoulders above the other late 60s teen exploitation, counter culture, anti-establishment flicks and even got an Oscar nomination. It features great over-the-top turns by a young Richard Pryor, Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook and Diane Varsi and songs, Shape Of Things To Come, Free Loving and Wild In The Streets are uniformly excellent..

Again, Youtube come to our rescue with some great footage from another hard-to-get long lost gem...

Mark Ellis

Cult Clip: Groupie Girl (1970)

I sold my copy of Groupie Girl some years back - but as it's just come back out as a budget-priced DVD (with completely inappropriate cover), I might have to pick it up again. It's a strange film, a slightly daring (for its age) film about a young girl's ups and (more usually) downs as a groupie with a string of English pop bands).

The film is entertaining, but certainly no classic. What it does have is a fantastic soundtrack featuring bands I've never heard of - and may never have existed outside this film, as well as some Alan Hawkshaw incidental tunes. But if you're a fan of late 60s British psych pop, it's one for the list. In the meantime, enjoy this rather rough clip of the film's intro and theme tune.

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

11 years after forming and having almost set the blueprints for exploitative filmic subgenres, production company AIP aimed their sights firmly on the burgeoning love generation. American International Pictures had, of course, brought to vivid life, the work of Edgar Allen Poe with such elaborate classics as The Masque Of The Red Death and The Pit And The Pendulum and went on to shlock it to the max with further horror fare, Sci-Fi, Beach and Dragstrip/Hotrod movies and then into late 60s teen culture with the infamous Hells Angel films.

Coming out in the same year as The Trip, Riot On Sunset Strip tackled the true and relatively recent troubles centred on the famous LA teen hangout. The plot buzzed loosely around the story of the clashes with the police and a fictional account of errant young thrill seekers on the rampage. Don’t bother with the plot as this film belongs to the 60s proto punk bands strutting their stuff at uber-club, Pandora’s Box. The Standells, The Enemies and the ever-fantastic Chocolate Watchband pout and posture whilst snarling their songs to the wigged out crowd.

The year after, Psych-Out (covered elsewhere on this site) plugged itself into the hippy scene proper and then AIP, not one to break the habit of a lifetime, threw itself with aplomb into the Blaxploitation phenomenon….gor bless ‘em!! Here’s my fave scene featuring a band that, incidentally, I’ve actually had the great fortune to dj with….ooh get me!

Mark Ellis

Psych Out (1968)

“They’ll ask for a dime with hungry eyes, but they’ll give you love for nothing!” ran the sensational blurb on its release. Psych Out was easily the most successful movie depicting San Francisco during the legendary “Summer of Love” although lets not get too excited here.

While the world watched on in varying degrees of intrigue at the antics of the love generation, few filmmakers ventured out to catch the lightning on Haight Ashbury’s streets, leaving Psych Out as the sole dramatisation of the period. Psych Out’s producer, TV pop impresario Dick Clark, was evidently keeping a watchful eye on the hippy phenomena, and despite his Hollywood leanings, he managed to lift a sizeable chunk of ambience from the hippy hangouts of San Francisco.

The cast took a young Jack Nicholson, by then on the cusp of moving from Biker B-flicks to the mainstream, and Susan Strasberg, whose innocent beauty was enough to secure a fair amount of love interest on screen. The plot concerns Strasberg’s deaf alter ego arriving in town in search of her renegade brother. With nowhere to stay, she’s picked up by Nicholson and his band of musos, who act as her guide and mentor around San Francisco. With her elusive brother playing an intricate game of hide and seek, she ends up being dosed with STP, a concoction known to fry even the wackiest of brains. Although this all might sound a trifle sensationalist, there’s little to offend here.

AIP, the film’s producing agent, had been badly burned after their previous effort, The Trip, ran into all manner of problems with the censors due to its veiled promotion of LSD. As a result, Psych Out held back on any obvious drug promotion or slap and tickle. Visually, there’s fair bit of visual vox pop from the Haight, while The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock offer up some psychedelic intrigue for the soundtrack. Within a year, Nicholson would lift off into stardom, leaving behind the likes of Psych Out to be picked over by historians of the period.

(c) Simon Wells 2007

More about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Amazon adds its own extras to If...DVD release

We have featured Lindsay Anderson's If... previously and indeed, the DVD release. But ww've just found out about the extras on the If... DVD - and an extra one if you pick it up from Amazon.

The movie hits DVD for the first time on July 23rd (a month later than expected) with extras on the one-disc release including a commentary with David Robinson and Malcolm McDowell, Lindsay Anderson’s Oscar-winning documentary Thursday’s Children, cast and crew interviews and an nterview with actor Graham Cowden.

In addition, there are five collector's postcards with initial copies and if you buy it from Amazon, they're also throwing in the screenplay of the movie.

You can pre-order now for £11.99.

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

Girls Gone Bad - The Delinquent Dames Collection

If you like your dames dolled up and packing heat, you won't want to miss Passport Video's new NTSC Region-1 DVD set called Girls Gone Bad - The Delinquent Dames Collection. This 5 disc set contains 25 different films spanning a 35 year period from 1930-1965. The movies in the collection feature many beautiful bad girls in low-budget exploitation films centering around crime, gangs, sex, prostitution, drugs and teenage rebellion.

A few of the cult classics you'll find in the Girls Gone Bad - The Delinquent Dames Collection include Party Girl (1930), Cocaine Fiends (1936), Slaves In Bondage (1937), Mad Youth (1940), Lady Gangster (1942), Delinquent Daughters (1944), Blonde Ice (1948), She Shoulda Said No (1949), The Girl Gang (1954), Swamp Women (1955), The Flesh Merchant (1956) and Bad Girls Go To Hell (1965).

Many of the 25 films in this set have been available on DVD before, but this impressive new collection brings them all together for one low price. If you don't already own the movies presented in Girls Gone Bad - The Delinquent Dames Collection it's a great time to pick them up. Unfortunately the quality of the DVDs leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the prints show noticeable damage, but it's doubtful that audiences will ever get the chance to enjoy these entertaining B-movies any other way.

You can find more information about the new Girls Gone Bad - The Delinquent Dames Collection DVD set at Amazon.

Cult Clip: Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968)

Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows was a sequel to another 60s teen flick, The Trouble With Angels - and this time, the nuns go on as road trip with their hip catholic girl students - and one particularly hip nun.

It's no great film, but for some reason it has started to regularly appear on a UK digital channel - and is worth tuning into - especially for scenes like the one below, where the girls drop into a catholic boys school for a freak out...! Incidentally, the music from the film is by Boyce & Hart - who were behind many of the Monkees' big tunes.

Big Screen: Berlin Schoenhauser Corner (1957)

Hopefully you saw out recent DVD review of Berlin Schoenhauser Corner, a classic teen flick from 1957 - and surprisingly out of (then) East Germany. Yes, teenagers, jazz and rebellion behind the iron curtain.

If you haven't picked it up, there's a rare opportunity to catch it on the big screen this weekend, when it shows at the Curzon Soho cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It's part of a double bill of East German cinema, coupled with 1990's Suspicion and a discussion about films from pre-unified Germany.

It kicks off at 12 noon on Sunday 15th April, with tickets priced at £6.30.

Find out more at the Curzon Cinemas website

Lindsay Anderson's If... finally heads to DVD

We have featured If... previously and bemoaned the fact that the movie isn't available on DVD. Well, all that will change on 11th June when this 60s cult classic finally makes it onto a shiny disc.

Directed by Lindsay Anderson in 1968, If... stars Malcolm MacDowell as Mick Travis, battling against the authority of the public school system, paying a heavy price, then finally taking their revenge. Nominated for two BAFTAs for direction and screenplay, it shocked critics, but made MacDowell a star.

It's going to be packed with extras, but as yet, there's no indication of what those are. But we do know it should retail for around £15.99. More information as we get it.

Read our feature on If...

Cult Clip: Suburbia (1983)

Suburbia (1983) was one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager in the 1980s growing up in California. While lots of other kids my age were watching the latest John Hughes comedy, I was enjoying films like this.

Suburbia was directed by Penelope Spheeris and she made the movie right after finishing her legendary music documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) which chronicled the early Los Angeles punk scene. Suburbia follows the lives of a group of angry young runaways and misfits until an unexpected tragedy rips them apart.

The movie features real kids from the area which gives the film an authenticity that similar movies often lack. One of these untrained young actors is Flea, better known now as the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It also features lots of live performances from popular west coast bands at the time like DI, T.S.O.L. and The Vandals.

Suburbia is available on NTSC Region-1 DVD from Amazon and it's well worth a look if you're interested in what life was like in Southern California during the early 80s. Enjoy the original trailer for the film below:

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Cult Clip: Mondo Mod (1967)

Mondo Mod is an often unintentionally funny documentary that was put together by American exploitation filmmaker Bethel Buckalew in 1967. It attempts to cover what the director considered to be the "mod" scene at the time, but it's more like a time capsule of 1960s youth culture in Southern California.

According to the filmmakers, some favorite mod activities were surfing, dancing, taking drugs, martial arts and riding motorcycles. Highlights from Mondo Mod include interviews with various counter culture types and scenesters, plus performances by American bands like Sam the Soul & The Inspirations and The Group.

Mondo Mod is available on NTSC Region-1 DVD from Something Weird Video at Amazon. It comes with another interesting 1967 documentary called The Hippie Revolt. The Mondo Mod / The Hippie Revolt DVD also contains lots of great extras so if you enjoy vintage documentaries from the sixties I highly recommend giving the DVD a look. The trailer for Mondo Mod is definitely worth a peek:

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Cult Clip: Village of the Giants (1965)

In the campy science fiction film Attack of the Giants (1965) a group of party loving and rebellious American teens ingest a strange substance called “Goo” that makes them turn into giants. Afterward they use their giant size to terrorize the locals of a small town. It’s based on a story by H.G. Wells, but thankfully for us the movie doesn't have that much in common with Wells’ original story.

A very young Beau Bridges stars as the the gang leader of the “Giants” and the British influenced American rock band The Beau Brummels makes an appearance. Also look for a young Toni Basil in one of her earliest film roles as “Red.”

This fun movie is available on DVD from MGM as part of their great “Midnight Movie” series and also includes the 1958 film Attack of the Puppet People which isn’t exactly as entertaining as the Village of the Giants.

Visit Amazon for more information about the Village of the Giants DVD and enjoy this great trailer for the film which features lots of dancing giants!

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Book of the film: Quadrophenia (1979)

These days, most films seem to start their lives as books - but a few years back, films were more often original creations, with the book an after-thought, or rather, a cash-in for the few months the movie was in the public eye.

That doesn't mean they are all rubbish, there's some very good ones - including Quadrophenia.

Quadrophenia the novel is written by Alan Fletcher, a sixties mod and in more recent years, a successful author of mod-themed fiction. The Quadrophenia book was Fletcher's first novel, written with the help of Pete Townshend and pretty much faithful to the movie - although like the movie, it's not necessarily always faithful to the era.

Unfortunately, the continued popularity of the movie and the lack of a reprint has seen the price of this paperback rise continually. For a copy in excellent condition, expect to pay £20 - £25.

DVD Review: Berlin Schoenhauser Corner (1957)

Well the usual happened….request from Cinedelica HQ to consider a new batch of DVD releases….releases that having been aimed at a Euro-cine-phile like myself, should have elicited some excited rubbing of hands. With the words…”German cinema Mark……..East German cinema” my heart for some reason sunk and the word ‘dour’ loomed large. On reflection, an unfair assumption gained from too many nights watching late night Channel Four in the 80s. Of course the New (West) German Cinema of Wenders, Fassbinder and Herzog and more recent triumphs such as Run Lola Run float my boot ( Das Boot…get it?!) but the prospect of viewing government controlled films from t’other side of t’wall filled me with …inertia.

What a face-smacking, pant-kicking surprise then on watching Berlin Schoenhauser Corner. Actually made 4 or 5 years before the Berlin Wall by soviet sponsored DEFA film company,  it follows four teenagers and their attempts to escape the mundane drabness of a partitioned city. Hanging out at jazz clubs and the eponymous landmark whilst dealing with problematic family issues, rebellion takes the form of performing dares and being a stick in the side of the local police. It all goes awry after one of their number, petty criminal Deiter-Heinz attempts to involve the others in a scam resulting in assault and an escape to the allied sector.

DVD Review: Twinky (1969)

Another period piece gets the reissue treatment. This time Twinky, a lighthearted tale of love across an age gap in the swinging sixties.

It stars Susan George as Sybil Londonderry, also known as Twinky, a 16-year-old naive and excitable schoolgirl who falls for an older man - the 38-year-old Scott Wardman (played surprisingly by Charles Bronson), an American author of 'adult' fiction, writing his latest novel in London.

Twinky's parents discover her fling with the author through entries in her diary and with Wardman's visa about to expire (and questions about the legality of their relationship - something the film rather sidesteps), the couple decide to rush off to Scotland for a quickie wedding, then head for the US to start a new life.

Cult Clip: To Sir With Love (1967)

As I've just done a review of To Sir With Love, it seems like a good time to post up a clip. In this scene, the class gets a taste of the outside - going on its first-ever trip outside the school, to a museum. And it's another chance for Lulu to sing the theme tune. Enjoy...

To Sir With Love (1967)

Think sixties and it's hard to avoid the word "swinging" in the same sentence. British cinema audiences of the era (like most eras) didn't want misery on the big screen when they left their miserable jobs - they wanted glamour, colour and above all, entertainment.

Yes, there were gritty movies (Poor Cow and Up The Junction spring to mind), but they were vastly outnumbered by the bubblegum flicks. To Sir With Love, despite its best intentions, is very much the latter.

Based on ER Braithwaite's real-life novel, Sidney Poitier is Mark Thackeray, an idealistic teacher forced to take a job in a run-down school - and then being given the most disruptive class. After failing to communicate using traditional academic methods, he takes a different approach, teaching them life skills as adults in readiness for their life outside school. He eventually wins their respect and changes their attitude. But when a job in his chosen profession of engineering comes along, he has to decide where his future really lies.

Cult Clip: The Cool Ones (1967)

I've never seen The Cool Ones, but after witnessing this music, merriment and excessive go go dancing, it's just jumped to the top of my 'wants' list. See what you think...

Cult Clip: Animal House (1978)

I caught Animal House on TV the other night - and I'd forgotten what a great film it is. Unfairly lumped into the US teen comedy category, John Landis' 60s college movie is so much more than that, relying on a great script and top comic acting for its longevity (as opposed to the usual cheap sexism).

And for me, there's only one clip to feature - Otis Day and The Knights playing at the toga party. Enjoy...

If... (1968)

"You are listening to the legal free radio station of Czechoslovakia. We appeal to all radio stations...please let the whole world know the truth..."
(Anonymous broadcaster, Radio Free Europe, 1968)

Revolution from the school bed has never been so sweet as it is in Lindsay Anderson's reading of David Sherwin 's classic screenplay If... This is no "Goodbye Mr Chips"; no sentimental swan songs or tear-stained farewells here mate. Anderson and co. literally blast their way through the anachronisms of the jaded English public school system and leave it in tatters on a bloody public school green.

More than thirty years on nothing has topped the film for raw emotion or stark realism of life behind the grand façade of the English Public School.

Cinema Art: More (1969)

One day, I'll sit down and writer a proper review of More, Barbet Schroeder's tale of heroin addiction in late 60s Ibiza. That's because it's such an underrated film, overshadowed for years by its early Pink Floyd soundtrack.

And this is the very cool film poster that accompanied it. The girl in the image is Mimsy Farmer, who plays Estelle in the movie, a free spirit who tempts Stefan (a naive German student) over to Ibiza for some romance. But with this being an anti-heroin film, you just know things don't run that smoothly.

The poster is highly collectable for three reasons:

1. It looks amazing
2. It's a rare film poster
3. The Pink Floyd connection

All that means a price of £500 for an original if it ever comes up for auction (which it rarely does).

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