The White Bus (1966)

A bone fide cult item if ever there were one, The White Bus started life in 1966 under the portmanteau title, "Red, White and Zero". The concept attempted to reunite Anderson with Free Cinema auteurs Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson. However, problems with financing, scheduling and other commitments stalled the project, leaving Anderson’s piece the only section to make to it celluloid. Some 18 months later, The White Bus crept out as a stand-alone feature to obtuse reviews and dismal audiences.

So what’s it about? Well, there’s little in the way of a story line, other than a young woman working in London who opts to return to her Northern roots. Along the way she meets a host of bizarre and mundane characters, who for the most part, are shepherded around a northern wasteland in a white bus. All very mundane stuff you might say, but with a script fashioned from a Shelagh (Taste of Honey) Delaney short story, there is plenty here to keep one's attention throughout the 45 minutes.

The beauty of the picture lies in its sublime and often overt symbolism. Anderson’s keen eye for the poetic and absurd, gels the obtuse strands together into a seamless canvas of imagery. For those who thought Anderson’s trademark mix of black and white and colour film stock started with If…, the daring concept actually started here, with colour sequences thrown in at random throughout the predominately monochrome film.

The film’s protagonist, the goth-like Patricia Healey, plays her role with the conviction of an alien viewing earth for the first time. Equally, a pre Dad’s Army Arthur Lowe, revels in his role as the accommodating Mayor of a provincial town. Adding to the mystique of the film is the presence of a very young Anthony Hopkins, (in his first film) delivering a Brechtian oratorio in a public library!

Overall, the film leads us nowhere and everywhere. The final scenes of the girl walking back through her hometown streets at dusk are some of the finest moments Anderson ever committed to film. Ultimately though, the fate of "The White Bus" has been chequered, and although it has built up a sizeable contingent of supporters over the years, the conservative machinations of the movie industry have denied the film a wider audience. Shown once on BBC2 during the early 1980’s, it is nigh on impossible to obtain this film unless you have impeccable contacts. However, anyone wanting to delve into the minuscule oeuvre of British cinematic surrealism should really seek this film out.

© Simon Wells. 2007

Comments

[NGC]

The White Bus was on MGMHD in the US tonight and quite an interesting film with some extraordinary photography.

[sonomaca]

Saw it on MGMHD. I developed an instant obsession with this film. Absolutely fantastic.