Learning on ScreenBritish Social Realism at the Movies
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (available from BFI as dual format Blu-ray / DVD releases) both feature commentaries by British cinema historian Robert Murphy, Professor in Film Studies at De Montfort University, who provides a good deal of contextualising information and analytical insight. Although I would take issue with a number of aspects of his interpretations of both films, it is nonetheless gratifying to hear from an academic authority sympathetic to the films and their ethos. His analyses can be approached in a spirit of dissent, but at least the arguments in favour of their quality and importance are given a proper hearing; disagreement is more constructive when the case for the defence is put in such coherent and enthusiastic terms.
Murphy’s commentaries – read from a prepared script, but given a clear and lively delivery – are complemented on both DVDs by the voice of original author and screenwriter Alan Sillitoe, whose own views are sometimes cheerfully at odds with Murphy’s. Cinematographer Freddie Francis also contributes to the Saturday Night disc, while actor Tom Courtenay speaks about Long Distance Runner. These latter interviews, like Sillitoe’s, were recorded separately from Murphy’s and edited to alternate with one another on single tracks. This at least makes for variety and contrast, though it would at times have been helpful to hear a direct exchange of opinions or to have the speakers pressed for further elucidation on certain points. Francis’ comments especially, though interesting in themselves, are not as precise or as technical as Lassally’s on A Taste of Honey, and one would have liked to hear more detailed explanation of his approach to the lighting of particular scenes.
The three BFI discs are currently the best resources available on home video for British realist cinema in the 60s, and it is to be hoped that they will be followed up by further releases of important titles. Clive Donner’s 1963 film of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker and Ken Loach’s TV drama Cathy Come Home (1966) are also currently available on DVD from the BFI. A number of key fiction films of the 40s, 50s and 60s can be found on other DVD labels, notably Network and Optimum/Studio Canal Plus, while Momentum has brought out basic but good-quality DVD discs of John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving (1962) and Loach’s Poor Cow (1967), among others.
Sheldon Hall
British New Wave titles available on DVD / Blu-ray include
Free Cinema (1952-1963) – collected shorts (BFI)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (BFI)
Room at the Top (Network)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (BFI)
A Taste of Honey (Optimum)
A Kind of Loving (Studio Canal)
This Sporting Life (Network)
The Caretaker (BFI)
Cathy Come Home (BBC / 2entertain)
Poor Cow (Studio Canal)
