Elfin Rita Tushingham makes a smash film debut as Shelagh Delaney's dispirited working class teen, on her own in Manchester and unprepared for the harsh truths of life. It's one of the best of the British New Wave. A Taste of Honey Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 829 1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Paul Danquah, Murray Melvin, Robert Stephens. Cinematography Walter Lassally Film Editor Anthony Gibbs Original Music John Addison Written by Tony Richardson and Shelagh Delaney adapted from her stage play Produced and directed by Tony Richardson
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...
- 8/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A pure-gold Savant favorite, Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. Oh! What a Lovely War DVD The Warner Archive Collection 1969 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 16.99 Starring: Too many to name, see below. Cinematography Gerry Turpin Production Design Donald M. Ashton Art Direction Harry White Choreography Eleanor Fazan Film Editor Kevin Connor Original Music Alfred Ralston Written by Len Deighton from the musical play by Joan Littlewood from the radio play by Charles Chilton Produced by Richard Attenborough, Brian Duffy, Len Deighton Directed...
- 2/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Creatives have always punctured power by exposing its funny side, welcoming those who might shy away from controversy
• Jonathan Wakeham's top 10 satirical comedies
Fifty years ago, Stanley Kubrick co-wrote and directed the film Dr Strangelove. It's now a comedy classic, but it was adapted from a book called Red Alert by an Raf officer named Peter George – an entirely serious indictment of the supposedly failsafe systems designed to prevent nuclear war.
Kubrick was fascinated by nuclear conflict. But the more he read about the situation, the more he became convinced that a realistic treatment simply couldn't dramatise the absurdity of the situation: that each side possessed enough weaponry to destroy the world several times over; that winning a nuclear war was like winning a suicide race.
What emerged was not the serious drama that Peter George had intended, but a dark and brilliant comedy that still informs the way we look at global conflict.
• Jonathan Wakeham's top 10 satirical comedies
Fifty years ago, Stanley Kubrick co-wrote and directed the film Dr Strangelove. It's now a comedy classic, but it was adapted from a book called Red Alert by an Raf officer named Peter George – an entirely serious indictment of the supposedly failsafe systems designed to prevent nuclear war.
Kubrick was fascinated by nuclear conflict. But the more he read about the situation, the more he became convinced that a realistic treatment simply couldn't dramatise the absurdity of the situation: that each side possessed enough weaponry to destroy the world several times over; that winning a nuclear war was like winning a suicide race.
What emerged was not the serious drama that Peter George had intended, but a dark and brilliant comedy that still informs the way we look at global conflict.
- 1/17/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
Theatrical hell-raisers and the art world's enfants terribles take centre stage in our roundup of the biggest risk-takers of 2014
Theatre
Oh! What a Lovely War
Theatre-maker Joan Littlewood was a visionary, an iconoclast and a subversive. Her 1963 "documentary collage" about the bitter ironies of the first world war was way ahead of its time, using popular period song and hard-hitting testimony. Lyn Gardner Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15 (020-8534 0310), 1 February to 15 May.
Macbeth
Shakespeare's dark tale as you've never seen it before, taking place in a secret location from dawn to dusk. Party with Duncan, bed down in Macbeth's castle on the 27th floor of a tower block, glimpse the witches in an underground car park, and join the feast at which Banquo will be an uninvited guest. The spectres will be bloody – but the food will be vegetarian. LG Secret location, London, 4 April to 31 May.
Grit
This...
Theatre
Oh! What a Lovely War
Theatre-maker Joan Littlewood was a visionary, an iconoclast and a subversive. Her 1963 "documentary collage" about the bitter ironies of the first world war was way ahead of its time, using popular period song and hard-hitting testimony. Lyn Gardner Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15 (020-8534 0310), 1 February to 15 May.
Macbeth
Shakespeare's dark tale as you've never seen it before, taking place in a secret location from dawn to dusk. Party with Duncan, bed down in Macbeth's castle on the 27th floor of a tower block, glimpse the witches in an underground car park, and join the feast at which Banquo will be an uninvited guest. The spectres will be bloody – but the food will be vegetarian. LG Secret location, London, 4 April to 31 May.
Grit
This...
- 1/1/2014
- by Lyn Gardner, Andrew Dickson, Jonathan Jones, Adrian Searle, Imogen Tilden, Andrew Clements, Tom Service, Mark Lawson, Tim Jonze, Brian Logan, Oliver Wainwright, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Henry Barnes, Judith Mackrell
- The Guardian - Film News
Musicals have been tap dancing their way into moviegoers' hearts since the invention of cinema sound itself. From Oliver! to Singin' in the Rain, here are the Guardian and Observer critics' picks of the 10 best
• Top 10 documentaries
• Top 10 movie adaptations
• Top 10 animated movies
• Top 10 silent movies
• Top 10 sports movies
• Top 10 film noir
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. Oliver!
Historically, the British musical has been intertwined with British music, drawing on music hall in the 1940s and the pop charts in the 50s – low-budget films of provincial interest and nothing to trouble the bosses at MGM. In the late 60s, however, the genre enjoyed a brief, high-profile heyday, and between Tommy Steele in Half a Sixpence (1967) and Richard Attenborough's star-studded Oh! What A Lovely War (1969) came the biggest of them all: Oliver! (1968), Carol Reed's adaptation of Lionel Bart's 1960 stage hit and the recipient of six Academy awards.
• Top 10 documentaries
• Top 10 movie adaptations
• Top 10 animated movies
• Top 10 silent movies
• Top 10 sports movies
• Top 10 film noir
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. Oliver!
Historically, the British musical has been intertwined with British music, drawing on music hall in the 1940s and the pop charts in the 50s – low-budget films of provincial interest and nothing to trouble the bosses at MGM. In the late 60s, however, the genre enjoyed a brief, high-profile heyday, and between Tommy Steele in Half a Sixpence (1967) and Richard Attenborough's star-studded Oh! What A Lovely War (1969) came the biggest of them all: Oliver! (1968), Carol Reed's adaptation of Lionel Bart's 1960 stage hit and the recipient of six Academy awards.
- 12/3/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
My mother Pat Ashton, who has died aged 82, was an actor for over four decades. Probably her most important TV role was that of Annie, wife of a burglar (Bob Hoskins) who comes out of prison to find that his old friend (John Thaw) has moved in, in Thick As Thieves (1974). When Yorkshire TV declined a second series, the writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais took the idea to the BBC, where it was developed into the much-loved series Porridge.
Pat was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. During her early years, the piano was the focus of entertainment at home, with her brother Richard playing all the popular songs of the day. Her grandmother had been a trapeze artist, performing in front of the tsar in Russia, and Pat quickly became fascinated with music hall, learned to tap-dance from an early age and went on to...
Pat was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. During her early years, the piano was the focus of entertainment at home, with her brother Richard playing all the popular songs of the day. Her grandmother had been a trapeze artist, performing in front of the tsar in Russia, and Pat quickly became fascinated with music hall, learned to tap-dance from an early age and went on to...
- 6/23/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Introducing our look at the year that defined the modern era, the veteran writer recalls the extraordinary collision of politics, culture and social upheaval that he witnessed as a student
Was it a prefigurative year? I think so. Not that one thought of it as such at the time or even a few years later, when it was totally forgotten in the turbulence that engulfed the world. I am trying to recall that year, to find deep down some memories, even a few impressions on the basis of which I could reconstruct a misted-up past without too many distortions.
When I arrived to study at Oxford in October 1963, the bohemian style was black plastic or leather jackets for women and black leather or navy donkey jackets for men. I stuck to cavalry twills and a duffle coat, at least for a few months. The Cuban missile crisis had temporarily boosted...
Was it a prefigurative year? I think so. Not that one thought of it as such at the time or even a few years later, when it was totally forgotten in the turbulence that engulfed the world. I am trying to recall that year, to find deep down some memories, even a few impressions on the basis of which I could reconstruct a misted-up past without too many distortions.
When I arrived to study at Oxford in October 1963, the bohemian style was black plastic or leather jackets for women and black leather or navy donkey jackets for men. I stuck to cavalry twills and a duffle coat, at least for a few months. The Cuban missile crisis had temporarily boosted...
- 5/7/2013
- by Tariq Ali
- The Guardian - Film News
BBC radio producer who created the serial Journey into Space
The BBC radio producer and writer Charles Chilton, who has died aged 95, created a classic radio serial, Journey into Space, various series exploring the America of the past, and the one-off programme that eventually took to stage and screen as Oh! What a Lovely War. At the start of his career, radio could still attract audiences greater than those for television, and as well as producing popular comedy series such as The Goon Show and Take It from Here, Chilton devised some of its most distinctive material.
The first series of Journey into Space, broadcast in 1953, was described as "groundbreaking". "Well, it has to be," Chilton laughed in response. It took Captain Jet Morgan, played by the future MP Andrew Faulds, and his crew to the moon. They went on to Mars in the remaining two parts of the trilogy,...
The BBC radio producer and writer Charles Chilton, who has died aged 95, created a classic radio serial, Journey into Space, various series exploring the America of the past, and the one-off programme that eventually took to stage and screen as Oh! What a Lovely War. At the start of his career, radio could still attract audiences greater than those for television, and as well as producing popular comedy series such as The Goon Show and Take It from Here, Chilton devised some of its most distinctive material.
The first series of Journey into Space, broadcast in 1953, was described as "groundbreaking". "Well, it has to be," Chilton laughed in response. It took Captain Jet Morgan, played by the future MP Andrew Faulds, and his crew to the moon. They went on to Mars in the remaining two parts of the trilogy,...
- 1/14/2013
- by David Rayvern Allen
- The Guardian - Film News
I write as chair of the board of trustees of the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. It is an amateur theatre with a small professional staff, which presents 12 plays each year. In programming our current season, January to December 2012, we set out to ensure women were well-represented in all aspects. Accordingly, we chose six plays by female authors, used five female directors out of the 12 and more than 50% of the roles were for women. Next year, we shall again be offering more roles for women than for men, beginning with Playhouse Creatures by April de Angelis, which is being directed by a woman and will have an all-female crew. Our policy is, in part, driven by the fact that we have more women than men in our acting company, a factor that Stella Duffy highlights in her article (Theatre of the absurd, 13 December). It makes sense to us to use the talent...
- 12/15/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Outstanding actor of stage and screen who made his name as Bri in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
The British theatre changed for ever when Joe Melia, as the sardonic teacher Bri, pushed a severely disabled 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on to the stage of the Glasgow Citizens in May 1967 and proceeded to make satirical jokes about the medical profession while his marriage was disintegrating. The play was Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which transformed the way disability was discussed on the stage. It made the names overnight of its author, the director Michael Blakemore, and Melia. Albert Finney took over the role of Bri on Broadway.
Flat-footed, slightly hunched, always leaning towards a point of view, Melia, who has died aged 77, was a distinctive and compassionate actor who brought a strain of the music hall to the stage, a sense of being an outsider.
The British theatre changed for ever when Joe Melia, as the sardonic teacher Bri, pushed a severely disabled 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on to the stage of the Glasgow Citizens in May 1967 and proceeded to make satirical jokes about the medical profession while his marriage was disintegrating. The play was Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which transformed the way disability was discussed on the stage. It made the names overnight of its author, the director Michael Blakemore, and Melia. Albert Finney took over the role of Bri on Broadway.
Flat-footed, slightly hunched, always leaning towards a point of view, Melia, who has died aged 77, was a distinctive and compassionate actor who brought a strain of the music hall to the stage, a sense of being an outsider.
- 11/7/2012
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
You thought it was innocent family entertainment? Wrong. Danny Boyle's political production would have made Joan Littlewood and the leftwing Theatre Workshop proud
During the era of agitprop theatre in the 1960s and 70s, when politically committed companies toured the UK, there was usually a rule that the show would not go on if there was a risk of having more people on stage than in the audience. And even with the hallucinogenic substances that were part of the scene at the time, no one would have imagined that a passionately leftwing theatre show would one day play to an audience of one billion and have a budget of £27m to spend.
But, last Friday night and Saturday morning, that is exactly what happened. Among the spectacular achievements of the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony was that it marked the apotheosis of a dramatic tradition that had previously been marginalised in this country.
During the era of agitprop theatre in the 1960s and 70s, when politically committed companies toured the UK, there was usually a rule that the show would not go on if there was a risk of having more people on stage than in the audience. And even with the hallucinogenic substances that were part of the scene at the time, no one would have imagined that a passionately leftwing theatre show would one day play to an audience of one billion and have a budget of £27m to spend.
But, last Friday night and Saturday morning, that is exactly what happened. Among the spectacular achievements of the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony was that it marked the apotheosis of a dramatic tradition that had previously been marginalised in this country.
- 7/31/2012
- by Mark Lawson
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor who made his name at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and appeared in the Beatles films, making firm friends with the Fab Four
Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer aged 82, was an outrageously talented Welsh actor and raconteur who made his name with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and found fame and fortune as a friend and colleague of the Beatles, appearing in three of their five films, and with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967).
It was while he was giving his brilliantly articulated and hilarious "turn" as the gobbledegook-shouting drill sergeant in Oh, What a Lovely War! in the West End in 1963 – he won a Tony for the performance when the show went to Broadway – that the Beatles visited him backstage and invited him to appear in A Hard Day's Night (1964).
George Harrison later said that his mother would...
Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer aged 82, was an outrageously talented Welsh actor and raconteur who made his name with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and found fame and fortune as a friend and colleague of the Beatles, appearing in three of their five films, and with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967).
It was while he was giving his brilliantly articulated and hilarious "turn" as the gobbledegook-shouting drill sergeant in Oh, What a Lovely War! in the West End in 1963 – he won a Tony for the performance when the show went to Broadway – that the Beatles visited him backstage and invited him to appear in A Hard Day's Night (1964).
George Harrison later said that his mother would...
- 6/20/2012
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Actors and comedians including Rob Brydon, Barbara Windsor and Britt Ekland pay their respects to veteran poet and raconteur
Actors and comedians have paid tribute to one of the best loved of their profession, the actor, poet, and peerless raconteur Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer in a hospice in Monmouth aged 82.
Spinetti appeared in the first Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, and in all of their subsequent films because they liked him so much. Sir Paul McCartney once described him as "the man who makes clouds disappear", and he insisted George Harrison told him: "You've got to be in all our films … if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them – because she fancies you."
Rob Brydon, the actor and television presenter, and fellow Welshman, said Spinetti's death was terribly sad news.
"One of the funniest raconteurs there's ever been, a lovely man who...
Actors and comedians have paid tribute to one of the best loved of their profession, the actor, poet, and peerless raconteur Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer in a hospice in Monmouth aged 82.
Spinetti appeared in the first Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, and in all of their subsequent films because they liked him so much. Sir Paul McCartney once described him as "the man who makes clouds disappear", and he insisted George Harrison told him: "You've got to be in all our films … if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them – because she fancies you."
Rob Brydon, the actor and television presenter, and fellow Welshman, said Spinetti's death was terribly sad news.
"One of the funniest raconteurs there's ever been, a lovely man who...
- 6/19/2012
- by Maev Kennedy
- The Guardian - Film News
Veteran actor Victor Spinetti, whose notable roles included appearances in three Beatles films, has died at the age of 82.
The Welsh star, who appeared in a string of acclaimed movies as well as taking roles in the West End and on Broadway, died in a Monmouth hospice following a fight with pancreatic cancer, his agent said.
The versatile actor was able to easily turn his hand from serious classical roles to comedy performances and roles in sitcoms. He has also been a successful stage director, wrote poetry and became known for his appearances in a Jaffa Cake ad campaign.
Cwm-born Spinetti - who studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff - had worked as a waiter before finding his feet as an actor.
Victor Spinetti (left) with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
He landed his role in the first of the Beatles' films following the...
The Welsh star, who appeared in a string of acclaimed movies as well as taking roles in the West End and on Broadway, died in a Monmouth hospice following a fight with pancreatic cancer, his agent said.
The versatile actor was able to easily turn his hand from serious classical roles to comedy performances and roles in sitcoms. He has also been a successful stage director, wrote poetry and became known for his appearances in a Jaffa Cake ad campaign.
Cwm-born Spinetti - who studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff - had worked as a waiter before finding his feet as an actor.
Victor Spinetti (left) with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
He landed his role in the first of the Beatles' films following the...
- 6/19/2012
- by PA
- Huffington Post
Victor Spinetti has died at the age of 82. The actor, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, was known for his performances in The Beatles' movies A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour. The band had asked him to appear in their first film after his performance in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop Oh, What a Lovely War!, which later transferred to the West End and Broadway, where he won a Tony Award. Spinetti later (more)...
- 6/19/2012
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
Barbara Windsor has revealed that she is planning to concentrate on West End roles after she leaves EastEnders later this year. The actress, who is bowing out from her part as Walford's Peggy Mitchell, has already appeared in a number of theatre productions over the years, including Calamity Jane, Oh What A Lovely War! and The Threepenny Opera. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Windsor explained: "The last thing I did, in fact, before I got EastEnders was Entertaining Mr Sloane. It would be nice to do something new because that is what (more)...
- 3/23/2010
- by By Daniel Kilkelly
- Digital Spy
Can Martin Scorsese pull off a horror movie? Is Glasgow the new Venice? And what's Ricky Gervais up to in Reading? Our critics pick next year's hottest tickets
Film
Cemetery Junction
Having conquered Hollywood, Ricky Gervais is coming home. With his long-time collaborator Stephen Merchant, he has set out to create a British film in the tradition of Billy Liar and the Likely Lads – and of course his own masterpiece The Office – about three blokes working for the Prudential insurance company in Gervais's hometown of Reading. Released on 7 April.
A Single Man
The smart money says Colin Firth will be bringing home a certain gold, bald-headed statuette for his performance as a bereaved gay man in Los Angeles. Based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, the movie – fashion designer Tom Ford's directorial debut – follows one day in the life of Firth's literature academic as he confronts his own mortality. Released on 12 February.
Film
Cemetery Junction
Having conquered Hollywood, Ricky Gervais is coming home. With his long-time collaborator Stephen Merchant, he has set out to create a British film in the tradition of Billy Liar and the Likely Lads – and of course his own masterpiece The Office – about three blokes working for the Prudential insurance company in Gervais's hometown of Reading. Released on 7 April.
A Single Man
The smart money says Colin Firth will be bringing home a certain gold, bald-headed statuette for his performance as a bereaved gay man in Los Angeles. Based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, the movie – fashion designer Tom Ford's directorial debut – follows one day in the life of Firth's literature academic as he confronts his own mortality. Released on 12 February.
- 12/31/2009
- The Guardian - Film News
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