Real-life husband and wife John McCallum and Googie Withers top the cast of Devil on Horseback. A racetrack drama, the film centers on the activities of natural-born jockey Moppy Parfitt. As he gains prominence on the track, Moppy becomes insufferably egotistical. His “win at all costs” policy ultimately results in the unecessary death of a horse. Much to the delight of horse owner Charles Roberts and trainer Mrs. Cadell. Moppy finally learns that there’s something more to being a jockey than just talent.
Tag: UK
Alan Clarke’s film of a day in the life of a professional footballer makes for fascinating viewing today. Knowing Clarke’s passion for Everton FC, producer Lambert attached him to Brian Clark’s 1973 script, which captures the moment where money, glamour and celebrity begin to enter the world of football.
The young and handsome Kano Sozaburo is admitted to the Shinsengumi, an elite samurai group that seeks to defend the Tokugawa shogunate against reformist forces. Kano is a skilled swordsman, but his physical beauty leads the members of the strictly male group to compete for his affections, generating tensions that threaten to become lethal. In Gohatto, Nagisa Oshima explores the ambiguous forms of masculinity that the samurai code concealed, with a terrific cast including Ryuhei Matsuda, Takeshi Kitano and Tadanobu Asano subtly capturing the dangers of repressed homoerotic desire.
The early 1970s were very good to glam rockers Slade. In their native Britain, they invaded the charts with 17 Top 20 hits, including six at #1. Devoted fans couldnt play Slades anthem-rock loud enough, and the band played to packed clubs and concert halls all across the country. Like The Beatles and The Who, Slade too was seduced by the call of celluloid. In 1975, the band answered that call, starring in the critically lauded Slade in Flame. A darker kind of Spinal Tap, the film features the band starring as a fictitious version of themselves, while taking a gritty, realistic look at the underbelly of the music industry, where hustlers, sharks and managers prey upon hot new bands.
A screen premiere adapted from Harold Pinter’s only novel. The Dwarfs, written before Pinter discovered his voice as a playwright, was the starting point for this intense study of a fracturing friendship. Len, Pete and Mark are three friends who subject each other to abuse and advice as Len’s paranoia spirals into insanity. He imagines a party of dwarfs hovering on the edge of his existence, providing the play with its most disturbing and most humorous traits.
A young Welsh soldier serving with the British Army in Northern Ireland is imprisoned for shooting a civilian while overcome with panic during a street disturbance. Despite his claim that he was acting under orders the Army makes him a scapegoat following a public outcry.
Looks at the work of Brazilian photojournalist Sebastiao Salgado (b.1944). In his monumental photo-essay, Workers, Salgado’s dominant theme is the displacement of manual labor by technological advances. He documents the effects of this new industrial revolution on laborers in Eastern Europe, Cuba, Gdansk, Brazil, India, Sicily, and Bangladesh. Includes archival footage of Salgado’s life and commentary by artists, photographers, critics, and writers such as Jorge Armado, Robert Delpire, Jimmy Fox, and Arthur Miller.
This satire from a novel by Evelyn Waugh, tells a story of young British teacher Paul Pennyfeather after he is dismissed from Oxford. Eventually, he works his way into the private school system in Wales where he becomes involved with Margot Beste-Chetwynde, the glamorous mother of one of his pupils.