The Sixties On Film (Sixties British Cinema - Robert Murphy)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	Sixties British Cinema - Robert Murphy
Date:	06/04/04 (239 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Informative, Readable

Disadvantages: Goes into some detail, Best suited for film fan

The sixties produced a great many changes in British society and these were clearly reflected in British filmmaking of the time. Just as in music and the arts cinema was affected by the liberating effects of more permissive attitudes to sex, drugs and morality. Films and filmmakers became more experimental and the boundaries set by the censors were constantly tested.

'Sixties British Cinema' published by the BFI (British Film Institute) and written/edited by Robert Murphy author and lecturer in film studies at De Montfort University, is a comprehensive and readable guide to this period.

THE BOOK

In the course of the book sixties films are looked at from various aspects. Murphy starts first by looking at the state of British Cinema in the 50's and highlighting the stagnation in ideas and innovation that pervaded the films of the period. The beginnings of change can actually be traced to the 1959 film 'Look Back In Anger' and then the later 'Room At The Top' (1960), which was a forerunner of the later grittier and morally less well-defined British films. Next Murphy engagingly writes about the new realist movement in filmmaking that first affected young British filmmakers in this period. The term 'Kitchen Sink' dramas has often been used to describe this loose collection of films that attempted to portray the reality of working class life in 60's Britain. Murphy makes the point that you could be mistaken in thinking that these films were uniformly dreary and present only rather academic interest these days but you'd be wrong. Films such as 'Saturday Night And Sunday Morning', 'This Sporting Life', 'A Kind of Loving', and 'A T
;aste of Honey' were not only chronicling a change that was taking place in British post war society generally but were also expressing a new confidence and vitality that was to exemplify the decade. The links with foreign realist movements are also examined, such as Italian post war neo-realism and the French 'cinema verite' and acknowledgement is made of the influx of European talent that helped the British scene along.

The problems with innovative British cinema then as now lay in the lack of capital and the means of distribution to the public. Again the book examines the situation at the time and contrasts the small studio distributor system in the UK with the big studio system that existed in Hollywood. The idea of Art Cinema as a commercial enterprise became an unexpected reality bolstered by the activities of bright young actors writer and producers willing to take risks. We mustn't forget that this was the period that first brought Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Julie Christie, Tom Courtney, Alan Bates and Michael Caine came to prominence. On the directorial side figures of the stature of Lindsey Anderson, Kubrick, Tony Richardson and Ken Russell started getting public notice.

Throughout the book the influences that general cultural changes had on cinema are discussed, thus we see how it was possible to have a more liberal attitude to sex and the portrayal of sex in films such as 'The World Ten Times Over ' and 'The Pumpkin Eater' were female sexuality is daringly exposed to an up to then fairly conservative audiences. These films are mild by today's standards but they did have an impact at the time.

Social issues were also represented powerfully in films. Groundbreaking made for TV docu/drama
s such as Ken Loach's Cathy Come Home (1966) lead to a film sequel 'Poor Cow' (1967). This highlighted the problems of domestic violence, single parent families and homelessness. The point was clearly made that the political system could not cope with these issues and it's failure to do so made things worse, to some extent changes in the law followed the outcry that the films provoked. This thread was also seen in 'A Taste of Honey' (1961), 'Up The Junction' (1968) and many others.

Another strand of the book deals with the advent of British Crime dramas. These often gritty films such as Robbery (1967) and 'Payroll' exploited the notoriety of the of the infamous 60's crime underworld, the Kray twins behind the most well known. A more frivolous look at crime was also provided by films like 'Two Way Stretch' (1960) starring Peter Sellers and 'The Italian Job' (1969)

We mustn't think that 60's films were solely about serious social issues. The sixties also gave us a vibrant pop youth culture, which again found its expression in cinema. The book examines how the idea of Swinging London was prominent in many films of the time. 'Blow Up', 'Alfie', The Knack' and 'Georgy Girl' are cited as examples of how filmmaker began to see London as a cultural centre for new idea, new fashion and innovative music in this period.

The new idea of British style and coolness was also seen in more escapist film projects like the James Bond franchise, which began with Dr No in 1962. If the Bond films were pandering to a more Hollywood idea of filmmaking the Harry Palmer films 'The Ipcress File', 'Funeral In Berli
n' and the Le Carre adaptations 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold' and 'The Looking Glass war' were very more British in their nature but still retained this idea of cool. Even period films and historical dramas like 'Far From The Madding Crowd' and 'Tom Jones' seem to exude a very British sixties cool.

One of the off shoots of the Bond films was also the brilliant spoof 'Carry On Spying' (1964) and it is pointed out in the book that the 60's were also a golden period for British comedy. In a chapter titled 'Frying Tonight' a reference to another Carry On? from the period 'Carry On Screaming' Murphy goes in to some detail in tracing the roots of British film comedy to the early music hall days and explaining how the 60's saw the end of the cosy comedies that had typified the Ealing/Boulton brothers films of the 40's and 50's. The sixties saw a harder edge to comedy, on one end of the spectrum were the cheeky rather risky for their time Carry on films and at the other end were the darker films like Dr Strangelove again although poles apart in their themes both these types of film were very much rooted in their time and on one hand expressed burgeoning sexuality and sexual liberation and on the other a much more politicised audience, which with the background of Viet Nam and the CND was looking increasingly to popular culture music and film as an expression of deep set dissatisfaction with the establishment.

Another important element of British cinema that came to prominence and thrived in the sixties was British Horror. This phenomenon is covered in the chapter titled 'Other Worlds'. Hammer studios are given pride of place as being the
most visible exponents of this new trend. However Hammer competitors such as Anglo-Amalgamated who were responsible for such films as the excellent 'Peeping Tom', 'Circus of Horrors' and (in collaboration with American studios) the Roger Corman Poe adaptations including 'Masque of the Red Death' and 'The Raven' are also devoted due respect. Alongside the boom in British Horror the sixties also gave us a distinctive form of British Sci-fi films Fahrenheit 451(1966) and '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1969) seem to be the obvious examples but Murphy reminds us that while these are always quoted are breakthrough films really that accolade in term of British Sci-Fi should rest with earlier films such as 'Day Of The Triffids' (1962) and the lesser known 'The Night Caller (1965), Invasion (1962) and Unearthly Stranger (1963).

OVERALL

As a huge fan of this period I found this book extremely. Robert Murphy's style is serious, slightly academic but very engaging and informative. He covers the subject in some detail for a work that is aimed at the general reader but I don?t think even someone coming to the subject for the first time would feel left behind by his analysis.

Murphy manages to bring in to context this exciting period in British film history with wider cultural and social changes that were taking place. It does help if the reader is familiar with the films that he's discussing but of course if you are not this would present a great opportunity to discover for the first time or even re-discover them from a new more informed point of view.

Each of the chapters feels like a distinct analysis in it's own right so the book can be dipped into as a wor
k of reference. It is also very well illustrated with very evocative black and white stills from many of the films and also included at the back of the book is an indispensable Appendix titled 'A Guide To 1960's Britain'. In this listed by each year, are Murphy's picks of the most significant films and major events of the decade.

Murphy's own outlook on the period is rather reverential and could possibly be rather more objective about the worth of some of the film and their general place in a wider context of sixties cinema. He is looking at the 60's as a 'golden age' and it is a forceful argument that he makes certainly in the mid to late 70's the British film industry had collapsed both financially and artistically.

If you are coming to the book as a more serious student of the subject the book represents a great starting point for a more in depth exploration. It is very clearly annotated throughout and includes chapter-by-chapter references that would allow you to refer to other sources.

In short I would highly recommend this book for British film buffs and potentially it is an interesting read to anyone else with even a passing interest in British films.

'Sixties British Cinema' by Richard Murphy, published by the BFI is available in paperback (354 pages) from Amazon.co.uk for £15.99 (+ p&p)

Thank you for reading and rating this review.

© Mauri 2004

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