Book Review: Behind The Scenes At The BBFC
In a week when the BBFC once again found itself in the headlines, with its updated research on sexual violence in films published, to a huge press and, particularly, online hubbub, it’s been fascinating dipping in to Behind The Scenes At The BBFC (BFI), a weighty, near-coffee table-sized tome just published to mark the 100th [...]
Click here for more >A Unique Experience
His comments and thoughts range from the inspirational to the completely barking, moving from the forthcoming Olympics to telepathy, by way of primitive synthesisers and the contemporary art world. He’s well into his 80s, and dressed in a manner that can only be described as “outlandish”; it’s impossible not to like Bruce Lacey, artist, sometime [...]
Click here for more >Give It Some Wallop…
This, noted celebrated writer and bon viveur Robin Turner (one of the driving forces behind the excellent Caught By The River website and its assorted offshoots), is a vision of what pubs used to be like… Speaking at the launch of Roll Out The Barrel, the latest archive collection of odds and sods from the [...]
Click here for more >None More Black
Regular readers of this website or The Raygun newsletter will know of our admiration for the BFI’s marvellous Flipside imprint, the label dedicated to unearthing lost and forgotten classics, often with a particularly sleazy bent, and predominantly from the 1960s and 1970s. It’s done it again with its next batch. As well as Nightbirds, a [...]
Click here for more >Celebrating Ken…
We’ve already had plenty on Ken Russell’s wonderful The Devils, a film that, some 40 years after it was initially released, is finally being done justice thanks to the BFI’s March 19 DVD bow for the classic. But it’s interesting to note that the launch of the film, as well as the accompanying marketing (as [...]
Click here for more >Private On Parade
More from the ever-wonderful Flipside imprint from the BFI, which has once again been scouring the darker recesses of the British film industry to unearth another lost treasure. And once again it has come up with a belter from the seedier side of the UK’s illustrious movie history. Her Private Hell is another gem, a [...]
Click here for more >Flipping The Script
We’ve long been praising the BFI’s Flipside label, and, as we noted here recently, don’t just take our word for it – the likes of Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Nicolas Winding Refn, the man behind drive, and such luminaries as Kim Newman, have all been praising its output. To mark the release of [...]
Click here for more >Course You Can Malcolm
We’ve oft stated our affection for the BFI’s wonderful Flipside label, the imprint dedicated to unearthing lost treasures from British cinema history; forgotten classics presented in sumptuous dual format editions, complete with comprehensive extras and booklets. There’s a flurry of activity involving the Flipside in the coming weeks, as it presents a batch of new [...]
Click here for more >An Open Letter To The BFI…
We found this on MovieMail’s website, in the section selling the forthcoming BFI release The Complete Humphrey Jennings Volume One The First Days (due on September 19) and loved it. Yes, it’s a little over the top, but it illustrates so many things – the devotion that a film-maker like Jennings inspires, as well as [...]
Click here for more >Children Of The Scala
Many who grew up watching films at London’s legendary Scala cinema – or at least wishing they could go or were there – are alive and well and running DVD labels, as the Scala Forever season proves. The Raygun, once a devotee of everything from its Laurel and Hardy days and pre-Christmas It’s A Wonderful [...]
Click here for more >Get Together Round The Old Joanna…
More than 40 years ago, director and multi-hyphenate Mike Sarne made his debut feature film, Joanna, for 20th Century Fox. A quintessential Swinging Sixties affair, shot in London and chock full of quirky ideas, the film soon fell by the wayside, becoming a forgotten classic that few remembered. Until, that is, it was rescued from [...]
Click here for more >Silence Is Golden
We’ve oft extolled the virtues of the BFI’s June 20 release The Great White Silence. It’s just had a theatrical release ahead of its dual format release. It really is an outstanding title. Originally released in 1924, but filmed more than 10 years prior to that by Herbert Ponting, it follows Captain Scott’s ill-fated, doomed [...]
Click here for more >Something For The Connoisseurs
The BFI has long been associated with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, a man who deserves the “legendary” epithet if ever there were one, and its release of a box set of his earlier films, called, not unsurprisingly, Early Kurosawa, sees it further adding to its already impressive catalogue of the great man’s works. What’s more, [...]
Click here for more >Working For The Common Good
It has drawn acclaim for its groundbreaking work with documentaries about British life and 20th century history viewed through a lens; on the eve of the latest large scale documentary project, we talk to the BFI about its ongoing collections chronicling a bygone era… With multidisc box set releases, theatrical tours, accompanying books and paraphernalia, [...]
Click here for more >Top 10 Bestselling BFI Flipside Titles
The BFI’s Flipside label is one of our favourite imprints around, we’ve been immersing ourselves in its delights recently. The label offers up lost gems, hidden classics from British cinema, predominantly from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. And while not being the same, there is a common theme, if only the fact that they are [...]
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