"British Film Forever" Hardship, Humour and Heroes: The Story of British Realism (2007)

Director:

Angus Cameron

Writer:

Matthew Sweet (written by)

TV Series:

"British Film Forever" (2007)

Original Air Date:

11 August 2007 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Film History | Film Director | Film Production | British Film History | Literature

Cast

Jessica Hynes	...	Herself - Narrator (voice) (as Jessica Stevenson)
Philip Davis	...	Himself (as Phil Davis)
Mike Leigh	...	Himself (as Mike Leigh OBE)
Ken Loach	...	Himself
Johnny Vegas	...	Himself
Shauna Macdonald	...	Herself
Jamie Bell	...	Himself
Richard E. Grant	...	Himself (as Richard E Grant)
Ewan McGregor	...	Himself
Danny Boyle	...	Himself
Martin Compston	...	Himself
Jason Solomons	...	Himself
Peter Mullan	...	Himself
Malcolm McDowell	...	Himself
Sylvia Syms	...	Herself (as Sylvia Syms OBE)
Willy Russell	...	Himself
John Sergeant	...	Himself
Tony Richardson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Karel Reisz	...	Himself (archive footage)
Timothy Spall	...	Himself (as Timothy Spall OBE)
Alan Sillitoe	...	Himself
Shirley Anne Field	...	Herself
Nick Moran	...	Himself
Julian Fellowes	...	Himself
Walter Lassally	...	Himself
Rita Tushingham	...	Herself
Matthew Sweet	...	Himself
David Puttnam	...	Himself (as Lord David Puttnam)
Earl Cameron	...	Himself
Roy Ward Baker	...	Himself
Tony Garnett	...	Himself
John Mackenzie	...	Himself
David Bradley	...	Himself
Danny Baker	...	Himself
Colin Welland	...	Himself
Brian Glover	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Lester	...	Himself
Billy Bragg	...	Himself
Stephen Frears	...	Himself
Kim Newman	...	Himself
Phil Daniels	...	Himself
Tim Roth	...	Himself
Ruth Sheen	...	Herself
Terence Davies	...	Himself
Don Boyd	...	Himself
Paul O'Grady	...	Himself
Martin Freeman	...	Himself
Steve Furst	...	Himself
Gary Oldman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joel Haramath	...	Himself
Jane Horrocks	...	Herself
Pawel Pawlikowski	...	Himself
Richard Curtis	...	Himself (as Richard Curtis CBE)
Stephen Daldry	...	Himself (as Stephen Daldry CBE)

Directed by
Angus Cameron		(series director)

Writing credits
Matthew Sweet		(written by)

Produced by
Garry John Hughes	....	producer
Garry John Hughes	....	series producer
Caroline Julyan	....	archive producer
Rob Katschmaryk	....	talent producer
Ricky Kelehar	....	executive producer
Jon Kelly	....	assistant producer

Original Music by
Simon Lacey

Cinematography by
Joe Dyer

Film Editing by
John Edwards

Production Management
David Potter	....	production manager

Sound Department
Lindsey Green	....	dubbing mixer
David Harcombe	....	sound recordist
Mat Jackson	....	sound recordist
Ian Sands	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Jamie Cairney	....	camera operator
Conall Freeley	....	camera operator
John Halliday	....	camera operator
Mark Johnson	....	gaffer

Animation Department
Gareth Harrison	....	animator
Alan Smith	....	animator
James Torry	....	animator

Other crew
Asha Ali-Ismail	....	production team
Anna Amico	....	production team
Richard Binks	....	production team
Tessa Blakeley	....	production coordinator
Jo Clark	....	production team
Sophie Collins	....	production team
Andy Cooke	....	production team
Ben Cooke	....	production team
Rob Darlington	....	production team
Christopher Frayling	....	series consultant (as Sir Christopher Frayling)
Lindsey Hammond	....	production team
Mark Hannell	....	production executive
Stephanie Page	....	production team
Zoe Russell-Stretten	....	production team (as Zoe Russell-Stretton)
Allison Smith	....	production coordinator
Nuria Valado-Gamallo	....	production team
Roger White	....	specialist researcher
Cy Young	....	archive researcher

Sound Department
Rik Elliott	....	sound recordist (2007)

Production Companies

• BBC Manchester

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

BBC Manchester

Acceptable, Could Have Been Better

A fairly decent look at the most interesting period in British Cinema: late 50-late 70s. Important film makers like Lindsay Anderson, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Alan Clarke and others are discussed in some detail and numerous clips are provided. But the early part of the period is short-changed: only one brief shot from THIS SPORTING LIFE, nothing at all about LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER, for examples. At least one glaring inaccuracy: FLAME IN THE STREETS (1961) was not the first British film to deal with interracial romance, what about POOL OF London (1951)? A crime film, but it still presents the subject openly and Earl Cameron--who appears briefly for a comment--is featured in both films! The documentary jumps around too much chronologically and it may be confusing for newcomers. The narrator is often annoying in her dismissive tone. Why must earlier British films always be disparaged and stereotyped? There were many good films before the New Wave/Kitchen Sinkers came along.