Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC

[Alan Clarke]

Really? You'd want the set to be delayed even further and thus hurt whatever sales forecast it had going for it just to spite me, a customer who clearly wants to support the BFI. Great idea :-k

That was clearly a joke, and I suspect it's one that your namesake would have got, since he had a wicked sense of humour.

I'll find other films/shows to watch in the mean time, but I won't stand for anymore delays after this. I mean it.

It never ceases to amaze me just how militantly unreasonable some people can get over things like this. Some of us have waited over three decades for Clarke to have justice done to him on video - we can easily handle another fortnight. And given the amount of work that's gone into this set, and the fact that they were still filming and adding things right down to the wire, a delay that short is really pretty incredible.

Alan Clarke did have a wicked sense of humour, you are right, but I don't think the guy I quoted was joking, I think he was serious, unfortunately. Don't give him too much credit, MichaelB, people online have a way of being petty.

I admit that maybe my last comments were a bit too much. I can wait few days or whatever it is, but surely you can understand my frustration? I mean, had you guys said you were going to release the set in on June 9th, i'd have not said anything and just been like whatever. But its the constant date changes that I find winds me up the most because I just never know when it's truly coming.

But I respect you and your company, MichaelB. I did not mean to slander the BFI or yourself and will await this glorious high definition boxset with the patience of a saint.

[MichaelB]

Alan Clarke did have a wicked sense of humour, you are right, but I don't think the guy I quoted was joking, I think he was serious, unfortunately. Don't give him too much credit, MichaelB, people online have a way of being petty.

We've both been regular posters here for a decade, and I'm more than familiar with his sense of humour.

I admit that maybe my last comments were a bit too much. I can wait few days or whatever it is, but surely you can understand my frustration? I mean, had you guys said you were going to release the set in on June 9th, i'd have not said anything and just been like whatever. But its the constant date changes that I find winds me up the most because I just never know when it's truly coming.

There aren't "constant date changes" - there's been just one. The official release date is June 6th, which in practice means that you'll most likely get it that week depending on the retailer you're dealing with.

And I'm not "you guys" - I have no more involvement with this project than you have. In fact, I suspect that's why I was commissioned to write the Alan Clarke feature in Sight & Sound a couple of issues back, because all the other Clarke experts they knew would have had to declare a conflict of interest.

[Alan Clarke]

Alan Clarke did have a wicked sense of humour, you are right, but I don't think the guy I quoted was joking, I think he was serious, unfortunately. Don't give him too much credit, MichaelB, people online have a way of being petty.

We've both been regular posters here for a decade, and I'm more than familiar with his sense of humour.

I admit that maybe my last comments were a bit too much. I can wait few days or whatever it is, but surely you can understand my frustration? I mean, had you guys said you were going to release the set in on June 9th, i'd have not said anything and just been like whatever. But its the constant date changes that I find winds me up the most because I just never know when it's truly coming.

There aren't "constant date changes" - there's been just one. The official release date is June 6th, which in practice means that you'll most likely get it that week depending on the retailer you're dealing with.

And I'm not "you guys" - I have no more involvement with this project than you have. In fact, I suspect that's why I was commissioned to write the Alan Clarke feature in Sight & Sound a couple of issues back, because all the other Clarke experts they knew would have had to declare a conflict of interest.

I see. Well thanks for clearing this all up, MichaelB. I thought you were the one in charge of producing the boxset, however, but I am glad you have clarified that. I will look to read your Sound & Sight article, my friend.

By the way, what are the chances of the BFI doing a proper HD transfer of Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth?

[MichaelB]

I see. Well thanks for clearing this all up, MichaelB. I thought you were the one in charge of producing the boxset, however, but I am glad you have clarified that.

I have a direct link to the people who put the box set together, but no more than that.

By the way, what are the chances of the BFI doing a proper HD transfer of Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth?

I doubt they have the rights - as far as I can see, the Fox DVD is still in print.

[Alphonse Tram]

I'll find other films/shows to watch in the mean time, but I won't stand for anymore delays after this. I mean it.

I've been tracking down and collecting works of Alan Clarke in one format or another for nearly 30 years. Years and years of watching burned-in timecodes, 10th generation off-air copies, even an 8mm home recording, you name it! No one is more excited for this release than me. But I'd be happy to wait another year or more if it meant the BFI get this set exactly right. This is an extremely important release, much like the Arrow Borowczyk set, this will likely stand as the definitive statement of Clarke's career for many years to come. The fact that this set is even happening at all still amazes me, so I'm happy to wait for as long as it takes!

[der_Artur]

But if there are any Arrow releases that you want delayed, just let me know.

OK! Please delay "Human Condition" until October 4th, so it coincides with the 20th anniversary of Kobayashi's death.

[AidanKing]

The fact that this set is even happening at all still amazes me, so I'm happy to wait for as long as it takes!

I agree: it's much more important that the set be as good as it possibly can be and the fact that new material has been added so close to the release date is fantastic.

MichaelB's Sight and Sound article is great, by the way: it would have made an excellent addition to the book included with the set, but then I suppose Michael would have had to declare a conflict of interest and the article wouldn't have been published in the magazine in the first place.

[Roger Ryan]

To help hold some folks over, the BFI recently uploaded a video essay showcasing Alan Clarke's use of the Steadicam.

[criterion10]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but are *all* films in this set encoded in 50i? Just wondering what I will/will not be able to watch before I purchase proper Region Free Blu-Ray player (that can convert 50 to 60 hz).

[MichaelB]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but are *all* films in this set encoded in 50i? Just wondering what I will/will not be able to watch before I purchase proper Region Free Blu-Ray player (that can convert 50 to 60 hz).

As far as I'm aware, yes - they were all made for British television, so they'd all have been shot at 25fps.

[Big Ben]

Just as a heads up for people without a player for 50i content. It's possible to play these on your PC with the correct video player ( I use Cyberlink's PowerDVD for Blu-Rays) and 60hz monitor. The only real restriction is you'll have to worry about the region encoding. \:D/

To help hold some folks over, the BFI recently uploaded a video essay showcasing Alan Clarke's use of the Steadicam.

So excited to see what this set will bring.

[Emak-Bakia]

Any word on just how limited this set is? I'm really hoping I can hold-off purchasing it for another month or two. Normally I would feel pretty comfortable waiting a bit after release to pick-up a $140+ box set, but I suppose if this one's limited to only, say, 1,000 units, I wouldn't expect it to stick around long at all. I am encouraged, though, by the fact that most (all?) of BFI's recent blu-ray box sets advertised as limited editions (Dreyer, War Trilogy, Chaplin at Mutual, etc.) are still available (the first two over a year after their release dates.)

[Big Ben]

Two updates:

A short review from Socialist Review. It's interesting to see how people post about his films and react to them.

Here is a podcast featuring an interview with Clarke's daughter Molly Clarke, Phil Davies the actor and Clio Barnard the filmmaker. The actual Clarke part starts at about seventeen minutes in.

[Alan Clarke]

That review mentions nothing about PQ and SQ.

[bdsweeney]

That review mentions nothing about PQ and SQ.

Not surprising ... it is by Socialist Review. Surely you'd only expect a review that takes a political stance.

[Gregory]

For anyone unfamiliar with Socialist Review, this is the UK Socialist Workers Party (SWP), similar to the US International Socialist Organization (ISO) except that those two broke from each other some years ago, and the SWP has since been divided by fallout from a more recent rape scandal. One would have to draw a fairly complicated chart to keep track of all the faction fighting.

[Big Ben]

I'm no expert of reviewing but I'm guessing you'll have to wait a little while longer for one with something with some meat in it. MichaelB has given us a taste when he posted reviews about Penda's Fen and The Firm.

I thought those two things were interesting because they showed at least where Clarke appears to have been coming from and how he felt about his characters. The part in the podcast about "Show Us the Pig" was especially interesting to me because it showed me what kind of person he was with actors. I'm hoping the rest of the set is like that brief snippet in the podcast. I'm certain that I'm going to learn a lot from this set both as a young man and as an American. \:D/

[MichaelB]

Review copies have only just gone out, so there's no chance of an honest and accurate assessment of all thirteen discs just yet! A few months ago, it took me the better part of a fortnight just to get through the Clarke-directed material, never mind seventeen hours of extras - and I wasn't doing any kind of technical assessment.

I'm not sure why anyone would be bothered about the technical presentation anyway - it'll be an entirely accurate reflection of the original materials. It can't be overstressed just what a total labour of love this project is, so it's hardly likely that the BFI is going to drop the ball when it comes to the presentation of the main attractions - and of course this is supported by the reviews of the standalone editions of The Firm and Penda's Fen.

Put it like this: any technical defects are most likely going to be squarely down to either the low-budget original production circumstances or the effects of time on things like magnetic tape, which means that it's unlikely that anyone else is going to be able to do anything better (not that there's any chance of anyone else picking up this baton: it took the BFI long enough!). As Gary Tooze is fond of saying, "it is what it is".

[RossyG]

From Socialist Review:

"Bexy is the archetypal Thatcherite..."

"the right to strike is robustly asserted in Penda’s Fen"

"David Bowie giving a remarkable performance as the loathsome/seductive anti-bourgeois avatar."

Beyond parody.

[MichaelB]

That's quite mild compared with Socialist Review's excoriation of the Shadows of Progress documentary box!

While there are moments in a few of these capitalist propaganda exercises where the filmmakers have clearly tried to impose some outbreak of truth or formal experimentation, as a whole these films have the status of cultural toxic waste and the BFI should be ashamed of itself for giving a spurious significance to this detritus. I resented having to watch this shit in cinemas in the 1960s - 50 years later I resent even more being told that they are "inspired, ground-breaking and indispensable".

[RossyG]

Haha! I suspect Clarke's great sense of humour will be lost on that reviewer.

[Alan Clarke]

Review copies have only just gone out, so there's no chance of an honest and accurate assessment of all thirteen discs just yet! A few months ago, it took me the better part of a fortnight just to get through the Clarke-directed material, never mind seventeen hours of extras - and I wasn't doing any kind of technical assessment.

I'm not sure why anyone would be bothered about the technical presentation anyway - it'll be an entirely accurate reflection of the original materials. It can't be overstressed just what a total labour of love this project is, so it's hardly likely that the BFI is going to drop the ball when it comes to the presentation of the main attractions - and of course this is supported by the reviews of the standalone editions of The Firm and Penda's Fen.

Put it like this: any technical defects are most likely going to be squarely down to either the low-budget original production circumstances or the effects of time on things like magnetic tape, which means that it's unlikely that anyone else is going to be able to do anything better (not that there's any chance of anyone else picking up this baton: it took the BFI long enough!). As Gary Tooze is fond of saying, "it is what it is".

Oh I trust yourself and the BFI, MichaelB. Don't get me wrong. I very much trust you guys, it's still nice to have confirmation, you know? I'm spending an awful lot of money on this set so it's just reassurance on my part. But yes, the reviews for The Firm and Penda's Fen make me very optimistic about the set indeed. The screen shots for The Firm look astounding and Elephant appears to look beautiful too.

So much of his stuff I have yet to see that i'm looking forward to. Diane and Christine sound right up my street and I think those are the ones I am looking forward to watching the most. Road sounds like it could be great too.

[Big Ben]

I posted that review because it was simply a review. I'm quite excited for this set to come out you see.

Haha! I suspect Clarke's great sense of humour will be lost on that reviewer.

This isn't something I've seen posted about a lot given the occasional dourness of the source material. Is it common?

[domino harvey]

I feel like the user Alan Clarke is that guy who asks to see the manager at Wendy's because his salad doesn't look like the picture on the menu board

[manicsounds]

Rewind - DVD Compare on "The Firm"/"Elephant"