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Re- the running time of 'The Other Side of the Underneath' (Jane Arden 1972).

In his Guardian review of 15th February 1973 - entitles 'Women, beware women' - Derek Malcolm clearly states: 'This is an extraordinary melange of imagery and argument which traces, IN OVER TWO HOURS, the course of a woman's breakdown...' (My capital letters).
So where do we get 107 minutes from? Surely if Derek Malcolm saw a print that was over two hours long for reviewing then it wasn't the one on the new BFI DVD.

Was I just single malt drunk the other night, or did I see an FBI warning on insertion of one of these Blu-rays?

peerpee wrote:Was I just single malt drunk the other night, or did I see an FBI warning on insertion of one of these Blu-rays?

Indeed you did! Did they expand jurisdiction?

Maybe it's just the same organisation? Same letters.

cdnchris wrote:

peerpee wrote:Was I just single malt drunk the other night, or did I see an FBI warning on insertion of one of these Blu-rays?

Indeed you did! Did they expand jurisdiction?

I always felt that the UK needed a federal police force, something between ordinary cops and secret services =D>

DVD Times (Separation Blu-ray).

With apologies to the fine folks behind Masters of Cinema, the reality as I see it is that the BFI's release of Separation is the single most interesting development in UK home entertainment this year. It's like the DVD/Blu-ray deities have suddenly dropped an unopened and undisturbed time capsule from the sky, having taken time to first polish it to near-perfection. I'm quick to add that such excitement isn't just to do with the quality of the film, but also its availability. We home viewers sometimes think a new release of an older movie that's already been made available in another country or one that had been put out on VHS or even had television showings is cause for celebration. And while that certainly can be and often is true, having something as fascinating as Separation that can now be watched and purchased for the first time in many people's lifetimes is enormously exciting, like opening a door that no one at all could have entered earlier.

Wait til Clydefro sees COMRADES! -- It's the best film and disc I've seen all year. An amazing achievement (by Bill Douglas and the BFI) that will now finally be able to get its due. I can't think of many better British films in the last 40 years.

Separation Blu-ray review

Great Blu-ray.

And I think I like the film. It's certainly sticking with me. Intrigued by the other Bond/Arden titles and looking forward to going through those.

Blu-ray.com (The Other Side of the Underneath)

The Other Side of the Underneath is a film Dusan Makavejev would have loved to direct. It is controversial, provocative and very, very disturbing.

I've been interested in getting the first two films (you know, whenever, in good time), despite not having heard of the filmmakers before this thread, but after reading that latest review, I HAVE to get all three ASAP. My next order from Amazon UK will be all three Blu-Rays (plus GAZWRX) - consider me sold on these.

In response to the enthusiasm above for 'Separation' (Jack Bond 1967), an interesting companion piece would be 'Four In The Morning', made two years earlier by writer/director Anthony Simmons. Like 'Separation' it stars Ann Lynn, alongside Judy Dench and Norman Rodway, and is set in London; there are lots of wonderful black and white shots of the Thames. The film also has very little plot and explores two troubled relationships. It is a surprisingly dark film with some uncomfortable scenes in a morgue. In the booklet for the 2008 DVD release of the film (Odeon: Best of British Collection) Simmons says that he and the cast were aware of the improvised films of John Cassavetes and made much of the dialogue up on the set or on location in rehearsal; some scenes in 'Separation' seem clearly improvised or at least unscripted.

Perhaps Ann Lynn brought a lot to 'Separation' after her experience on 'Four In The Morning'. Both films are timely reminders of a very interesting actor, who appeared on stage alongside Albert Finney in Jane Arden's 'The Party' in 1958 (directed by Charles Laughton in his last appearance on the London stage) and later memorably in 'The Other Side of the Underneath' (Jane Arden 1972).

I feel I should point out that I got The Other Side of the Underneath and had issues playing it on my PS3. I guess there's something on here that's briefly in PAL and the PS3 freaks out and cancels playback. Apparently other players just skip it. I think it's just an intro title before going to the main menu but I haven't been able to figure out how to skip it.

EDIT: This is apparently only if you've updated your firmware to something like 2.7 or higher.

That'd be ironic if it were the PAL FBI warning. What a shame.

I got the latest firmware for my PS3 and double checked my Other Side of the Underneath disc and it now plays back.

Any opinions on which verion of The Other Side of the Underneath to watch first?

I get the impression it's gonna upset me either way, but I'm brave.

Mondo Digital on all three discs. Helpfully, he also answers the previous question by saying that:

(As a result, this alternate cut runs well over two hours, which might be too much for most people’s sensibilities.)

There's an interesting claim in this article in The Guardian today. When Beeban Kidron was making her first feature (Vroom which I have seen) she was told that she was only the third woman to direct a feature in Britain. So the two previous ones were Sally Potter for The Gold Diggers and before her Jane Arden for The Other Side of the Underneath?

(That should probably have said "solo-direct", otherwise Laura Mulvey would count.)

But is that true? Was The Other Side of the Underneath not just the only British feature solely directed by a woman in the 1970s, but the first ever? I have to admit I can't think of any earlier ones.

Nah, it's bollocks. There certainly weren't many British female feature directors before Kidron came along, but there were more than two - you could double the list simply by adding Jill Craigie and Wendy Toye.

Thanks. I'd forgotten about Wendy Toye - and wasn't aware she was still alive (unlike Arden and Craigie).

I just read a review at DiscDish about the U.S. release http://tinyurl.com/yz2hs8h" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jamie Reynolds from the British band Klaxons has made a short documentary on Jack Bond for vbs.tv. Part 1 and Part 2

I loved Separation, but I'm somewhat unsure about Anti-Clock and The Other Side of the Underneath. Should I give them a try anyway?

I wasn't expecting at all what I got out of The Other Side of the Underneath. For some reason I thought it would be similar to Jane Campion not Kenneth Anger (with a dash of Lewis Carroll). At first I think I found it obnoxious, but starting with the scene where she talks to the therapist I believe I began to get it. It's a far sadder film than I could have ever expected being absolutely crushed by the experience. Did Arden suffer from mental problems in real life, because moments felt absolutely documentary to me. The entire film is so great that I'll just have to get the other two on my next UK purchase.

knives wrote:Did Arden suffer from mental problems in real life, because moments felt absolutely documentary to me.

She committed suicide, which by definition suggests a "yes".