Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC

[colinr0380]

this box will make my life complete...at least until the BFI makes an equally massive Dennis Potter set

That would be a big set. Even if you leave out the ITV work (some of which is available on DVD already) and the TV serials (also some, but not all, out on DVD) and stick to the BBC single plays, I make it nineteen separate plays. Another two are lost (The Confidence Course and Message for Posterity, though the latter was remade in 1997 and that survives). Blue Remembered Hills, Brimstone and Treacle and the two Nigel Barton plays are on DVD in The Essential Dennis Potter, a 13-disc DVD set. Another one, The Bonegrinder, was a Rediffusion production, so could possibly be licensed the same way as the Clarke Half Hour Stories were, so that would be twenty. I don't know if all of these could be licensed and what the state of materials is (and how many were shot on film, and might benefit from Blu-ray, and how many on video), but that would be an impressive set if it ever happened.

Another writer who was often thought of as on a par with Potter at the time, now somewhat neglected (he died in 1980) is David Mercer. Again, quite a body of work, even if you stick to the BBC productions, though some of them are lost. As far as I know, the only one currently available on DVD is In Two Minds, which is part of the six-disc Ken Loach at the BBC DVD set.

Sorry to take this further away from Alan Clarke but re: Potter, I think the most pressing thing to get out would be the only theatrical feature that he directed - Secret Friends from 1991 starring Alan Bates. It had a VHS release and was shown once on Channel 4 back in 1994 but has fallen into obscurity and become almost impossible to see now. I'd like to hope that it would be perfect fodder for the BFI to do an edition of (even a Flipside, even though its early 90s rather than 60s and 70s!), though I have no idea about the rights situation for it.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Re similar universes to the Clarkonian perhaps Clio Barnard might be a worthwhile stop-off.

[MichaelB]

Re similar universes to the Clarkonian perhaps Clio Barnard might be a worthwhile stop-off.

Yes, especially The Arbor. Although I'd strongly recommend watching Rita, Sue and Bob Too beforehand, as it will significantly enrich the experience of watching Barnard's film - the quotations from and the interviews about that film make much more sense if you can mentally summon up the rest of it as well.

And of course there are quite a few recent British films that were openly influenced by Clarke - the directorial debuts of former Clarke actors Phil Davis (i.d.), Gary Oldman (Nil by Mouth) and Tim Roth (The War Zone) being particularly obvious candidates. And although Peter Mullan has denied that he was particularly influenced by Clarke when he made Orphans and Neds (and he tends to go more down a magical-realist route than Clarke ever did), they're still ploughing very similar furrows.

[kidc85]

Re: Dennis Potter availability

For those in the UK the BBC's online store has a large chunk of his work for them available for download, including a whole bunch of stuff that has never been available on DVD: DOUBLE DARE, BLACKEYES, BEAST WITH TWO BACKS, ANGELS ARE SO FEW, SON OF ADAM etc

https://store.bbc.com/collections/denni ... at-the-bbc
https://store.bbc.com/collections/adapt ... nis-potter

It depends what you mean by "a Clarke fan". What have you seen?

Scum and Made In Britain

... I'd assumed that you were a massive Clarke fan, but you've only seen two of his films? What is it that's made you obscenely excited about this?

[MichaelB]

It depends what you mean by "a Clarke fan". What have you seen?

Scum and Made In Britain

... I'd assumed that you were a massive Clarke fan, but you've only seen two of his films? What is it that's made you obscenely excited about this?

I hope it's not the impression that all of Clarke's work is going to be anything like those two!

One of the problems with Clarke's image over the last thirty or forty years is because the likes of Scum, Made in Britain and The Firm have been so disproportionately easy to get hold of, this creates the impression that he was primarily interested in ultra-masculine studies of disaffected male youths. As I said many pages earlier, he was an extraordinarily sensitive director of women, particularly in leading performances, but you'd never pick this up from those three (not even The Firm, for all the undoubted excellence of Lesley Manville's performance).

And then there's the classic literary adaptations, the male-female two-handers, the overtly political stuff (about the military, capital punishment, eastern European exiles, the Troubles)...

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

In the vein of Clarke's cinema of Rage another worthwhile exploration might be the Scottish writer Peter McDougall's output, principally dealing with sectarian violence, unemployment and disaffection in 70's Glasgow directed by John McKenzie. The best of these 'Just another Saturday night' 'Just a Boy's Game' and 'Just another Saturday Night' are conveniently available on the Peter McDougall BBC DVD collection

[Robin Davies]

If only David Rudkin's work could be collected that would be quite some feat.

Hear hear. Penda's Fen is more Rudkinesque than Clarkeian so I hope it prompts releases of Across the Water, White Lady and others.

[antnield]

Sorry to take this further away from Alan Clarke but re: Potter, I think the most pressing thing to get out would be the only theatrical feature that he directed - Secret Friends from 1991 starring Alan Bates. It had a VHS release and was shown once on Channel 4 back in 1994 but has fallen into obscurity and become almost impossible to see now. I'd like to hope that it would be perfect fodder for the BFI to do an edition of (even a Flipside, even though its early 90s rather than 60s and 70s!), though I have no idea about the rights situation for it.

It's available to rent (in HD) on the BFI Player.

[MichaelB]

In the vein of Clarke's cinema of Rage another worthwhile exploration might be the Scottish writer Peter McDougall's output, principally dealing with sectarian violence, unemployment and disaffection in 70's Glasgow directed by John McKenzie. The best of these 'Just another Saturday night' 'Just a Boy's Game' and 'Just another Saturday Night' are conveniently available on the Peter McDougall BBC DVD collection

And talking of John Mackenzie, his portrait of Jimmy Boyle, A Sense of Freedom, isn't that far removed from Clarke's universe either - and that's finally come out on DVD with the original Glaswegian soundtrack as opposed to the watered-down dub that it was saddled with for most of its existence. (That's included as well, but it's worthless, not least because the picture of that version is seriously cropped as well.)

[Alan Clarke]

... I'd assumed that you were a massive Clarke fan, but you've only seen two of his films? What is it that's made you obscenely excited about this?

Yes, that's right, I am a massive fan. How does the quantity of the films of his I have seen affect my admiration for him?

I hope it's not the impression that all of Clarke's work is going to be anything like those two!

No MichaelB..just no. I am VERY well aware of the versatility of Clarke. In fact, the films I am most excited about seeing are Diane and Christine, two films that feature female leads. I ain't expecting 'I'm the daddy' with this set, and I don't know why you lot would assume that. I read very brief synopsis on the films included in this boxset. I expect an adventure that'll take me from the confines of George's Room, stopping off to admire the landscape of Worcestershire while finishing Russia. I know what i'm in for thanks. In fact, I imagine the only uber masculine films in the set are The Firm and the original version of Scum, and that's great because variety is the spice of life. Bring on the female protagonists, bring on the pagan horrors, bring on the period films, bring on the Northern Irish murders. As long as the heart and realism and grit is all there, i'm all for it.
I'm not stupid you know!

Re similar universes to the Clarkonian perhaps Clio Barnard might be a worthwhile stop-off.

Yes, especially The Arbor. Although I'd strongly recommend watching Rita, Sue and Bob Too beforehand, as it will significantly enrich the experience of watching Barnard's film - the quotations from and the interviews about that film make much more sense if you can mentally summon up the rest of it as well.

And of course there are quite a few recent British films that were openly influenced by Clarke - the directorial debuts of former Clarke actors Phil Davis (i.d.), Gary Oldman (Nil by Mouth) and Tim Roth (The War Zone) being particularly obvious candidates. And although Peter Mullan has denied that he was particularly influenced by Clarke when he made Orphans and Neds (and he tends to go more down a magical-realist route than Clarke ever did), they're still ploughing very similar furrows.

Don't forget Samantha Morton's exceptional debut, The Unloved. That's very Clarkesonian too.

[MichaelB]

Yes, that's right, I am a massive fan. How does the quantity of the films of his I have seen affect my admiration for him?

I'm just surprised that a self-confessed "massive fan" (and someone who's been banging on repeatedly about his credentials in that department) has only seen two of them, given the volume of Clarke's output. True, much of it has been very hard to see, but the other two features and The Firm have been easy enough to track down of late. I'm particularly surprised that you haven't seen the latter.

[manicsounds]

Many of the essays are heavy on the spoilers. You're far better off watching the films cold and then tearing into the essays straight afterwards.

Nick Wrigley found The Masters of Cinema Series in 2004 and has been dreaming about this Alan Clarke set for the last 16 years.

Brilliant. Dreams can come true!

[Alan Clarke]

Yes, that's right, I am a massive fan. How does the quantity of the films of his I have seen affect my admiration for him?

I'm just surprised that a self-confessed "massive fan" (and someone who's been banging on repeatedly about his credentials in that department) has only seen two of them, given the volume of Clarke's output. True, much of it has been very hard to see, but the other two features and The Firm have been easy enough to track down of late. I'm particularly surprised that you haven't seen the latter.

I wanted to wait until I could see it properly on blu ray, MichaelB. I knew there would be a time where it would be available in high definition. Same with Rita Sue and Bob Too. I tend to wait thing out, hoping/knowing that there will be presentations that will do them justice. I've actually had The Firm on DVD for several years, but just felt like I could feel a lovingly crafted Alan Clarke boxset coming on where the presentation will be superb...and my intuition was right. It's the same reason why i'm going to wait another few years for the rest of Samuel Fuller's output to be presented on blu ray. So I can see these films for what they truly are.

Trust me, theres no bigger Alan Clarke fan than me.

[domino harvey]

Most relevant Best Show bit imaginable

[Alan Clarke]

Most relevant Best Show bit imaginable

Sorry but what's the Foo Fighters got to do with this?

[MichaelB]

Trust me, theres no bigger Alan Clarke fan than me.

Give it a rest. You sounded unconvincing even before you revealed that you'd only seen two Clarke films (and his best-known films at that), and now you're just sounding ridiculous.

A true Clarke fan would have been spending the past few years tracking down and devouring as much as he possibly could, regardless of whether it was a pristine Blu-ray, an ancient DVD, an off-air recording from the 1980s (or the 1991 Clarke TV retrospective, from which many of my own copies hail), a timecoded VHS viewing session at the BFI National Archive or a pirated rip floating around online backchannels. Do you really think that you're a bigger Clarke fan than, say, Richard Kelly (author of that amazing 1988 oral biography), Dave Rolinson (author of what is currently the definitive critical study of his work), Sam Dunn (mastermind of the BFI project), Lizzie Francke (who organised the first proper Clarke festival retrospective), Nick Wrigley (our very own peerpee), most of the contributors to the BFI project and former colleagues of Clarke's who've been holding a torch for him ever since his death?

I consider myself a pretty huge Clarke fan, but I can't hold a candle to their achievement.

Sorry but what's the Foo Fighters got to do with this?

"You're their biggest fan, and you're not sure what their names are?"

[Dr Amicus]

I've seen Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire. Twice. And that, rather shamefully, is that. It now appears that makes me a fan...


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[tenia]

Don't scare him away guys, I've been having such a ball since he arrived !

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

For what it's worth I offered 12 DVDr rips of the major titles for free on this forum for people who wanted a taster and there were no takers.

[calculus entrophy]

Trust me, theres no bigger Alan Clarke fan than me.

Rupert! What are you doing down there???!!!!

[Alan Clarke]

Trust me, theres no bigger Alan Clarke fan than me.

Give it a rest. You sounded unconvincing even before you revealed that you'd only seen two Clarke films (and his best-known films at that), and now you're just sounding ridiculous.

A true Clarke fan would have been spending the past few years tracking down and devouring as much as he possibly could, regardless of whether it was a pristine Blu-ray, an ancient DVD, a timecoded VHS viewing session at the BFI National Archive or a pirated rip floating around online backchannels. Do you really think that you're a bigger Clarke fan than, say, Richard Kelly (author of that amazing 1988 oral biography), Dave Rolinson (author of what is currently the definitive critical study of his work), Sam Dunn (mastermind of the BFI project), Lizzie Francke (who organised the first proper Clarke festival retrospective), Nick Wrigley (our very own peerpee), most of the contributors to the BFI project and former colleagues of Clarke's who've been holding a torch for him ever since his death?

I consider myself a pretty huge Clarke fan, but I can't hold a candle to their achievement.

Sorry but what's the Foo Fighters got to do with this?

"You're their biggest fan, and you're not sure what their names are?"

MichaelB...you best tone it down. These guys have contributed memoirs, restorations etc, and that's brilliant, it really is. However, you have to bear in mind that these people, unlike myself, got PAID for the restorations, biographies, festivals etc. They have access to materials, etc. This does not make them bigger fans of Clarke than myself.

And you are completely wrong when you say a true Clarke fan would have tried watching whatever rubbish print of his works is available ..it's the other way around. A TRUE Clarke fan would have waited and requested various times (like I did) that the man's work be treated with the respect that it deserves so that people like myself, you know, the consumers who are actually paying for this boxset rather than being handed freebies, can see the films the way they are meant to be seen.

Also, a TRUE Clarke fan would be inspired enough by him to film their own content that's heavily influenced by his form and style. You see, i actually make short films/docs, myself, not just scribble about them, and i've been heavily influenced by Alan Clarke's realist sensibilities for awhile now, so theres no need to try and challenge my credentials and love for the man. Like I said, you and your cronies at the BFI get paid for the stuff you did, I made my shorts/docs with my OWN funding. Tell me, who's the real fan there?

I suggest you sit back and continue writing your articles instead of trying to challenge whether or not a big man like me is a big Alan Clarke fan or not.

[Matt]

Hey, it turns out I can still ban people. Sorry to spoil your fun, everyone.

[MichaelB]

That last post pushed my certainty that he was a troll from 99% to the full 100.

Although I love the hilariously deluded notion that everyone I mentioned was only in it for the money.

[tenia]

I watched 4 movies by Clarke. That makes me twice a bigger fan than you. I don't even have to dig deep to do that : The Firm, Elephant, Made in Britain and Scum are enough.

[MichaelB]

My wife's seen three, and she initially didn't even know who Clarke was. ("That bloke with the glasses?" "No, that's Alan Parker.")

I particularly relished the snort of derision that accompanied "Who the hell hasn't seen Rita, Sue and Bob Too?"

(To be fair, that applies more to people of her nationality and generation than it does right across the board, but she'd have been 19 or 20 when it came out, and she was pretty much squarely the target audience.)