While postwar British cinema and the British new wave have received much scholarly attention, the misunderstood period of the 1970s has been comparatively ignored. Don’t Look Now uncovers forgotten but richly rewarding films, including Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and the films of Lindsay Anderson and Barney Platts-Mills. This volume offers insight into the careers of important filmmakers and sheds light on the genres of experimental film, horror, rock and punk films, as well as representations of the black community, shifts in gender politics, and adaptations of television comedies. The contributors ask searching questions about the nature of British film culture and its relationship to popular culture, television, and the cultural underground.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction by Paul Newland
Chapter 1: Keynote Lecture, Don’t Look Now: British Cinema in the 1970s
Conference, University of Exeter, July 2007
Sue Harper
Section I: Individuals and the Industry
Chapter 2: Stanley Baker and British Lion: A Cautionary Tale
Robert Shail
Chapter 3: Staccato and Wrenchingly Modern: Reflections on the 1970s Stardom of Glenda Jackson
Melanie Williams
Section II: On the Margins of British Cinema
Chapter 4: Alternative Film Exhibition in the English Regions during the 1970s
Vincent Porter
Chapter 5: Multiple Voices: The Silent Cry and Artists’ Moving Image in the 1970s
William Fowler
Chapter 6: On the Margins: Anthony Simmons, The Optimists of Nine Elms and Black Joy
Josie Dolan and Andrew Spicer
Chapter 7: We Know Where We’re Going, We Know Where We’re From: Babylon
Paul Newland
Section III: Anxiety and Alienation, Deviance and Desire
Chapter 8: The Power to Create Catastrophe: The Idea of Apocalypse in 1970s British Cinema
Peter Hutchings
Chapter 9: Hideous Sexy: The Eroticized Body and Deformity in 1970s British Horror Films
Peri Bradley
Chapter 10: Masculinity and Deviance in British Cinema of the 1970s: Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll in The Wicker Man, Tommy and The Rocky Horror Picture Show
E. Anna Claydon
Chapter 11: ‘The “lack” and How to Get It’: Reading Male Anxiety in A Clockwork Orange, Tommy and The Man Who Fell to Earth
Justin Smith
Section IV: British Cinema and Television
Chapter 12: The Last Studio System: A Case for British Television Films
Dave Rolinson
Chapter 13: ‘Pre-sold to Millions’: The Sitcom Films of the 1970s
Adrian Garvey
Chapter 14: Class, Nostalgia and Newcastle: Contested Space in TheLikely Lads
Paul Williams
Chapter 15: Hovis, Ovaltine, Mackeson’s and the Days of Hope Debate
Amy Sargeant
Section V: British Films and British Filmakers
Chapter 16: ‘What is there to Smile At?’ Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man!
John Izod, Karl Magee, Kathryn Mackenzie and Isabelle Gourdin
Chapter 17: Dead Ends and Private Roads: The 1970s Films of Barney Platts-Mills
James Leggott
Chapter 18: Landscape Gardens in The Ruling Class
Mark Broughton
Chapter 19: Beneath the Surface: Nicolas Reog’s Don’t Look Now
Andrew Patch
Notes on Contributors
Index