Flipside - Cult British Cinema - BFI Player
Revisiting the many British films that have fallen through the cracks, this Flipside collection favours the overlooked, the sidelined and the undervalued.
With cult favourites from the BFI’s Flipside DVD label – and more besides - the collection offers rare films from directors who merit attention, plus little seen performances from accomplished British actors as Helen Mirren and John Hurt.
With cult favourites from the BFI’s Flipside DVD label – and more besides - the collection offers rare films from directors who merit attention, plus little seen performances from accomplished British actors as Helen Mirren and John Hurt.
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30 titles
- DirectorSidney HayersStarsSuzy KendallFrank FinlayFreddie JonesAfter one schoolgirl is raped while taking a short cut through the local woods, and another is murdered in the same woods a few days later, the local police are baffled. With the help of a reporter from one of the local papers, and against the wishes of a psychologist at the local hospital, a young teacher at the school the girls attended uses herself as bait to lure the perpetrator out. Could it be the creepy husband of the head mistress at the school, the psychologist who seems to be taking an unusual interest in the case, or something altogether more sinister?
- DirectorIan MerrickStarsDonald SumpterDebbie FarringtonMarjorie YatesA gung-ho ex-military man pursues a secret life of crime, culminating in the kidnapping of a teenage heiress.
- DirectorStanley A. LongStarsAnthony NigelPeter MarinkerDick HaydonOn their way home from the Isle of Wight Pop Festival, Jeff, Trev, and Mick, with girlfriends Marty and Cathy, decide to pitch a tent on private land. In the morning the land's owner Rafe finds them and orders them to leave, but he changes his mind when one of the girls emerges nude form the tent. Explaining that he only comes down to the house on weekends, Rafe says they can stay if they redecorate his house. The squatters agree, but once Rafe leaves, they decide to organize a pop festival at the house. The men try to force their girlfriends to make a blue movie to raise the cash. When this proves disastrous, Jeff goes to London and poses as a pop journalist so he can book the groups "Crazy Mabel" and "The Juicy Lucy" for the festival.
- DirectorBarney Platts-MillsStarsDel WalkerAnne GoodingSam ShepherdDel and his friends agree to take part in a robbery with a boy fresh from the borstal. When Del falls in love with Irene they decide to run away from their nagging parents - and the law.
- DirectorJohn KrishStarsAnthony Farrar-HockleyWilfrid BrambellRay BrooksDocudrama, made for Military Intelligence, about what it was like to be a British prisoner of the North Koreans in the 1950-1953 war.
- DirectorRalph ThomasStarsRichard JohnsonElke SommerSylva KoscinaBritish agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsPeter BoyleMiguel SandovalChristopher EcclestonDetective Lonnrot declares war on the notorious outlaw Red Scharlach, after the outlaw has pulled of daring robbery. The mysterious murder of a Talmudic priest provides Lonnrot with a clue.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJane AsherJohn Moulder-BrownKarl Michael Vogler15-year-old dropout Mike takes a job at Newford Baths, where inappropriate sexual behaviour abounds, and becomes obsessed with his coworker Susan.
- DirectorJoseph DespinsWilliam DumaresqStarsKit GleaveErna MayWilliam DumaresqAn intense and bizarre study of obsession that is by turns lyrical and disconcerting, Duffer tells the deranged story of a teenage boy torn between the womanly charms of a kindly prostitute, and the relentless, sadistic attentions of an older man.
- DirectorStuart CooperStarsJohn HurtJohn McEneryDavid WarnerAn art student is thrown out of college. Depressed, he comes up with the Party of Dynamic Erection, a near-fascist "party" that promotes male sexual dominance, and which attracts a couple of other unsavory confused characters.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsRosamund GreenwoodRoy EvansDavid PughThe film concerns an elderly couple played by Rosamund Greenwood and Roy Evans, who we later discover to be brother and sister, who accidentally run over and kill a young cyclist played by David Pugh on a lonely northern moor - but instead of reporting the incident to the police the woman decides to take the corpse home with them. There she dresses him in the clothes of a second brother, killed in the Second World War, shows him her photo-albums, and tries to engage him in conversation. Her brother, meanwhile, gathers wood to build a coffin. Greenwood has the only speaking part in the movie and largely carries it; she gives a subtle, heart-rending performance as a sister clinging to her past. Memories of the War hang heavily over the house - quite literally in the form of an aircraft propeller suspended from the ceiling that the woman booby-traps in order to prevent her brother burying the corpse.
- DirectorJoseph DespinsStarsSean CaffreyBasil ClarkeDebbie EvansThe Moon Over the Alley reunited Duffer writer/directors Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq, with this strange London-set musical, again scored by Galt MacDermont (Hair). The film explores the problems facing the multicultural residents in a Notting Hill boarding house of the early 1970s, destined for demolition. Dark and disturbing, yet also dreamlike and tender, this astonishing film defies all categorisation. This title is also available on DVD / Blu-ray in the BFI's Flipside collection.
- DirectorAndy MilliganStarsJulie ShawBerwick KalerElaine ShoreWhile living rough on the streets of London's East End, a young man, Dink encounters the mysterious Dee and they begin a relationship. When tenderness gives way to cruelty they become consumed by darkness.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsOliver ReedClifford DavidAnn LynnAn American businessman visits London and is horrified to discover his nubile teenage daughter has become involved with a gang of thuggish "beatniks". Her involvement leads to wild parties, sex, death and necrophilia.
- DirectorLindsay ShonteffStarsMaggie StrideGay SingletonGilbert WynneSuzy arrives in London with nowhere to stay and meets Fiona, a groupie who has settled into a relationship with Lee, a singer/bassist in a rock band.
- DirectorGerry O'HaraStarsGene BarryElsa MartinelliLeslie PhillipsThe lady of a top fashion magazine doubles as a jewel thief and becomes involved in Moroccan intrigue.
- DirectorHorace OvéStarsHerbert NorvilleOscar JamesFrank SinguineauA British-born younger son of an immigrant family from Trinidad finds himself adrift between two cultures.
- DirectorBarney Platts-MillsStarsSusan PenhaligonBruce RobinsonMichael FeastLove story between a young depressive girl and a talented young writer and the first steps into their adult life.
- DirectorTony GarnettStarsEleanor ForsytheKate CrutchleyKim LockettA Birmingham prostitute leaves friends and family behind to seek her fortune in London. Back home, a sympathetic social worker and a solicitor form a support group to campaign for a change in the law.
- DirectorChristopher PetitStarsDavid BeamesLisa KreuzerSandy RatcliffIn 1970s Britain, a man drives from London to Bristol to investigate his brother's death, and the purpose of his trip is offset by his encounters with a series of odd people.
- DirectorChristopher MongerStarsChris AbrahamsJohn CassadyAlan MorrisComic thriller influenced by the French New Wave which, with its unorthodox narrative about a woman's confession of murder, deconstructs the conventions of the thriller genre. Directed by Christopher Monger (Voice Over), who would go on to have a successful Hollywood career, Repeater was produced out of the Chapter Film Workshop, a Cardiff based filmmaking workshop funded by the BFI and Channel 4. This title is also available on the DVD/Blu-ray 'Voice Over' in the BFI Flipside collection.
- DirectorDavid GladwellStarsRoger BurroughesThe idyllic, rural past of a Suffolk village comes to life through the memories of an old man who tends a country graveyard, in this extraordinary film directed by David Gladwell. Although best known for his celebrated work as editor on Lindsay Anderson's If. - and O Lucky Man!, Gladwell has, until now, rarely been recognised as the director of a number of ground-breaking films. This title is also available on DVD / Blu-ray in the BFI's Flipside collection.
- DirectorDavid HaymanStarsIain GlenAndrew BarrKenneth GlenaanIn London 1963, Larry Winters (Iain Glen) murders a bartender. Sentenced to life Winters has fits of rage which continue until prison doctors put him in an experimental unit. Flashbacks to his childhood and his history of drug abuse show how this troubled man became a murderer.
- DirectorJeffrey ReinerStarsGlenn PlummerPatrick CupoErnie Reyes Jr.When a trio of low-level criminals with a supply of drugs find themselves with some time to kill before a big deal, they decide to live a little. But a chain of stupid mistakes and unfortunate events brings them no small amount of trouble.
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsTom MannionEddie BurtRichard DemarcoRonnie, Wal, Andy and Vic are four bored, unemployed teens in dreary, rainy Glasgow. Ronnie comes up with a great idea. He has noticed that stainless steel sinks are worth a lot of money and comes up with a complicated scheme: to steal sinks from a warehouse dressed as girls and using a stop-motion potion.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsMiguel SandovalRobert WisdomAlex CoxAn American art dealer (Miguel Sandoval), who specializes in southwestern topaz, arrives by train in Liverpool. Similarly, a very proper British art dealer (Alex Cox), who specializes in African art, arrives in the same hotel. The two meet in the hotel's abandoned restaurant and decide to set off in finding an evening meal, which becomes problematic immediately when the Brit reveals he is vegetarian. While following their pursuit of a mutually acceptable meal, the main point of the film is their discourse en route to their various attempts at an eatery.
- DirectorPeter CollinsonStarsOliver ReedSusan GeorgeRaymond BurrComing back from an extended business trip, Frank discovers that his girlfriend Janie is now working at a new resort hotel where the owner has given her a permanent place to stay, as well as other gifts, in exchange for her affections. In the course of fighting over this development, tensions between Frank and Janie escalate out of control until he is holding her hostage in a standoff with the police. As the negotiators try to talk Frank into giving himself up, the desperate man feels himself being pushed further and further into a corner.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsCharles BronsonOrson BeanHonor BlackmanA 38-year-old American writer of pornographic novels discovers the difficulties of being married to a 16-year-old British schoolgirl.
- DirectorChristopher MongerStarsIan McNeiceBish NethercoteJohn CassadyA sheltered late night radio show host who offers escapism to his audience via his narrations of his 19th century romance novels, finds a brutalized young woman and takes her in to take care of her, which makes his psyche start to crack.
- DirectorKevin BrownlowStarsMiles HalliwellJerome WillisTerry HigginsWinstanley explores the attempt by Gerrard Winstanley who formed 'The Diggers' and with a group of followers attempted to form a small farming community in one of the first proto-Communist attempts at collective agriculture.