Some People [DVD]

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While Some People is clearly the work of a director finding his feet it is nonetheless an enjoyable drama about a teenager, Johnnie, played with charm and intensity by Ray Brooks, and his struggle to choose between straightening up or continuing a descent into delinquency. David Hemmings and Ray Brooks play two of the bikers, while Anneka Wills, later to find fame as Doctor Who companion Polly, pops up alongside Douglas as two girls who hang out at the local church hall. Mr Smith is an aircraft engineer, who also acts as a voluntary choirmaster and youth worker. He tries to help a group of teenagers in Bristol, by encouraging positive social development after they lose their motorcycle licences. They are all in dead-end jobs with no home life and on the fringes of petty crime, but are musically talented.

An early film from director Clive Donner who would continue to capture the Swinging Sixties in films like Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush(1967) and What’s New Pussycat?(1965).According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962. [8] The film reportedly made a profit, in part because of its low cost. [9] Donner said the film was a "huge success" which made "a lot of money" for the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme and also reignited his film career. [5] Critical reception [ edit ] Painted Smile, The (1962) Small-time con artists Jo Lake (the gorgeous Liz Fraser in an uncharacteristic straight acting role) and Mark Davies (Peter Reynolds)…

Sadly; politicians are more mixed-up than they ever were. Now, with lunatics like Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt resolutely destroying the nuclear family, marginalising fathers into non-existence, and feminising the education system, whilst selling-off school playing fields for development and criminalising almost every infringement of law; a whole generation of disaffected kids has arisen who are tragically represented by this movie's modern sequel: 'Kidulthood'. Britain is now officially the worst place in the western world to be a kid. (It's also the worst place to be old.) Band of Thieves (1962) Seven of the prisoners at Gaunstone Gaol have been encouraged to take up Trad jazz by a music-mad governor and… Johnnie and his friends Bill (David Andrews) and Bert – a baby-faced David Hemmings – get into trouble racing their motorbikes along the Portway on the banks of the Avon and are banned from riding them which leaves them frustrated and deepens their boredom. The film was produced by advertising producer James Archibald, who envisioned it as a way to promote the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. He used this to get star Kenneth More to appear for nothing and for Anglo Amalgamated to distribute for free. I would love to see the film again, but I have only seen it on television once, and that was probably about 20 years ago. It was filmed in Bristol and I know that the city has changed considerably since then, so it is now of interest not only for the content and story, but also for the location in which it was shot.

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I would LOVE to see this film again, but haven't done so since its cinema release (which shows it had a big impact on me, over 40 years ago!) - on DVD, or even better on the big screen. Some critics later claimed that part of the reason for More’s career decline was because his acting style didn’t fit in with that of a new breed of stars. However, his light, naturalistic approach sits easily alongside the performances of Hemmings and Brooks, who would find form just a few years later in far more lauded and typically 1960s projects such as Blow Up and Cathy Come Home.

Singing Nun, The (1966) Debbie Reynolds plays the title role as novice Belgian Dominican nun, Sister Ann, careening around the countryside on a motor… The theme tune is particularly catchy. A strange little wind-instrument plays an introduction, and this features in the movie as having been constructed by one of the kids (a cut by ex-Shadows Jet Harris & Tony Meehan is still available from i-tunes, though they didn't cover it in the movie). Billings, Josh (13 December 1962). "Three British Films Head the General Releases". Kinematograph Weekly. p.7 . Retrieved 7 March 2023. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7thed.). London: Paladin. p.938. ISBN 0586088946.

Radio Times Guide to Films (18thed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p.856. ISBN 9780992936440. This film is what made me a Ray Brooks fan ... we haven't seen him nearly enough over the years (though I gather he is joining one of the UK TV soaps (I'm writing this in Oct 2005)).

The film also features a test flight of the Bristol 188 – a British supersonic research aircraft built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the late 50s. It was made to promote and raise money for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, which had been running for around six years at the time. Kenneth More agreed to take a role for nothing, partly because it was for a good cause, and also due to the fact he had nothing else to do; his once sparkling career was in decline following the end of his contract with Rank. “Nostalgic piece of whimsy” Unfortunately, though it looked astonishing, it was plagued with structural problems and was demolished in 1994, which only adds to the value Some People holds as a record of a time and place. I had a scene with Kenny where I’m in the bath shrinking my jeans. We had a Royal Premiere and The Duke of Edinburgh murmured to me “I liked you in the bath – does it really work?”“Yes, Your Highness” I replied, “You should try it some time!!” Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "Not without charm and showing, for the most part, a nice attention to detail, this teenage film (the profits of which go to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme) is transparently well-meaning and made with obvious affection. Unfortunately, it has nothing to add to that now painfully familiar delinquency formula which combines a liking for coffee bars, motor bikes and guitars with an inability to talk reasonably to Father. The script fails not because it is heavily weighted in favour of the Kenneth More character but because of the needlessly naive way in which this is done. Relying mainly on superficialities for its effects, the film finally outcasts the one thoroughly rootless delinquent who should have been its main concern." [11]Anneke Wills plays Mr Smith’s daughter, Anne, who has a teenage fling with Johnnie. His influence leads her to buy tight jeans which she further shrinks to fit in the bath. You’d think this scene a little ripe if it turned up in a modern period drama set in the 1960s but here it is charmingly authentic. Still well worth a watch though, either in the restored DVD format (which is cheap) or the newly-released Blu-ray, which is a bit pricier. Some People" stands up well. It has an authentic feel to it as it documents a moment on the cusp. No one could have been aware of what was to come and so it aims at what was happening rather than trying to give hints about its place in future history. "That'll Be the Day" did a very good job of documenting pre-63 UK youth but, because it was made in retrospect, it doesn't quite have the same effect.