Herostratus
London on Film • Drama, UR
When a young poet (Michael Gothard, the brilliant character actor who excelled in films such as The Devils and The Valley Obscured by Clouds) hires a marketing company to turn his suicide into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture. The very first feature funded by the BFI turned out to be an audacious London art film which, although little-seen, left its mark on late 1960s British cinema, echoes of its style evident in the work of such directors as Stanley Kubrick and Nicolas Roeg. The film also features the first screen role of Helen Mirren and music by Halim El-Dabh.
Up Next in London on Film
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The Day the Earth Caught Fire
When the USA and Russia simultaneously test atomic bombs, the Earth is knocked off its axis and set on a collision course with the Sun. Peter Stenning (Edward Judd), a washed-up Daily Express reporter, breaks the story and sets about investigating the government cover-up.
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The Servant
Despite Harold Pinter's fear that Joseph Losey would turn his play into 'a completely homosexual picture', The Servant stands as one of the great critiques of British social and sexual mores. As power relationships between the classes fuel a sexual subtext about dominance and submission which goe...
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The Blue Lamp
Basil Dearden directs this classic cop thriller which gave rise to long-running TV drama Dixon of Dock Green and influenced a swathe of British crime dramas. Jack Warner is PS George Dixon, the steadfast bobby approaching retirement, who has to contend with a new breed of criminal in the form of ...
