Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC

[Alan Clarke]

Theres a message of mine that keeps getting deleted...as far as i'm aware, it's not inappropriate? The moderator, whoever that may be, care to tell me why?

[domino harvey]

Alan Clarke, please check your PMs before posting anything else in this thread

[Alan Clarke]

Alan Clarke, please check your PMs before posting anything else in this thread

Thank you my friend.

[RobertB]

There is a bellyband round the box I never know what to do with them! Throw away or keep? This will leave me sleepless. At least the box isn't as big as I feared. I think I can find room for it in my collection. Looks great.

Great job and congratulations BFI and all involved to the finished box! Sounds like it's time to celebrate.

[peerpee]

The bellybands on all 3 boxes are thick card and were designed to be kept on the slipcase, like a lock, to keep the innards safe (not that they're loose, they're perfectly snug!)

If anyone has the BFI's BILL MORRISON set, it's exactly the same sort of thing.

[MichaelB]

The ones on my various projects (the Borowczyk box, for instance), were purely designed to display the legally required BBFC information at the point of sale, and could be discarded after purchase.

[RobertB]

I do have the Morrison set, and I have kept the bellyband. But wouldn't it look even nicer without it now when the box is in my shelf? Hm... maybe I should remove it.

[Alan Clarke]

Omg this is turning into bluray.com with all this talk about slipcases and bellybands. Lets concentrate on the films and it's content please. I cannot wait (for another 2 weeks. Very excited, in the mean time, i'll watch the rest of my Fassbinder Collection set.

Any other filmmakers who are similar to Clarke who have a decent amount of content on blu ray??

[RobertB]

Omg this is turning into bluray.com with all this talk about slipcases and bellybands. Lets concentrate on the films and it's content please. I cannot wait (for another 2 weeks. Very excited, in the mean time, i'll watch the rest of my Fassbinder Collection set.

Any other filmmakers who are similar to Clarke who have a decent amount of content on blu ray??

You can ignore my two posts. They aren't intended for you. They are for perpee who I assume has been involved in the design of the box. Lighten up.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

If anyone has the BFI's BILL MORRISON set, it's exactly the same sort of thing.

One of my favorite BFI sets so it's a pleasure to see that thing repeated here. I can't say I can see the Clarke set without it so I'm definitely keeping mine! I love that this will be cases and not a fold out like the Herzog and Robbe-Grillet sets. Also a great tactic to get viewers to take their time and watch it disc by disc. It's so good to see that book, too. Probably one of the first times I'll read the essays before watching a film. I don't have any research materials on Clarke so I really appreciate the extra mile the BFI is taking to make this the best collection of Clarke's work out there.

[peerpee]

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.

[Big Ben]

In reply to Alan Clarke:

I've seen people throw Robert Bresson's name thrown around as someone who has some stylistic similarity to Clarke. You might check his work out. Some people may call me nuts but I'm quite fond of the two later Bresson films The Devil, Probably (Why don't more people I know like this one?) and L'Argent, the latter of which MichaelB has mentioned in relation to The Firm.

Here's an excerpt from the review of Penda's Fen from CineOutsider:

"To a generation grown used to accelerated, assaultive images, the pacing of the film will seem slow, perhaps clumsy; those familiar with Bresson and Dreyer will appreciate Clarke's skill at allowing images and ideas to breathe and understand that his purpose was to build a steadily rising, unhurried and organic whole."

He is also referred to simply as the "The Bresson of Birkenhead" here by The Guardian.

[MichaelB]

It was actually Dave Rolinson who noted similarities between the final shots of The Firm and L'Argent - I was merely quoting him.

And I'd be slightly wary of recommending Bresson as "a filmmaker similar to Clarke", because while there are certainly many points in common, they're also radically different in a great many respects. It's hard to imagine Bresson making anything like Scum or Made in Britain, for instance.

It seems to me that the more overtly Bressonian Clarke productions are things like Christine and Diane, which are nowhere near as well known as the more masculine pieces.

[Big Ben]

I should have noted I wasn't the best person to be giving advice. Thanks again for clearing that up Michael I appreciate it.

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.

Thanks for this. I was wondering what kind of book it would be and you've made it pretty clear.

[Alan Clarke]

In reply to Alan Clarke:

I've seen people throw Robert Bresson's name thrown around as someone who has some stylistic similarity to Clarke. You might check his work out. Some people may call me nuts but I'm quite fond of the two later Bresson films The Devil, Probably (Why don't more people I know like this one?) and L'Argent, the latter of which MichaelB has mentioned in relation to The Firm.

Here's an excerpt from the review of Penda's Fen from CineOutsider:

"To a generation grown used to accelerated, assaultive images, the pacing of the film will seem slow, perhaps clumsy; those familiar with Bresson and Dreyer will appreciate Clarke's skill at allowing images and ideas to breathe and understand that his purpose was to build a steadily rising, unhurried and organic whole."

He is also referred to simply as the "The Bresson of Birkenhead" here by The Guardian.

Hello Big Ben.

Thank you. I've head of this Bresson guy but I am ashamed to say that I have not seen any of his films

I will immediately seek out the most accessible Bresson films available on blu ray. Thank you my friend.

[Alan Clarke]

It was actually Dave Rolinson who noted similarities between the final shots of The Firm and L'Argent - I was merely quoting him.

And I'd be slightly wary of recommending Bresson as "a filmmaker similar to Clarke", because while there are certainly many points in common, they're also radically different in a great many respects. It's hard to imagine Bresson making anything like Scum or Made in Britain, for instance.

It seems to me that the more overtly Bressonian Clarke productions are things like Christine and Diane, which are nowhere near as well known as the more masculine pieces.

I did not see this post until now. So you wouldn't recommend Bresson to a Clarke fan?

[MichaelB]

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

[Alan Clarke]

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

Scum and Made In Britain

[MichaelB]

In which case I suspect you'd get very little out of Bresson. Although a double bill of Mouchette and Diane would be fascinating to watch, and I might well try such a thing myself.

[manicsounds]

We’re pleased to announce that the licensor complications which were preventing the release of our Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC DVD and Blu-ray box sets have been resolved, and that all three box sets will now be released on Monday 20 June.

We apologise for any disappointment that this two-week delay causes, but we hope that you’ll share our relief and excitement at the fact that these highly anticipated sets will now, finally, see the light of day.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Glad to see the set coming out within the month rather than delayed indefinitely. Should be no changes from the review versions,

[zedz]

In which case I suspect you'd get very little out of Bresson. Although a double bill of Mouchette and Diane would be fascinating to watch, and I might well try such a thing myself.

How about Alexey Balabanov? I'd never really thought about any similarity before, but it just occurred to me.

And Elephant is kind of like micro-Jancso.

Loach is generally not as formally arresting as Clarke, but the terrifying Family Life is in the same ballpark. And all of these directors are worth exploring.

[MichaelB]

Balabanov certainly shares Clarke's obsession with body language and lengthy, silent walking - in fact, I see that I namechecked Clarke in my review of Balabanov's penultimate film The Stoker.

And I can absolutely see similarities between Elephant and Jancsó, particularly The Red and the White, another film that is essentially a parade of anonymous, seemingly motiveless killing. (There's slightly more narrative content than there is in Elephant, but not much.) Thinking about it some more, the walking sequences in The Round-Up, often cut short by a bullet from an invisible offscreen source, have a fair bit in common too.

[GaryC]

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.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

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.

Not forgetting Resnais' Providence available from Jupiter films. If only David Rudkin's work could be collected that would be quite some feat.

[bdsweeney]

Regarding a Potter set, I imagine securing the music rights would be a nightmare.