At first, I thought this was a beautifully produced and understated satire of the British Army, but after about five minutes I realised that it was something else entirely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
I’d like to know if this was made before or after A Hard Day’s Night. That’s what it reminds me of. I wonder what the filmmaker was up to: comedy in the form of a documentary?
ReplyDeleteI would have to do some more research, Michael. One person dated it at about 1965-66 which would put it just after A Hard Day's Night. It seems extraordinary that such a film could have been made without some sort of subversive intent but you get the impression that the "actors" themselves were not in on the joke!
DeleteIf it was a deliberate put-down, it was a forerunner of such series as People Like Us which aired some 30 years later on the BBC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl8MKDgeaU0
Very entertaining Barnaby though slightly reminscent of the CCF
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at Beaumont, Jerry, the CCF was "entertained" by a sergeant from the Irish Guards. It pays to increase your word power!
DeleteI wonder if you can find out just when this was filmed? Before or after That Was The Week That Was? Because if after then it surely must have been a joke. Surely ?............
DeleteI saw an interesting doc. the other night on the main reasons why Churchill/the Conservatives lost the 1945 election, though there were certainly many (including our own mother) who felt the election was somehow "owed" to Churchill. I hadn't fully understood just how unpopular Churchill was with the populace at large who remembered his record in the 1920s/30s and just how out of touch with the man in the street he was - just like the officers in your recording.
The clip is from All the King's Men, a TV documentary directed by Kevin Billington in 1966. Given Billington's track record, I should say it's very likely that the film was made with subversive intent. Likely but not certain, as his wife is Lord Longford's daughter. Here is a short contemporary review:
ReplyDeleteThe most brilliant pure documentary of the week was ATV's All the Queen's Men, a repeat of a programme universally acclaimed on first showing. An Impression of Life in the Household Brigade was, if you like to put it that way, sheer information, so cleverly pictured, so cunningly put together and narrated, that it had an artistic verity of its own. From the elementary training of the Guardsman to the civilities of the officers' mess, the tasks abread and the solemn ceremonies such as the Trooping, this programme, produced and directed by Kevin Billington, maintained its high quality and polish.