Some People [DVD]

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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. Not many films used to be shot in Bristol, England in the 1960s. But Some People was shot entirely in and around the old city going out of its way to show the main characters in the very spots they would actually have been hanging about in real life as aimless teenagers. I know for certain because my parents were courting teens at that very time in that very place. I showed them the film recently (yes they're still a couple 54 years later) and the locations were very accurate to life as they knew it. My father actually worked in the Aircraft factory featured. The dance club in the film was the top spot for young Bristolians to cut a rug in 1962, a favorite place for them and all of their young friends (the front door manned by no less than Dave Prowse (not in the film unfortunately), the actor who made good as Darth Vader in a slightly better known film.) Bristol has changed but not so much that anyone familiar with it wouldn't know most of the locales. Having the film set in Bristol rather than London is a masterstroke too. Again, it just gives an extra layer of authenticity, not least when the main participants wander around the department stores, cross the river, drop into a fish shop or have a drink in a pub. It’s more like the real 1960s on film. Some People (1962) The title song was performed in the film by Valerie Mountain and The Eagles. Pye Records released their version as a single. Other versions were released by Carol Deene and the former bass player for The Shadows, Jet Harris. 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)).

It was directed by Clive Donner who would make a name for himself with The Caretaker in 1963 and then head to Hollywood to make What’s New Pussycat? In 1965. Nice to see some familiar faces too – Harry H. Corbett as the dad was a surprise, but Hemmings and Brooks, both of whom went on to bigger and better things in the decade, are an interesting watch too. Watching this, you really can’t imagine David Hemmings as a brash London photographer just four years later in Blow-Up. Shows how much he grew as an actor working in this kind of stuff. Anneke Wills is a minor revelation too, not least when she’s in a bath full of hot water shrinking on a pair of Levi’s. 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. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7thed.). London: Paladin. p.938. ISBN 0586088946. The story of three teenaged tearaways Johnnie, Bill and Bert who find themselves at odds with society. Following a brush with the law they have a chance meeting with a local choirmaster who offers them a way of making good.

Rate And Review

We had a script but to give the performances an authentic feel the entire story was ad-libbed. A fantastic local group called The Eagles – with Valerie Mountain singing the haunting lyrics (which Angela Douglas mimed to in the film). How beautiful we all were. How young…and how innocent! The film was shot entirely on location in Bristol with Anneke Willis recalling the crew arrived in Bristol three weeks before shooting to get the feel of Bristol with the boys learning the local accent, riding motorbikes and visiting local dance halls with much of the script being ad-libbed. RELATED MEDIA

The Beatles in '62 looked exactly the same as the boys in "Some People" before they helped sweep youth into a new phase. What an exciting time it was but it was made so much more exciting by the fact that youth in the UK had struggled so hard to be different in the greyness of life after the war. Serious Charge (1959) An unmarried vicar, the Reverend Howard Phillips (Anthony Quayle), newly arrived in the parish of Bellington, attempts to force local… His anxieties and jealousy come to the fore as his friends embrace the step into the unknown territory of adulthood that Bill simply isn’t ready for. 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.

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. Once I’d finally watched the film I was more curious than ever about Dad’s reaction and pressed him on it when we next went for a pint. With some reluctance he told me the story. Eegah (1962) One night while driving home, hapless Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) almost runs down a giant caveman who has survived in…

Kenneth More (I played his daughter, Anne, in the film) gave up his fee for the cause and we also had many actors on the verge of making it big such as David Hemmings, Ray Brooks and Angela Douglas. Harry H. Corbett gives such a poignant performance as Johnnie’s father. There was a lot of goodwill for the making of the film – which was how we were able to film the breaking of the sound barrier for the first time. 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…

Filmed entirely on location, it captures the reality of Bristol in the heat of post-Blitz reconstruction, half tumbledown harbour city, half planners’ dream. Director Clive Donner, who had been working in advertising, was approached to make a documentary to promote the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Donner felt the documentary would only reach people who already knew about the scheme, and suggested they make a dramatic feature instead. [5]