All for Ava… Tam-Lin (1970), BFI Flipside 45, Blu-ray out now

If there’s any film that personifies the concept of cult cinema it’s this one, Roddy McDowall’s sole directorial effort and one that took decades to emerge fully realised thanks to Roddy’s pal Martin Scorsese who helped in the restoration of its reputation and content in the late 1990s. Before that, a film begun on 7^th July 1969, according to McDowall, although his biographer David Del Valle says here it was 1967, but only distributed in a truncated form in late 1970 in the UK and 1972 in the US, by which time, as Stephanie Beacham says in her extras interview, fashions had changed and the film’s Swinging London vibe was no longer in vogue as the grittier, jaded and disappointed seventies unrolled.

 

Variously entitled Tam-Lin, Tom Lin, The Devil's Widow and The Devil's Woman… there’s genuine strangeness and charm about this film that is more genuinely unsettling than most outright horror films of the period and there are performances to relish especially from Ava Gardner, the most insecure of Hollywood royalty, a woman somehow trapped within expectations and her own extreme beauty according to McDowall. Del Valle says the film was made for Gardner but McDowall originally had his good friend Elizabeth Taylor in mind, casting Ava, who was based in the UK and, of course, another of his friends. From that point he certainly did create this film for her and, as noted by Madeline Smith in her interview, the two would often be in quite conference off camera as he coached her sensational starlight to full beam.

 

Ian and Ava

Smith says McDowall to also whisper instructions to his players, fully aware of the shyness that she notes seems to debilitate many creative characters. By all accounts here he was a sensitive director who made the set a relaxed experience so that people could express themselves; having been in films since the age of ten, Roddy knew the business inside out as well as the personalities. Here he also shows great understanding of narrative efficiency and is confident enough to take risks such as shifting to a mix of still shots when his two lovers meet and truly connect over a babbling brook: there’s surprise, fear, longing and love all communicated in a seconds… it could be corny but it works and that you could say about much of this film. As McDowall says in an introduction, he gave for the home media debut of his film in 1998, he was lucky to have high-quality collaborators. Yes Roddy, but you also led the team.

 

Again Tam-Lin meets the definition of a cult film as there are many such stories of the passion involved in its making, all of which makes its as having been overlooked a mystery until, like so many such films, you look at the production problems; the original company went bust only for American International Pictures to buy it up and decide it should be a different film… cutting it from and artful A to a “folk horror” or “hagsploitation” (Del Valle’s term) B-movie.

 

Ava Gardner was a hard-living 47 at the time, but still Ava Gardner.

On this BFI Blu-ray, Tam-Lin gets its first release in the UK and is fully revealed as a love story in every way, on and behind the screen, and one that examines the loneliness of the rich powerful woman Michaela Cazaret (Gardner) who exerts an hypnotic control over her various acolytes, young men and women who just want to live for the moment and with no responsibility. The “coven” may or may not be under the spell of Michaela, who is analogous to the Fairy Queen in the original poem, but they are just as enchanted and, as in the poem help to keep her young.

 

Her parasitic affection for these folk is transcended by her affection for Tom Lynn (Ian McShane) who is bold and honest, loving her but still capable of independence. McShane says it was a difficult role to play as he had to be a protagonist with some agency and yet one around whom everything happened. Now he’s not sure his portrayal always works but that’s been overly critical, he gives an energetic display, has great chemistry with Gardner and is believably heroic but conflicted.

 

Stephanie Beacham praises too whilst describing McShane as a “naughty boy, playing a naughty boy…” that’s Yorkshire for cheeky I believe – it’s easy to forget how young some of these actors where and this was her first film as Janet Ainsley, the vicar’s daughter who bonds so deeply with Tom. She says she may have been cast as she was spotted in the street turning heads whilst oblivious to her effect. This may or may not be true but Madeline Smith was similarly cast, after being spotted on the street for two productions though not for this film, her first as a member of Equity.

 

Stephanie Beacham and friend

The film begins in London with Michaela and Tom leaving the comforts of their conjugal bed to lead their mobile party to their cars in preparation for a journey to Scotland. They look to be in Knightsbridge or somewhere similar and the cars include a Rolls Royce, Bentley, a Jensen and an Aston Martin DBS – all classic cars but wait till you see the Morris Minor estate driven by Janet.

 

Once in Michaela’s immense Scottish castle (Traquair House in Peeblesshire, Scotland’s oldest lived-in house once used by the Stuarts) they settle down to the business of having a good time… Georgia (Joanna Lumley) reads books and makes broad philosophical statements, Rose (Sinéad Cusack) plays with Tarot cards, whilst Caroline (Jenny Hanley) plays Frisbee with the boys and the unsettlingly childlike Sue (Madeline Smith) asks for a puppy. It’s the cream of 1970’s British acting starlets, with more to come…

 

One young man Alan (Bruce Robinson later to write and direct Withnail and I) is desperate to speak to Michaela but she casts him aside… once you’re out you are out and “you can always die…” as she says to the sad wreck. More sturdy is Oliver (David Whitman) who is second only to Tom in the hierarchy of the coven… biding his time for the chance to be held in deeper affection by his mistress.

 

Don't mess with Richard Watiss

Michaela’s “assistant” Elroy, played superbly against type by Richard Wattis, is the longest lasting of her associates. He’s the man who covers her “administration” and does everything necessary to keep her in the manner she wants, he is all seeing and misses nothing, ruthless in the execution of her whims.

 

Into all this hedonistic unreality arrives Janet, the daughter of Vicar Julian Ainsley (Sinéad’s amazing Dad, Cyril Cusack), bringing a puppy for sale to Sue. She has an immediate connection to Tom and aversion to Sue, before Michaela, always so commanding and reasonable, offers to make sure the dog is taken care of. Cheekily Janet asks for £50 for the dog, a challenge smilingly met by Michaela with Elroy telling her she’s a “silly girl” when paying her off.

 

But this is to be the least of the household’s problems as Janet and Tom meet and consummate their love and the course of conflict is now clearly set as Michaela sensing Tom’s emerging new love, wonders how to keep hold of him… everything is set for a frenetic and unexpectedly psychedelic battle for independence, life and love.

 

Spot the future stars: Madeline Smith and Joanna Lumley plus friends

The original ballad dates to as early as 1549 and has evolved into many forms as young Tam, under the protection of the Queen of the Fairies has to be rescued from her vengeful sacrifice by a young woman who has stolen his heart.

 

The score was written by the esteemed Stanley Myers with extensive contributions from Pentangle – a folk super-group featuring Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thomson, Jacqui McShee and Terry Cox. It’s possible that McDowall came across the story through its popularity in the sixties folk boom in London; from trailblazer Anne Briggs wispily mystical performances of Young Tambling through to Fairport Convention’s more muscular Tam Lin from 1969’s Liege and Leif, the story was sung again through the taverns and hipster coffee houses of London and beyond.

 

Jacqui McShee is interviewed on the extras and she remembers Roddy and Ava turning up for their recording at Olympic Studios where the actress lay down on the studio floor to watch Danny Thomson playing his upright bass. McShee was also coaxed into a very clearly enunciated performance as the American producers couldn’t follow her accent. The results are still outstanding with Pentangle’s mix of folk and jazz producing a magic of their own. Such rare grooves being yet another attribute for a cult movie.

  

Traquair House

The special features are, as always, very special:

 

• Audio commentary by BFI Flipside co-founders William Fowler and Vic Pratt (2021) 
• Love You and Leave You for Dead (2021): Ian McShane on Tam Lin
• An Eerie Tale to Tell (2021): Stephanie Beacham on Tam Lin
• Ballad of a B-Movie: Revisiting Tam Lin (2021): interview with Roddy McDowall biographer David Del Valle
• Legendary Ladies of the Silver Screen: Ava Gardner (1998): Roddy McDowall remembers Ava Gardner and Tam Lin
• Adventures Along the Way (2022): actress Madeline Smith looks back on being one of the coven
• Listening In (2022): Jacqui McShee, lead singer of  Pentangle, recalls the writing and recording of the film’s cult soundtrack
• Hans Zimmer on Stanley Myers (2021): the composer discusses the work of Stanley Myers
• Red Red? Red (Jim Weiss, Chris Maudson, John Phillips, 1971): an impressionistic study of a commune in Devon...
• Border Country - rare short films from the BFI National Archive reveal rural lifestyles at Scotland’s edge
• Theatrical trailer
• Illustrated booklet* with a new essay on the film by the BFI’s William Fowler, essays by Sam Dunn and Corinna Reicher, a contemporary review by Tom Milne from Monthly Film Bulletin and notes on the special features and credits.

 

You can order Tam-Lin direct from the BFI online shop or visit in person, it’s one of the best releases in the Flipside series and that is really saying something! * This is for the initial pressing only, so be quick!

 

Also, if you want to see the film on the big screen it’s showing at the Rio Cinema, Dalston, London on Monday 31^st October with special guests Ian McShane interviewed by Stewart Lee… that’ll be a Q&A to remember. Tickets and details on their website.