Identity crisis... Negatives (1968), BFI Flipside No. 053, Blu-ray

The trouble with you is you always want to be someone else, it’s a compulsion you have.

I’ve just watched the new Neil LaBute play* which uses a series of sexual relationships to deftly characterise a modern America in which nothing is as it seems and everything may or may not be transactional and following unseen rules too complex to state out loud. There is something in common with this film, director Peter Medak’s first feature and one that is unsettling, almost hard to watch, before ultimately revealing its true intent.

At its centre is the relationship between antique shop proprietors Theo (Peter McEnery) and Vivien (Glenda Jackson) which puts us on edge right for the start. For one thing they role play as the notorious Dr Crippen and his wife Cora/lover Ethel as the feeling takes them… This is very much Jackson on home territory, dominating with disdain and a vicious turn of phrase, leaving us unsure as to whether she is in character or within character. McEnery for his part is a most indecisive serial killer but clearly this is the point… when is a murder not a murder? When he is the victim or, and bear with me, a fighter pilot?

 

… when it comes to the action, you are a fool just like Crippen…

 

Dr and Mrs Crippen enjoy a moment

As Cora, Vivien relentlessly deconstructs her partner’s masculinity, and as Dr Clare Smith, historic collection curator at the Metropolitan Police Museum, points out in her interview on the disc about Crippen, Medak is clearly fascinated by British crime, with Jack the Ripper becoming the alter ego of Peter O’Toole’s character in The Ruling Class, and his films on the Krays and Derek Bentley. She provides excellent context on the characters Theo and Vivien play by detailing the extraordinary tale of the Crippen murder with the aid of clips of Donald Pleasance and Samantha Eggar in Dr Crippen (1962). Cora was indeed a dominant force in her marriage and her physically outmatched husband went to every length to support her ambitions on the stage… he found solace in the arms of the more diminutive Ethel but only after poisoning his wife, dismembering her and burying her in his basement.

 

It's an odd situation to base sex games on but original author, Peter Everett – who won the Somerset Maughan Prize for his book – who co-adapted the script with Roger Lowry, clearly knew what he was doing in his original tale of identity and the worlds we create for ourselves. Here the more defined personalities are the women and, as Dr Smith says, it is unusual to find a film of this vintage in which the projection of identity is focused on the male.

You always push me; you wind me up life a clock… 

Whatever the reasons, nobody seems happy in spite of all their trendy trappings and freedom to love how they like, is this the end of their relationship or the beginning of a darker turn? Like the shop they are surrounded and smothered by the past and cannot move without its direct consideration. If Hell was situated off the Fulham Road, this might well be it… an all the while, Theo’s father (Maurice Denham) lies in hospital dreading what he is convinced will be an operation he won’t survive. 

"All men are fools and what makes them so is having beauty like what I've got..." E. Wise

Then, as if the edge couldn’t get any sharper, into Theo’s life comes a German photographer, Reingard (Diane Cilento, so far away from The Angel who Pawned Her Harp…), who admits she has been following the couple for some time… and has a few suggestions to make to liven their sexual play time. She has her own “negatives” as she discusses meeting her father for the first time when she was 17 when, after appraising her, he tore off her dress leaving her naked. She wants to take positives of the couple but as with Vivien she is projecting a masculine fantasy onto the blank slate that is Theo, why a timid murderer and why not an heroic figure like Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron who shot down 80 allied planes in the First World War, honouring his victims with the casting of silver cups.

 

The battle for Theo’s persona rapidly escalates even though the two women are almost in alliance, but it’s a whirlwind of a film which is more about nuanced interpretation than a narrative straight line. Given their connection via Sparrows (see below) it’s interesting to see Stephen Lewis – who wrote that film – as a scrap metal dealer who sells Theo a Tiger Moth which is then planted on their roof terrace and painted in von Richthofen’s colours. Red… for anger and the mist of toxic masculinity descends on Theo and there is much to interpret and consider.

 

All I know is that talking about Crippen, Crippen, Cri-ppen… upsets you!

 

Mad about the Baron

Basil Kirchin provides the score including a winsome theme which is contrapuntal to so much of the human rage and conflict – some deceptively sweet sauce for the bitter battle especially when it’s used in a diegetic way as the camera pans up to reveal Glenda Jackson playing it on piano . Barrie Vince’s editing is whip smart throughout and whilst also providing visual counterpoints to the emoting, enhances the feelings of confusion and events moving out of joint with the character’s sense of wellbeing. He and Medak force the pace for the viewer and that’s something even modern viewers might find boggling in the cinema!

 

It's a very challenging debut and one that struggled to gain a release on completion but which we can now see as the foundation of Medak’s long career as well as being Glenda Jackson’s first film. She had been a member of the RSC with McEnery and he continued mainly in theatre and TV after films in the UK and France. Diane Cilento was well established as a film actress by this time – Academy Award nominated for Tom Jones (1963) and uses her experience to add so much sinister here, changing the direction and the mood with an impressive German accent.

 

This BFI release uses Severin Films super sharp 4k restoration and is the first time Negatives has been made available in any format in the UK and will be of particular interest to those who have followed Medak’s half century career on both the big and small screen – he directed episodes of The Wire and Breaking Bad as well as films such as The Krays (1990), Let Him Have it (1991) and classics such as The Ruling Class (1972) starring Peter O’Toole, Arthur Lowe and Carolyn Seymour (his second wife). He even found time to direct concert films for Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel.

 

The most talented actor in her family...

He arrived in Britain from Hungary aged just 18 in 1956 and having begun his career with Associated British Pictures he gained experience in a variety of roles and worked on films directed by Anthony Asquith, Val Guest and others. In her booklet essay, the BFI’s Jo Botting says his experience on Joan Littlewood’s Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963) was particularly important in his development. As she says, he would later favour… “unconventional narratives with larger-than-life characters – so Negatives was the perfect debut.” Hard to get life larger than Glenda, Peter and Diane…

 

Long may he reign and there’s two recent interviews with him in the extra special features below – as usual with the Flipside, the BFI are spoiling us!

 

Newly remastered from the original camera negative by Severin Films and presented in High Definition

 

Audio commentary by Tim Lucas

 

Audio interviews with Peter Medak (2024, 89 mins): two interviews with director Peter Medak, the first by the late author and film historian Lee Gambin, and the second with Severin’s David Gregory which was conducted at the director’s home

 

False Positive (2025, 11 mins): a newly recorded interview with actor Peter McEnery

 

Editing Negatives (2026, 31 mins): an interview with Barrie Vince, the award-winning editor of Negatives, Smashing Time and Deep End

 

Positives From Negativeland**: Scrapbook from a Grand Debut (2025, 16 mins): Peter Medak takes us through his production material for Negatives, as well as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, recalling his memories of each experience

 

The Doctor Will See You Now (2025, 24 mins): an interview with Dr Clare Smith, the historic collection curator at the Metropolitan Police Museum, who discusses the life and crime of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen

 

Image gallery

 

And, with the first pressing only, comes a handsome illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Dr Josephine Botting and William Fowler with notes on the special features and credits

 

The Blu-ray is released on 16^th March and you can pre-order from all the usual places or queue up at the BFI shop next Monday!

*America the Beautiful is at the Kings Head Theatre until 21^st March, details available on their website!

**I see the reference to the "Krautrock" classic track from NEU!

Diane Cilento gets out of the VW opposite Stamford Bridge

Off-beat… Beat Girl (1960), BFI, London After Dark Season

 

"She’s nearly always here, digs all the modern gear, cool like a lager beer… Beat Girl…”

This film was being shown, in 35mm no less, and as part of the Edgar Wright curated season of films that influenced his new picture, Soho After Dark. As our luck would have it, he not only took the chance to watch the film on the big screen and with an audience, but also to give an impromptu introduction.

He wondered how Edmond T Greville’s film was received on its initial release and guessed that then as now, it was not as well as the makers hoped… it may have done good business but it’s not cool. That said there is much to appreciate in a film of incoherent energy and dubious dialogue but which has so many notable players, genuine sleaze and some few precious location shots, one of which, looking down Old Compton Street with the Greyhound pub on the left and what is now the Prince Charles Theatre on the right, he was determined to reproduce for his film, identifying the exact window from which the shot was made – now a pizza restaurant.

The young generation: Gillian Hills and Shirley Anne Field

The film features two potential British Bardots, the main star Gillian Hills, Jennifer/Jenny, the Beat Girl, and Carol White aka The Battersea Bardot, who although uncredited, appears throughout the film, with little dialogue although clearly directed, and once or twice walking across the action as if denoting possible directions for the other blonde.

Whilst it’s easy to mock the “dated” battle of the generations between the hipsters and the squares – and the film deserves that! - there are some interesting performances and a genuine sense of threat as well as period. Christopher Lee and Nigel Green are the pick for the grownups whilst Adam Faith’s mumbling authenticity and Gillian Hills’ youthful edgy-ness stand out for the kids oh, and one youngster name of Oliver Reed already typecast as “dangerous” who was obviously under clear instruction to dance dangerous, act dangerous and, well, just be yourself.

This language, these words, what does it mean?!

"Bloggin's for squares..." Adam Faith. Smouldering.

The script from Dail Ambler, aka Betty Mabel Lillian Williams a writer of pulp fiction who also used the pen name, Danny Spade, contains lines that even the youngsters sometimes struggle to say… with more Daddios, heps and cools than are credible, to which the grown ups also respond with stilted observations, with Jennifer’s Dad(ioh) top architect Paul Linden (David Farrah) simply unable to understand her. Gillian Hills does however cut through this with a quite wonderfully vindictive performance almost as if she has some score to settle.

Without a doubt, the John Barry-penned theme tune, snarled by Adam Faith with more genuine menace than Cliff or Tommy could ever hope to muster (but not Billy or Vince…) is one of the surer steps of this odd film as is the whole score, Barry’s first and probably worthy of a whole post on its own. It’s not the polished Barry we came to expect but there’s some energetic modern jazz, powerful themes throughout and a couple of decent attempts at rock n’ roll, sung by Faith, Made You and I Did What You Told You. There’s also a song sung by Shirley Anne Field called It’s Legal which has a range of  interpretations.

City of Future Past... Hills, Adam and Farrar

In Vic Pratt’s excellent booklet essay for the BFI’s Beat Girl Flipside Blu-ray, he points out that Adam Faith became more popular as a singer after this film but his rough charm was polished pretty quickly thereby preventing an outbreak of British Elvis-ism before Liverpool smuggled it in two years later, craftily disguised by Brian Epstein’s favourite tailors.

The Beat Girl herself certainly cuts a rug in the basement discotheque, even if Oliver Reed doesn’t, yet authenticity if provided by some of Soho’s finest exotic dancers who show just a little of what they can do in the strip club scenes. This is surely one of the film’s most startling choices… even now this is raunchy stuff recalling scenes from Primitive London plus West End Jungle (also screening as part of this series) and other sexploitative documentaries of the period. These performances are not edited by much and you wonder that 62 years or so probably hasn’t changed the watchers or the watched… the drinks are just more expensive… I should imagine.

Pascaline performing - one of the less revealing shots

Gillian Hills was a sixteen-year-old actress playing a sixteen-year-old rebelling against her strait-laced, radical architect father and his pretty new Parisian trophy wife Nicole played by Noëlle Adam who also gives a very good performance as the woman with a troubled youth of her own to deal with. Her battles with Jennifer are spiky affairs with Hills showing what she’s got in the most pointed of ways, there’s a visceral edge to the women’s relationship that probably says more for Adam’s generosity as a performer than script or direction.

Jenny has undoubtedly been neglected by her work-aholic father and having divorced her mother; he has spent months in Paris romancing his Nicole. That said, no one understands Jenny and even though she is studying art at the respectable St Martins, she would prefer to be out dancing with her beat friends in their Soho coffee shop basement.

Jenny and her stepmother do not get on

Her friends include Dave; a bit of rough with a guitar (Faith), Dodo (Field – a good actress whose remarkable clean features make her seem forever posh, even though she’s from Bolton...) and Tony (Peter McEnery, in his first film), who is constantly swigging from a cough mixture bottle filled with gin… Jenny is not alone in having generational difficulties: Tony’s father is aloof, a war hero without the courage to be a full-time parent, whilst Dave’s had to bring himself up spending so much time playing on bombsites, a world away from post-war regeneration.

Alcohol is not yet “cool” for these guys and it is interesting what they do think is uncool – these beats are passionate about Dave Brubeck, rock and their own means of expression… even if you cringe at some of the self-conscious slang. “He sends me…” says Dodo describing Dave’s singing… yes, but probably not too far from the Home Counties. There’s a nice moment at a party in Chislehurst Caves where both the lads share their feelings about the war, loss and their hopes. They open up but essentially via two intersecting monologues… maybe that’s cool, I don’t know.

Whadya mean maybe that's cool?

 

Jennifer was always going to go to war against her new stepmother partly because of her growing alienation from her father and his obsession with his city 2000 project a model of which fills their sterile living room. See, the fault’s not just youth but career-centric middle age… but the city looks a lot like Brasilia and hey, we’ll need more housing by 2000.

Nichole reaches out to Jennifer and seeks her out in her coffee bar haunt but things go awry especially when she bumps into an old friend, Greta (Delphi Lawrence) who she feigns not to recognise… The kids know Greta as one of the strippers in the club across the road and Jennifer starts digging deeper trying to find a way to antagonise Nichole. She goes into the club to quiz Greta and sees more than she bargained for on stage - an obviously well-practiced, sensuous routine from one Pascaline (actual stage name…) involving innovative use of a long shawl… The seediness looks all too real, especially in the longer cut on the BFI’s Blu-ray, and is frankly disturbing.

S-Lee-zy does it Chris.

Jenny doesn’t get much out of Greta but then she is noticed by the club’s shady manager Kenny (Christopher Lee) who also happens to be – just about – the older woman’s boyfriend. He takes a shine to Jennifer and makes Greta tell her about her life in Paris with Nichole… There’s more but she has to return to learn it all. Nichole goes to meet Greta to try and put a cap on things yet, despite her standing up to Kenny he threatens to reveal more if Jenny is not allowed back to the club. He’s looking for fresh blood and already has a trip to Paris planned with side-kick Simon (great stuff from Nigel Green given a rare chance to be a geezer).

Get out of it you jiving, drivelling scum, get out of it!

Adam Faith about to get slapped

Jennifer starts to go wild, encouraging Dave to drive too fast in a race with other hipsters and inviting a party round to her parents’ house.  She performs a striptease mimicking Nichole’s past and Dad arrives just in time to kick out the beats… All is revealed and yet David is willing to forgive and forget Nicole’s burlesque past – not such a square after all! Hey kids, the Old can learn!

Unaware and angry, Jenny has run off seeking adult refuge with Kenny. As we’re shown another expert routine from a woman in a white negligee (Diane D'Orsay), the seedy club owner attempts to persuade her to come to Paris with him even though he knows she’s under-age… and has no formal dance training. As the Linden’s race to try and find their daughter. Will the Beat Girl be corrupted for good or is there still a chance for her to re-connect with family and knuckle down to her studies??

The great Nigel Green shares a moment with Delphi Lawrence

Beat Girl is pacey and packed with so many moods it’s bound to feel uneven yet it’s a wild ride redeemed by so many interesting performers and its moment in time.

As Edgar Wright says, Gillian Hills may not have become the British Bardot but rather a Zelig-like figure in key films of the period, cavorting with David Hemmings and Jane Birkin in Antonioni’s Blow Up (1968) and then again in a speeded-up threesome with Malcolm McDowell and Barbara Scott in A Clockwork Orange (1971). She even became a pop star in France for a while, scoring the first hit with Zou Bisou Bisou. She’s also in the strange British horror, Demons of the Mind (1972) which may or may not be cool.

There’s a fascinating interview with her from 2016 as part of the extras on the BFI Flipside Blu-ray/DVD and, in addition to looking pretty much ageless, she’s very articulate and revealing about the film and her approach: “I was quite courageous as I knew absolutely nothing…” It barely shows and she still makes the film worth watching.

Gillian Hills now! Stories of hanging with Catherine and Francoise... and so much more!

The release has three versions of the film, one restored from the BFI 35mm we watched and two others of slightly longer length which include more exposition of the newly married couple and then Jenny’s initial confrontation with them in which she places a photograph of her mother in a book on blues and jazz. There are also different takes of the two strip actual strip routines.

The soundtrack LP is also essential and can be found on Cherry Red CD with extended cuts! Personally I really dig the original mono release but I'm just hep to vinyl's scratch and sniff.

“That’s the Beat Girl, feeding the coins into the juke box…long black stockings and no makeup… she makes like she’s not over concerned about this extravagant attention: keeps given’ me the look like I’m supposed to rate this chick high or somethin’…”

Gratuitous location spotting!!

Bar Italia is still there in Frith Street

Berwick Street Market

The Greyhound Pub is still on Old Compton Street: look for a copy of this shot in Last Night in Soho!

Gratuitous dancing shots:

Diane D'Orsay - Soho pro dancer

On the verge of fame:

Carol White later in Cathy Come Home, Poor Cow etc

Oliver Reed, later in everything...

The BFI Flipside Dual Format set you must buy: