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Two more BFI Flipside releases in January

2 December 2010

We somehow missed the last BFI Flipside releases, which is a bit of a shame (and completely our fault), as the Flipside strand has revived a fascinating string of little seen British films from the 60s and 70s. Those of you who have been following the releases as (or more) eagerly as us will be pleased to know that the series shows no signs of coming to an end and that the next two releases are arriving as Dual Format Editions (containing both standard definition and high definition versions of the films) in January. The first will contain the 1971 Private Road, the second will contain both the 1971 Duffer and the 1975 The Moon over the Alley.

Private Road (1971) was Barney Platts-Mills' stylish and compelling follow-up to Bronco Bullfrog (which was released by BFI Flipside in September), a film that relocates the youthful struggle for social and personal freedom to 1970s London, suburban Surrey and rural Scotland. When Peter, a handsome author pausing from finishing his first novel (and played by Bruce Robinson, who would go on to write and direct Withnail & I) shacks up with sugar-sweet receptionist Ann (Susan Penhaligon), sex, drugs, and some rigorous rural living ensue, to the dismay of Ann's well-to-do parents. Soon, however, they are forced to choose between domestic conformity and individual fulfilment.

The following special features, the first two of which are never-before-released extras sourced from the BFI National Archive, will be included:

  • St Christopher (1967, 48 mins): Barney Platts-Mills' affecting observational documentary about the education of mentally handicapped youngsters;
  • The Last Chapter (David Tringham, 1974, 29 mins): dark tale in which a successful middle-aged writer (Denholm Elliot) is unbalanced by an assured young fan (Private Road's Susan Penhaligon)
  • Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays and reviews.

An intense and bizarre study of obsession that is by turns lyrical and disconcerting, Duffer (1971) tells the deranged story of a teenage boy torn between the womanly charms of a kindly prostitute, and the relentless, sadistic attentions of an older man. The Moon Over the Alley (1971), from the writer-director team behind Duffer, explores the problems of the multicultural residents in a Notting Hill boarding house. Dark and disturbing, yet dreamlike and tender, this astonishing film includes surreal musical numbers by the award-winning composer of Hair, Galt MacDermot. It was unequivocally praised by the late Alexander Walker, legendary Evening Standard film critic, who proclaimed that "it deserves immense popularity" when it was originally released.

These unique, rarely-seen films are newly mastered from prints held in the BFI National Archive and released here for the very first time and will be accompanied by an illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays by Stephen Thrower and Rob Young, and Joseph Despins' personal recollections of making the two films.

Private Road and Duffer / The Moon Over the Alley will be released individually as Dual Format Editions by the BFI as part of their Flipside strand on 17th January 2011 at the RRP of £19.99 each.