British Films of the 1960s
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The rise of youth-oriented culture in Britain was reflected in, and perpetuated by, films of the 1960s. The rebelliousness of Sixties youth developed from the anger over questions of class, poverty, and opportunity that characterized the "angry-young-man" school of film, but took on a fresh pop-culture sheen when it was joined to the rejection of social mores (especially regarding the new sexual freedom) and the celebration of youth embodied in the music and fashion of this era of revived prosperity. Film directors developed flashy new techniques that became, in themselves, an important part of the 'swinging' Sixties look and sound. Films such as Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963) made the connection between the stifling weight of tradition and the youthful longing for freedom. This was reflected more lightheartedly in stylistically innovative works such as A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester, 1964)and The Knack . . . and How to Get It (Richard Lester, 1965). Some films, such as To Sir with Love (James Clavell, 1966), largely applied a veneer of Sixties style to what were old-fashioned standard popular film forms of the 1950s and others, such as Georgy Girl (Silvio Narizzano, 1967), treated the complications of the new freedom in a serious manner but with a light touch and a dash of the new style. In some cases, such as Smashing Time (Desmond Davis, 1967), the visual style and the 'swinging' content degenerated into a cynical show-business formula. But other films, su
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d what was, at the time, a fairly radical appearance and did not give up their irreverence towards traditions.
The Beatles' personae were, in the early ears, not particularly threatening and the film is studded with gently surreal non-sequiturs, dreadful jokes, and witty visual efforts such as their suddenly appearing outside the window of the train on which they had been riding, easily keeping pace as it rushes through the countryside. The music was given great prominence, of course, and Lester presented several numbers as montages in which the four men simply ran and jumped about, flailing their arms and legs and fooling about with various props. The only radical elements of their roles in the film involve the very mild tweaking of upper-class characters who are simply put off by their appearance and the gentle satire of people in the music industry--ranging from their demanding manager (who orders his assistant to stop being taller than he), a prickly television director more used to absurd traditional dance numbers, and the press.
In the first Beatles film Lester caught the most important examples of the new youth culture on film and with The Knack he offered what one writer recalled as "the new pop gospel . . . a revelati
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3208
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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