Hugo Fitch

Am I alone in thinking that this era is terribly neglected in the TV schedules and DVD collections ? It must be years since "Live now pay later" was on the TV. and then there's "The Boys" ( with Robert Morley in brilliant form ) "Sparrow's can't sing" "This is my Street" "Spare the Rod" "Bitter harvest" etc etc. I do not suggest that any of these were all time classics but they are important period pieces in reflecting British society before the swinging sixties took off with Hard Days Night. By the way, as an introductory quiz question- gold star to the first person who can recognise where I get my user name from !

Nick Dando

Dead of Night - Michael Redgrave's dummy.

Nick

Wee Sonny MacGregor

No you're not alone. I agree. Sadly, I'm beginning to think that these films will hardly ever, if at all, be shown again on terrestial channels. Or am I being too pessimistic?

tvden

I too wish that these films could be shown again, but the people that schedule tv seem only intent on endlessly repeating more modern stuff

Hugo Fitch

Spot on Nick. What was Sylvester's dummy called ?

Steve Crook

Wasn't that Sophie Aldred as Ace?

Steve

smudge

To paraphase Harry Enfield,

"Oi !!! Crooky!! NO !!!!" Sophie Aldred is a very nice lady...

To get back on topic, THE BOYS has been screened with the past 12-18 months as I got a decent digital copy.

The 'classic' channels on SKY do very little for the Britfilm collector. In fact, TCM is probably more fruitful with the output from MGM's Borehamwood studios. Even so, this has rapidly fallen into a pattern of the same old, same old.

If only someone (where are you Mr. Branson ?) would invest that little outlay and give us a decent Britfilm channel in the digital technology....

SMUDGE

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

Mr Cosmo

One of the reasons I got cable in the early 1990s was the existence of BRAVO which at the time showed the first series of THE MAN FROM UNCLE and showed all those old films like LIVE NOW PAY LATER, POOL OF LONDON, SPARROWS CAN'T SING (which annoyingly they only showed once and I didn't tape) and then they showed a lot of the ITC catalogue, then overnight it became a moron channel with all the programs dedicated to laddism. I guess that those of us who are over 25 are not considered to be what the advertisers are after - but seems to me all the ads on TV are either about getting you into debt or out of debt.

How I would love for a channel like the old BRAVO to come back now.

batman

BBC showed 'The Boys' on TV last year. When I happened to mention at work that I had taped it about 8 people (all aged between 35-60) asked if they could borrow it.
A conversation ensued and every person bemoaned not only the lack of films from the late 40s through to early 6os but also the general lack of quality on TV.
Why can't the British make quality 'entertainment' drama any more ... stuff like 'Pool of London', 'Blue Lamp', 'Hunted' (Bogarde) and also those old ITC series such as 'Man In A Suitcase', 'The Baron' and 'Strange Report'?
I know I am a self-confessed nostalgia freak but so many people think the same.
Batty

I wish I had claws.

NappieB

I saw "The Boys" when it was first released (1962). Hugo Fitch took the words right out of my mouth... this is a chronicle of pre-Beatles UK!

So realistic, so stylish...so accurate - and gripping to boot! Robert Morley was wonderful; Richard Todd was quite good too, but looked a bit unsure of himself and actually gives away the solution two-thirds way thru' the film

Wilfred Brambell does a great cameo (although not really a cameo, it's an integral part of the movie)and a host of other "soon-to-be-great" British actors have small parts.

My only regret - the wonderful theme tune (by The Shadows) is heard only during a cafe` sequence, and only for a few seconds... what a waste of great music! I am mystified as to why this sparkling theme music was not played to introduce the movie, and reprised at strategic intervals during the show!

I obtained a VHS copy of this movie (in NTSC format) in the USA a few year ago and wrote a review of it on another movie website. Hardly had my fingers left the keyboard when I was besieged by questions from fans who had seen the film. Alas, I had to reply "I don't know." to most of their queries. However, this incident clearly validates the opinions of Hugo Fitch and others who have contributed to this thread.

Hugo Fitch

Very interesting you should say that about the music. I have a vivid recollection from having seen the film on TV in the early 1970's that there was an extended sequence of the boys walking along the street to the soundtrack of the title theme. It was a particularly poignant moment and the melancholy melody served to emphasise the sheer ordinariness of the boys life which was about to change so suddenly and awfully. Anyway I recently watched a copy of the film recorded from BBC 2 a couple of years ago i believe- but no such scene. Did I imagine it or has it been cut from the version shown on TV and by the sound of it from your VHS edition. Can anyone help with this ? If the scene was cut , then it was an act of monstrous butchery--if not then it is my memory playing tricks and I need to increase my dosage !

NappieB

Hugo - wow, what a great possibility!!

I actually saw the movie when it first was released...but I don't remember that scene (but hey, 45 years have elapsed, maybe it's just my memory!)

I battled to get the NTSC version here in the US and was successful in doing so about 3 years ago.

My source is sorta confidential (pm me if you like) because it's a guy who seems to have masses and masses of movie material from the 50s and 60s, much of it British, and perhaps pirated (??)

The point here is that the material from this source is [i]usually[i] taken from the original cut of the movie. In other words, if that is the case with the copy of "The Boys" that I have, that scene was not in the original movie (sorry!) I admit that this is a bit speculative on my part... wish my memory were better so that I could recall that original 1962 screening in detail.