ChristineCB

Is there a British equivalent to Roger Corman and William Castle? Or is the world only big enough for those two? (And let's forget about Russ Meyer and Doris Shipman, for convenience's sake.)

I've been adding more of those trashy American B-movies-for-drive-in's to my collection and most of them frequently cross the border between Awful But Funny into Strictly Awful. "They Came From Beyond Space" is my latest encounter, included with 2 other films on a single-sided DVD ("Teenagers From Space" and "In The Year 2889", and it STILL might be considered a waste of a good DVD blank!)...

I always thought that Hammer and Amicus were British havens for trashy filmmaking but, honestly, I can't find a single Hammer-Amicus film that comes close to some of these amazingly bad American films.

What was wrong with British filmmakers back then?

Were they just too smart to realize that back-rows of drive-in theatres were perfect for awful films?

Or, if there were British equivalents, have the Brit DVD producers smartened up enough to avoid converting them to digital output? Do the Americans simply grow so many more DVD-trees that they have plenty to spare, and thus commit almost any film to DVD? (And yet, I still have a good 70 or 80 titles that haven't been!)

What was wrong with British filmmaking in the '50s and '60s? Why was there such a Trashy Film Gap? Was this more evidence of the collapse of the British Empire?

smudge

DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS ?

FIRE MAIDENS FROM OUTER SPACE ?

And there must be many more than just these....

SMUDGE

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

DB7

I think they came a few decades later in the guise of Bloodbath at the House of Death and all those other terrible 70s/80s horrors.

ChristineCB

Smudge, oh please please - name more! FIRE MAIDENS... oh, I gotta see this. I am ALWAYS looking for role models. DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS sound great, too. Only one of Devil Girl? Hmmm... so, does that mean, even if I learned enough and got qualified/certified, etc, that I wouldn't stand a chance? Darn... I am sorry I'm only a few years too late-!

DB, are you going to argue that the Brits saw the Americans falter and the Brits were there to clean up? Hmmm... could be. I've found a few trashy American flix in the 70s and 80s, but for some reason, they just don't match the '50s and '60s stuff.

batman

Anything from the Butchers .... the producers of those old creaky 50s/60s B pictures that were filmed in someone's back garden and/or shed with people like Harry H Corbett, Derren Nesbitt and Warren Mitchell .... priceless !!!

"Do you know why fattries are called fattries .... it's because they are big and people make things in them."

smudge

Hmmm - two minds on that one Bats. Ok, some of the Butchers were a bit wobbly, but trash ? I see most of them as little character pieces, usually with something to hold the interest ; if only, "Oooh - look at him before he got famous !"

As to the 'trashier' side of things I shall have to put me thinking cap on Christine and see if I can pull any more titles out of memory. Mostly low budget sci-fi I should think. You really MUST try to get a copy of FIRE MAIDENS though. In the old days of VHS I deliberately put that one on the same tape as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

Need I say more ?



And don't forget, when they first hit the silver screen most critics panned the Hammers as trash, with comments like, "For sadists only.." (etc.)


SMUDGE

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Steve Crook

There were some trashy films made here in the 50s & 60s.
The trouble is that most people have (deliberately) forgotten them.

It was a strange time in Britain. The early 50s were too soon after the war. People didn't want to be reminded of it just yet. And of course by the late 60s you've got the start of swinging London. In between those two you had the Angry Young Men in the theatre and cinema and the satire revival with TW3 and Peter Cook's establishment club.

The country was being stood on its head, or realising just how much the war had changed everything.

There were some very good films made in that period and when people want to see, or show films from around that time, they do usually tend to pick the good ones. So not many people have seen the really trashy ones.

But there are a few, like:
The Blood Beast Terror (1968)
The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
Cosh Boy (1952)
Death Drums Along the River (1963)
Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956)
Ghost Ship (1952)
Gonks Go Beat (1965)
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952)
Naked as Nature Intended (1961)
Night Without Stars (1951)
School for Unclaimed Girls (1969)
Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966)
The Snake Woman (1961)
The Viking Queen (1967)

Steve

smudge

Of course, Steve, BLOOD BEAST TERROR ! A giant, blood sucking moth - what could be trashier ? SECRETS OF A WINDMILL GIRL has just been released on R1, so Christine should have no trouble getting a copy (I would suggest hiring it though !)

SMUDGE

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julian_craster

In the USA they have the '50 films on 12 DVDs' megapack concept (many issued by Mill Creek Entertainment). These retail for about 25 dollars a set (or less) for 50 films!
These are US obscure public domain titles from minor studios, with prints rescued from dustbins (so there are no restorations), but restoration would be impractical at this price level...

There is no point in complaining about the poor quality of the films or prints, but a least historians can view them !
I have their '50 musicals megapack' set , and have been introduced to Jane Frazee (I am now a Jane Frazee fan) in a battered old print of Republic's 1947 CALENDAR GIRL, with Kenny Baker (versatile Kenny certainly was: singer, jazz trumpeter, and Tory minister in Mrs Thatcher's UK goverment....)

It would be nice to have this concept for British junk films (Danzigers box anyone?)
but under current UK copyright law, such a set would be illegal..
A pity ...

Brief Encounter

Butchers made Madame Louise (1951) didn't they? A truly dreadful film.

For me, in the 'so bad it's good' category has to be The Romantic Age (1949), starring Mai Zetterling as the schoolgirl who seduces her teacher, Hugh Williams.

Moor Larkin

Browsing through a Film Review Annual from the 1950's makes you realise the mind-boggling number of films being released back then. These were all movies that made it into a Picture House, not Indy movies for art-houses. I've no idea how the imdb database was set up but if I was even more anal than I already am, I could spend long hours tapping in the lists from these Annuals, hoping to find the gaps, or at least fill in the cast lists.

The 1950's reviewers remark on 'drive-in' trash coming from America but note that 'drive-ins' in the UK are unlikely due to the price of land and the endemic inclement weather.

They are equally critical of British 'trashy' movies and keep insisting that the trend of people staying at home to watch TV is caused by this. They point out that if the choice is between a rubbish movie that people have to go out of the house for, take a bus, queue up outside the Box Office etc.... or a rubbish TV show that the same person only has to sit in front of the fire to watch, then the picturegoer will stay in and watch the TV.

I have a DVD with three Danziger shows on it. One was weirdly dreadful, the other two were quite good.

Weren't the 'Quota Quickies' supposed to be British Trash?

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

ChristineCB

(In the HI ALL thread, poor DB is advocating some new user to 'dig thru' threads, hopeful that new users will find something of higher-value interests than my TRASHY thread here. Yes - sorry, DB!! But I couldn't help myself!)

A lot of great mentions here, and good comments all. I invariably find a few jewels in just about every topic.

I too always considered the Hammers-Amicus studios as trash producers, but after seeing some of these American formula films, and digging thru IMDB to see if the actors stayed in the profession (invariably no, or if they did, it was only for a few more trash pieces), I realize the Hammer-Amicus films were at least on the upper edges of the heap.

One thing I've enjoyed about the American trash DVDs is seeing a drawn version of the monster. If there's not a screen shot or a photo, then you KNOW this is going to be a True Trash film - the monster's makeup was so poor that even the DVD producers elected not to show it in a thumbnail still!

Could there be a finer indictment of a trashy monster movie than the fear of photos?!!

"Holy REAR WINDOW, Batman..."

julian_craster

More trashy British films of 1950s and 60s

Behemoth the Sea Monster
Gorgo
Konga (w Michael Gough as mad professor)
Primitive London
That Kind of Girl
Horrors of the Black Museum (w Michael Gough as mad intellectual/writer)
Girls of the Latin Quarter
Nudist Paradise
Some Like it Cool (director Michael Winner)
London in the Raw
Peeping Tom (considered trash in 1960 - now masterpiece...)
Too Hot to Handle (with lovely Jayne Mansfield)
Satellite in the Sky (Danzigers 'A' picture of 1956 in Colour/Scope)
Beat Girl
Circus of Horrors
The Rough and the Smooth
The Yellow Teddybears
Fiend Without a Face

Merton Park

I am sorry, you cannot call Circus of Horrors and Peeping Tom-TRASH. Both happen to be particular favourites of mine, and still stand up very well today. Also, I wouldn't call Cosh Boy or most of the Butchers output trash either. There's a huge difference between Fire Maidens From Outer Space and those mentioned!

batman

Hi Smudge .... I didn't mean to imply that the Butcher's films are trash, just ultra low budget, I luv 'em, there was onle particularly good one which featured Jeremy Brett and lots of boats with Peter Vaughn wandering around in bowler hat complete with brolly !!!!
Steve ... no, no , no .... Ghost Ship is marvellous. I actually bought an Australian DVD of this film - it's great ..... as is Night Without Stars with David Farrar blundering about, superb stuff .... and how could you denigrate the wonderful Cosh Boy, worth the viewing simply for young 'John Briggs' as 'Skinny' .... oh dear, my head hurts

"Do you know why fattries are called fattries .... it's because they are big and people make things in them."