Short Sharp Shocks Vol 3

Right in time for the spooky season, BFI Flipside unleashes the third instalment of SHORT SHARP SHOCKS, with yet another compelling collection of that revisits the heyday of the supporting programme – once again boasting an eclectic mix of British short films – often with macabre themes - presented for the first time in HD.

Disc 1 begins with the immensely atmospheric RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL (Dir: Hilton Edwards, 1951) – an Academy Award-nominated tale, a ghost story set in Ireland, is recounted with relish by Orson Welles. Back in 1931, Welles had made his stage debut at Dublin’s Gate Theatre aged only 16. Almost twenty years later in 1949, he returned to Ireland and got back together with the theatre’s world-famous founders, Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir – this time for a film version of ‘Othello’. It was a notoriously stop-start affair from the start and during one of lengthy pauses, both Edwards and MacLiammóir persuaded their lead actor to narrate a little ghost story they were making…and so we see Welles’ character taking a break from filming ‘Othello’ and driving down a lonely lane in the Irish countryside when he spots a man by the wayside with car trouble. Offering the man a lift, the stranger then proceeds to tell a truly strange tale which happened to him a while ago at the exact same location. The flashback then depicts said man driving down that same lane at night when two women appear out of nowhere and ask him whether he would be so kind as to drive them to their remote manor. As a thank you, they invite him in for a cup of tea or something stronger. Initially refusing, the stranger, who now introduces himself as Sean Merriman (Michael Laurence), initially refuses but is persuaded by Lucy Campbell (Helena Hughes), the daughter of her mother Mrs. Campbell (Shelah Richards). During a polite conversation by the fireplace, the two women admire Mr. Merriman’s cigarette case. Reading the inscription, it transpires that the daughter was apparently the long lost love of their guest’s uncle… What a coincidence. Or is it? After finally bidding farewell (although mother and daughter ask him to drop by again for a drink whenever he happens to be in the area), Merriman drives off but soon realises that he forgot his cigarette case by the fireplace. Driving straight back in the assumption that surely, the two women will still be awake, he is in for the shock of his life upon entering the estate…

STRANGE STORIES (Dir: J. Guillermin/D. Chaffey, 1953) is just as spooky and atmospheric and has a frame story in which Valentine Dyall (the storyteller/narrator) drives his friend John Slater (also the storyteller/narrator) to a train station in London. En route, they pass a house and Dyall recalls that eighty years ago at the exact address, a small law firm existed and thus begins the first tale, ‘The strange Mr. Bartleby’ set in Victorian times. When a young woman (Naomi Chance) appears in the office of solicitor Mr. Gilkie (Norman Shelley), asking him to help find her a certain Mr. Bartleby (John Laurie) who vanished without trace some nineteen years ago,, she doesn’t give her name but hands Gilkie some of her jewellery. Initially hesitant and pointing out that he is not a detective, he eventually agrees to investigate… and we are in for some eerie delights. Next time you hear someone saying “I’d rather not…” you may think of this film. Thanks to Dyall’s engaging story, Slater has now missed his train and thus tells his story, titled ‘’The Strange Journey’ during which a couple – Charles (Colin Tapley) and wife Marie (Helen Horton) board a steamer to Tasmania after Charles accidentally kills his former employer following an argument in a train carriage. On board the steamer, Captain Breen (Peter Bull), suspects nothing of the real reason why the couple are heading all the way for Tasmania and even invites them for dinner and a round of chess in his cabin… but in their increasing paranoia, the couple believe the Captain knows that Charles committed the much publicised murder and it’s precisely this paranoia which seals his fate… At this point, Slater has missed another train and Dyall, laughing, invites him for a drink to the pub.

Next up are two microbudget-shorts called STRANGE EXPERIENCES: OLD SILAS and GRANDPA’S PORTRAIT (Dir: Derek Williams, 1956) – narrated by Peter Williams in a suitably haunting manner.

MAZE (Dir: Bob Bentley, 1969) transports us to the London of the Swinging Sixties and was made by Bentley – a BAFTA-winning filmmaker and painter – while he was a student at the Royal College of Art’s Film and Television School. The 13 min short screened as part of Bentley’s degree show in 1970. During the insightful interview with Bentely in the Bonus material, he explains that MAZE, which has no classical structure and is dominated by a non-linear story, was influenced by the ground-breaking new wave cinema styles of Godard and Truffaut. The b/w film features two protagonists, one is an immigrant (played by George Votsis) who washes dishes in an upmarket hotel. As Bentley explains, this particular character is based on his own time in Sweden. Then there is a second character (Paul Stubbs) who is based on the other Bentley – the artistic, bohemian David Hockney-styled aesthete who prefers to mingle in posh hotel lounges as opposed to hotel kitchens. We follow these two characters (who initially don’t seem connected) – with the immigrant wandering through a deserted Covent Garden market in the morning while a Marilyn lookalike (Stephanie Cleverley) argues with herself and with her bohemian love interest… on the streets, in the hotel lobby… though ends up sitting on a park bench with another male character (Oliver Williams) when a third female character – a young lady (Henriette Penaat) with a large shopping bag and a dog – links the two people together. Her character derives from a dream that Bentley had. In the end, both the immigrant and the Hockney-style bohemian – unknown to each other – disappear in the abyss that is the London Underground. With its groovy soundtrack courtesy of John Whitney and family friends, MAZE is precisely that, with its characters meeting, leaving, wandering about blind alleys and attempting to find their way out of a labyrinth (just as the viewers will be tasked with finding their way out of the film’s structural labyrinth).

Disc 2 kicks off with the Tony Bicat’s shocking SKINFLICKER (1973) during which three young dissidents, Susie (Hilary Charlton), Wilf (Will Knightley) and Henry (Henry Woolf) plot to kidnap a government minister (Brendan Barry) and document everything on camera. Relentless, brutal, deranged and harrowing, this 43 minute flick can be described as a forerunner of the ‘found footage’ horror genre.
This is followed by two haunting Public Information Films from 1973 (BROKEN BOTTLE and DON’T FOOL AROUND WITH FIREWORKS) of which the BFI archive seems to have an endless supply.

THE TERMINAL GAME (1982), with a screenplay by Geoff Lowe (who also produced, directed and edited the film) was Lowe’s graduation film from the UK’s National Film School. When computer programmer Raymond James (Jack Galloway) investigates a colleague’s suspicious death in this cautionary and prescient tale, he finds himself confronted with the perils of corporate giants and new technology.

Finally, WINGS OF DEATH (Dir: N. Bruce and M. Coulson, 1985) sees a 19-year old Dexter Fletcher as heroin-addict Alex who checks into a decaying Byzantium hotel where he relives both a rather pleasant past before sliding away into considerably more terrifying and much darker realms – all the while a little girl (Lynne Radford), daughter of the hotel’s grotesque landlady (Paula Jacobs) and her slob of a husband (Tony Haygarth) cuts up dolls in a sinister manner so she can see what’s inside. Enter junkies, winos and all sorts of derelicts (Hidden Grin Theatre Company) in this hallucinatory, deeply visual and deeply disturbing trip from hell! Fletcher is so convincing, it’s no wonder Derek Jarman commissioned him for ‘Caravaggio’ after this.
SHORT SHARP SHOCKS – Vol 3 is a ‘must have’ for this Halloween season and beyond!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
A Vandyke Production: Roger Proudlock and STRANGE STORIES (2023, 7 mins): the BFI’s Vic Pratt looks back on the tiny post-war independent film company that produced Strange Stories / Getting Lost (2023, 20 mins): interview with Bob Bentley, writer and director of MAZE / Touch a Nerve (2023, 26 mins): interview with SKINFLICKER director Tony Bicât / Actor Henry Woolf’s personal pencil-annotated copy of the Skinflicker script by Howard Brenton / A Game of Two Halves (2023, 28 mins): interview with THE TERMINAL GAME writer and director Geoff Lowe / Playing Music (2023, 8 mins): renowned composer Colin Towns looks back on his score for The Terminal Gam / The Terminal Game original trailer / WINGS OF DEATH: Behind the Scenes (2023, 7 mins) / Flying High (2023, 31 mins): the directors of Wings of Death look back on the film / Rare on-set photos of Wings of Death by Steve Pyke / Image galleries for Maze, Skinflicker, and Wings of Death / Newly commissioned sleeve artwork by renowned illustrator Graham Humphreys / Illustrated booklet (first pressing only).