A House in Bayswater (1960)

Ken Russell

"But buried in the middle of 1960 is a film called A House in Bayswater, which is interesting for a number of reasons. At nearly half an hour, it was double the length of a typical Monitor item, and it was also the first of his BBC films not made for Monitor -- he produced it himself during the programme's summer break. It was also by far his most personal film to date -- as the title implies, it's a portrait of a house in Bayswater, but what it doesn't tell you is that Russell himself lived there in the 1950s. Most of the film is straightforward reportage -- we meet the eccentric landlady Mrs Collings and her current tenants, who include the photographer David Hurn, later the subject of Russell's 1963 film Watch the Birdie -- but at the very end there's this extraordinary dreamlike coda, which is quite unlike anything Russell had done up to then. The house is about to be demolished, but just before it vanishes from the map, there's a montage of its occupants and their defining characteristics, seamlessly dissolving into one another as if to cram as many of their memories as possible into what time is left to them before they're irretrievably lost in the rubble." Michael Brooke
http://michaelbrooke.wordpress.com/auteur-of-the-arts-ken-russell-at-the-bbc/

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Ken
• Russell
• House
• in
• bayswater
• 1960
• BBC
• Monitor
• BFI

[kleverkloggs]

# 32 !

[plodandwaddle]

This is fantastic!!! Thank you for posting.

[Poemsapennyeach]

jamesburrprints on youtube that is...

[Poemsapennyeach]

I know the artist in this...A good friend of mine...he is still alive...still working...living in France...here is his link...

Well youtube wont let me give it...but just type in jamesburrprints

[dukeofscouse]

No, it's Linden Gardens W2 4HA. The house is next to the Limes! 

[MsPeperonata]

Wow, Three pounds, eight-and-sixpence a week rent! I believe this house was in Eastbourne Terrace. You'd be looking at £425 a week in 2011 for a one-bed flat in the next street, Westbourne Terrace (where I live) which remains how it was in 1960. Photographer David Hurn is still alive and after this film lived for a many years in Porchester Gardens, Bayswater, where he entertained the likes of Ringo Starr, Jean Shrimpton and Jane Fonda as well as the famous photographers of the day.

[back2steel2]

Michael Brooke you're a star , thank's so much for championing our film heritage. you are all over the net being helpful with info.

its about time you got a knighthood !

tragic news about the COI , heaven forbid anything happening to BFI , you are all so dedicated and do tremendous work ........thank you all.

sorry for being all lovey but i mean it !

[travixity]

Unbelievable. Thank you so much for posting.

[ArchieMoore]

That was an amazingly restrained and gentle film about memory and a city's gentrification. Ken Russell is a master of those 'dreamlike' sequences. That was a beautiful ending. What a wonderful statement that the older peoples' dreams/memories are more genuine than the younger tenants who seem superficial and how 'progress' eventually erases this.

[barryUFF]

Interesting. You can still see the poverty in Britain after the war which pretty much lasted until the mid 80s. Bayswater is a nice area of London remember. Interesting characters too.