Anthony May interview 2008 Pt 1

NOTE:-I was amazed that the 2008 release on DVD had no 'extras', so on the 40th anniversary of the films release I contacted the films stars to interview them for Youtube. As I had no access to a film crew, or any budget I had to do the best i could on my own, so thankyou to Anthony and Judy for their help with this project.

Star of 'Les Bicyclettes de Belsize' (filmed in 1968). Co-star was Judy Huxtable; the following are some notes she passed on to me about her memories of this film.

"Douglas Hickox, the director of 'les Bicyclettes de Belsize' from De Lane Lea Studios asked to see me through my agent Jean Diamond from London Management.
I was told I was playing a young sucessful sixties model who was looking for her true love to rescue her from what was becoming a stressful and sometimes dark scenario.
Douglas Hickox made it clear when we met that he wanted the film to be like 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg), a 1963 French film staring Catherine Deneuve, shot atmospherically and told through song. Douglas wanted me to sing 'All I need is Love'.
I would have needed singing lessons and that was too expensive as there was only a small budget for the film, so I had to mime the song that my character sings. In the film, the scene is shot in the Villa Bianca restaurant in Hampstead, during which I'm thinking about meeting my true love. Douglas wanted me to be like a young Catherine Deneuve. When i first met him the part of 'The Boy' had not yet been cast. They were looking for a beautiful young man to partner me, the rest is history!
If anyone wants to know what sort of clothes we wore back in 1968, they should watch this film. Anthony wears velvet trousers, long pale scarves, boots and velvet jackets with tousled hair; a real 'sixties' look.
I hope awareness of the film through the DVD release has increased because it shows a different and pretty side of London, an old fashioned view, with a lilting musical background.
Of course the Boy and Girl lived happily ever after! I loved that last scene with Anthony, we were full of hope walking off into the sunset!"

I would like to thank Anthony May and Judy Cook for sharing their memories of this much loved film, and I would like to remind fans that Judy wrote a book about her marriage to Peter Cook called ' Loving Peter: My Life with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore ' published by Piatkus.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• les
• bicyclettes
• de
• belsize

[1390arosa]

click on 'more info' to read Anthonys' co-star, Judy Huxtables' (later, Judy Cook) memories of the film.

[paisleyandcharlie]

Can't get enough of this little gem of a movie :-) Thank you for the Anthony May interview too - he's also fab as the Cool Cavalier in The Double Deckers :-) La La La Love You xxx

[onionsonions62]

Now then. For what its worth. I found this film one day on a drunken weekend on bbc2. What a Gem. Too drunk to vidio it,,i let my eyes record. Found it on utube. This is a great piece of work and will have a great future. Its fantastic,,,i love it.

[tonystower]

Memories of a wonderful film. "Les Bicyclettes..." seems to come from a happier, more innocent age. I first saw it coupled as a double-bill with "The Italian Job" when I was a kid. Happy days. Thanks for posting.

[klisher]

i love Bicyclettes de Belsize' the innocence of it . brilliant cant walk through a park without singing gentlemen of the park lol

[emzcool]

A superb initiative in putting this cult classic into context through the words of two of the people who were central to the original project.