KING AND COUNTRY

Brilliant new 4K restoration of anti-war film King and Country (1964) by Joseph Losey

This mostly unknown British film by acclaimed American director, Joseph Losey, is another collaboration with renowned British thespian Dirk Bogarde. Their partnership bore great riches together and this is there little film but the one that speaks the loudest in terms of relevancy to today's modern age. 

The film follows the famous anti-war narrative familiar in literature from Journey's End and Catch-22, the futility of war is apparent for all to see, and in the depiction of Private Hamp (Tom Courtenay), a deserter from the front-lines during the Great War, you have another anti-hero. 

Dirk Bogarde portrays Captain Hargreaves, a lawyer, sent to defend Hamp as he faces court-martial for desertion with the threat of execution by firing squad. Hamp just wants to go home as many wanted to do no doubt, and yet the stigmatism of cowardice is thrown around by those in command, those who are not on the front-line.

Hamp has his reasons, he volunteered on a dare, he is the only survivor of his group remaining and his wife back home has been unfaithful in his absence; and yet the political machine chooses to use Hamp as an example before another futile offensive manoeuvre in the quagmire of the first world war somewhere in France. 

The film is set for the most part in real-time, and shares a lot of cinematic DNA with Kubrick's Paths of Glory where Kirk Douglas defended deserters and the squalor and downtrodden mess of the trenches is clear to see as rain constantly falls on young men fighting for their lives and freedom in or near No Man's Land.

The new restoration gives the film a real shine and sheen to these sad sights and Bogarde plays Hargreaves in a fine line between right and just and true and sceptic. When a superior officer questions the defence of mental health, stating, 'Is he a lunatic?' it puts a black mark on all proceedings and how nearly a hundred years later, male mental health only came to fruition when men were battened down in their households during a global pandemic with little or not much to do.

'I just wanted to get away from the guns sir'

Courtenay is quite astounding in the role of Hamp (he won Best Actor in Venice that year) and this was in the purple patch of his run of performances in the Angry Young Man era from The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Billy Liar to this performance. His heartfelt and honest portrayal reminded this viewer of Ed Norton's debut in Primal Fear when his role depicted a fugue like state in a post-traumatic stress event.

Bogarde holds court himself as the true star of proceedings akin to a George Clooney in those days as he cross-examines witnesses such as Leo McKern as the doctor who does not notice the effects of shell shock upon Hamp. Bogarde when facing a jury who have already made their decision in terms of Hamp's verdict shows that justice can be just as ineffective as war on occasion.

Timely and timeless, this film serves as a constant reminder that the real cost of war is the loss of innocence.

Special features include an interview with Tom Courtenay about the film; an archive interview with Dirk Bogarde from 1964 and Behind the Scenes stills

King and Country is released by Studiocanal UK on Blu-ray/DVD on 6th November

Billy Liar: 50th Anniversary

To mark the 50th anniversary of its original theatrical release, StudioCanal release on DVD and Blu-ray, Billy Liar.  John Schlesinger's adaptation of Keith Waterhouse's breakthrough novel of the same title, is seen as the most respected film of the Kitchen Sink Dramas of the early 1960s that brought a veritable feast of talent to the British screen.

Starring Tom Courtenay in his most famous role, and cast because he was more 'dainty' than his contemporary Albert Finney who starred in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (1960).  Courtenay has a real cheekiness in his performance that fits the dark humor and whilst he did not have the sheer physicality or masculinity as Finney, Alan Bates (A Kind of Loving, 1962) or Richard Harris (This Sporting Life, released the same year); those performers were reacting against the world, Billy Liar/Courtenay reacts in spite of the world.

Billy Liar or William Terence Fisher, an apt surname considering he is fishing for any sort of hook to get out of Bradford.  The kitchen sink dramas were about aspiration of the angry young man, to escape the mundanity of working class life and yet ultimately they feel trapped by their social being which would fall if they did not stay, much like the decision Billy has at the end of the film.

Billy is tempted by Liz, played with all the vivacious savvy by Julie Christie is indicative of the impending Swinging Sixties that she and her contemporaries Twiggy and Marianne Faithfull would embody.  Liz is very much the sexualised conquest that Billy would chase after if he ever got to the big smog.

It seems a shame watching this fine print, that Courtenay did not break into the Hollywood mainstream like Finney and Harris - this may have to do with his complexion which is distinctly English; yet the sheer verve of performance into Billy's fantasy life is all the more remarkable that Courtenay's talent was overlooked across the Atlantic.

Billy's off-the-wall social observation and swapping of genres from kitchen sink to 1950s library in one dream sequence to his gunning down his family as he shaves.  This sort of material was clearly ahead of its time.

The keen eye for detail and wonderful use of CinemaScope lends Bradford a vista for Billy's fantasies, as well as the numerous times the film breaks the fourth wall with Billy addressing the camera.  My impression was that Michael Caine as the eponymous Alfie (1966) was the first film to do this; whilst Caine spoke directly to camera, Courtenay seems to wink and smile at the camera as if to tell the audience this is all the joke.  There may be a difference in the conduct but the influence on Lewis Gilbert's film is undeniable.

Schlesinger also uses an overhead shot to split Billy in the toilet and Mr. McShadrack (Leonard Rossiter) on the outside trying to get in - the kind of shot familiar to the work of Brian de Palma.  The influence of the banter between Billy and Charlie (Rodney Bewes), a work colleague, is also reminiscent of the forthcoming BBC sitcom The Likely Lads in which Bewes starred with James Bolam, who has a similarity to Courtenay.

Might Billy Liar be one of the most influential films of the 1960s? - a film that was off-the-wall with its distinctly un-British humour, a jazzy soundtrack, gave the world Julie Christie.  It was as if John Schlesinger could see the Swinging Sixties coming on the horizon and decided to make as free a film as possible, and in doing so made a film that is still vibrant and rich as that era became.

BILLY LIAR: 50th ANNIVERSARY is released by StudioCanal on Monday 6th May on both DVD and Blu-ray at £15.99 and £19.99 respectively.

Special features include Remembering Billy Liar with Tom Courtenay and Helen Fraser; an interview with Richard Ayoade; interview with Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley; stills gallery and trailer.