Beer on DVD no.37
Roll Out The Barrel (2012) What a piece of social history: a wonderful two-disc compilation of clips and shorts made between 1944 and 1982 will have you laughing, cringeing, and "oh look it's 'imoff"-ing, "did we all live like that"-ing. The BFI has dug up and restored material from the NCB, the COI, the brewing trade, the War Office, the British Council. There's plenty of "it's grim oop North" with a Workingmen's Club in Sheffield and the haunting "The Ship Hotel - Tyne Main" 1967, grime and rivets in black and grey, filmed in a foreign language. There's a look at the London pub music scene made in 1970 "Under The Table You Must Go" which is where the camera seems to have been on a very short tripod as it filmed the dolly birds and a smarmy and lewd DJ. Guinness promotional films even back then were already a cut above for their artistry. Of local interest there's Hope & Anchor Brewery (to become Bass Sheffield), the Angel & White Horse at Tadcaster and possibly your own grandad with his flat cap and Woodbines. Do change your tv from widescreen to 4:3 otherwise these films will be very cruel.
There are trailers on YouTube. Priced �22.99 from the BFI, the best price on-line at the time of writing seems to be Sainsburys Entertainment, so do shop around!
printed in O-to-K Autumn 2012 text �RKW