|
|
Director's Comments
When the film was first shown in the winter of 1963 at the Academy Cinema in London, it received loud cheers and an ovation the night the unknown director of the film crept into a back seat; a surprising reaction from the usual British sang-froid audience in those days. Its world-wide release was then cleverly master-minded by the Boulting Brothers and their company British Lion, and they managed to turn a £6,000 mortgage on the director's Paris flat into a profit in under a year.
|
Suzy Miles, John and Roy Boulting outside
10 Selwood Place, London
|
Generous critical praise, and lucky timing for a film which parodied directors' styles for the first time, along with witty performances, helped its success. This, together with observations from the UK National Press, who were getting sick and tired of the usually boring "Look at Life" shorts, which were often shown before the main feature at the time; all helped temporarily change UK distribution patterns. These short films benefited from a Government subsidy, called Eady Money, which was supposed to assist the new film-maker, but ended up by being exploited by the then cinema circuit cartels so preventing very few people from getting their short films into the cinemas.
Over subsequent years, the good cinema short, which gives an opportunity for new talent to be seen, has still not been given the chance it deserves in the UK.
Even in the early 60's it wasn't easy, the story of why and how the film was 'blacked' by the ACTT, the film union at the time, and how the Boulting brothers lifted the ban and saved the day is all part of 'Carrying the Can'.
|
