The White Bus: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|1967 British film by Lindsay Anderson}} |
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{{Use British English|date=June 2016}} |
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}} |
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{{Infobox film |
{{Infobox film |
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| name = The White Bus |
| name = The White Bus |
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| image = |
| image = The_White_Bus_film_frame_(1967).png |
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| caption = |
| caption = Frame from the film |
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| director = [[Lindsay Anderson]] |
| director = [[Lindsay Anderson]] |
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| producer = |
| producer = Lindsay Anderson |
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| screenplay = [[Shelagh Delaney]] |
| screenplay = [[Shelagh Delaney]] |
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| based_on = a short story by Shelagh Delaney |
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| starring = |
| starring = [[Patricia Healey]] |
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| music = Misha Donat |
| music = Misha Donat |
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| cinematography = [[Miroslav |
| cinematography = [[Miroslav Ondříček]] |
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| editing = [[Kevin Brownlow]] |
| editing = [[Kevin Brownlow]] |
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| studio = [[Woodfall Film Productions]] |
| studio = [[Woodfall Film Productions]]<br>Holly Productions |
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| distributor = [[United Artists |
| distributor = [[United Artists]] |
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| released = {{Film date|df=y|1967|12||UK}} |
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1967|12||UK}} |
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| runtime = 46 minutes |
| runtime = 46 minutes |
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| country = United Kingdom |
| country = United Kingdom |
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| language = English |
| language = English |
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| budget = |
| budget = |
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| gross = |
| gross = |
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}} |
}} |
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'''''The White Bus''''' is a 1967 [[short film]] |
'''''The White Bus''''' is a 1967 British [[short film|short]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Lindsay Anderson]] and starring [[Patricia Healey]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The White Bus |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150324954 |access-date=5 March 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay was jointly adapted<ref>Hedling, E: "Lindsay Anderson: Maverick Film-Maker", Cassell, 1998, p.62</ref> with [[Shelagh Delaney]] from a short story in her collection ''Sweetly Sings the Donkey'' (1963).<ref>Shelagh Delaney "Sweetly Sings the Donkey", New York: GP Putnam, 1963; London: Methuen, 1964</ref> It was the film debut of [[Anthony Hopkins]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anthony-Hopkins|title=Sir Anthony Hopkins – Welsh actor|publisher=}}</ref> |
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==Plot== |
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The main character, only referred to as ' |
The main character, only referred to as 'The Girl' leaves London, goes north on a train full of football fans and takes a trip in a white double-decker bus around an unnamed city she is visiting (although clearly based on Manchester, near Delaney’s hometown of Salford). The Mayor, a local businessman, and the council's ceremonial [[Mace-bearer|macebearer]] happen also to be taking the trip while they show the city to visiting foreigners. |
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Locations include [[Albert Square, Manchester|Albert Square]] and its landmark, the [[Manchester Town Hall|Town Hall]] and the nearby [[Manchester Central Library|Central Library]]. The 'model estate' of high-rise flats was shot on the Kersal Flats estate, while the factory sequences were shot in [[Trafford Park]], including the [[Metropolitan-Vickers]] works. It also featured scenes on Cheetham Hill Road and inside Cheetham College (now demolished). |
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*[[Victor Henry (actor)|Victor Henry]] as transistorite |
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*[[John Savident]] as supporter |
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*[[Fanny Carby]] as supporter |
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*Malcolm Taylor as supporter |
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*Alan O'Keeffe as supporter |
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*Jeanne Watts woman, fish shop couple |
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*Eddie King as man, fish shop couple |
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==Production== |
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Both the exterior and interior shots of the school were taken in the former Pendleton High School for Girls - now mainly demolished, but with the original Victorian building converted to a retirement home. Using local people, Anderson also staged parodies of paintings by [[Manet]] (''[[Le déjeuner sur l'herbe]]''), [[Fragonard]] and [[Goya]] in [[Buile Hill Park]] in [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]]. It was [[Anthony Hopkins]] film debut in a small role, while [[Stephen Moore (actor)|Stephen Moore]] is a (young) bowler-hatted man who pesters the heroine with nonsense<ref>Paul Sutton (ed.) ''The Diaries: Lindsay Anderson'', London: Methuen, 2004, p.141n.</ref> just after her arrival. |
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⚫ | The film was originally commissioned by producer [[Oscar Lewenstein]], then a director of Woodfall, as one third of an [[anthology film|anthology]] feature entitled ''[[Red, White and Zero]]'' (1967), with the other sections supplied by Anderson's [[Free Cinema]] collaborators [[Tony Richardson]] and [[Karel Reisz]]<ref>Lindsay Anderson, Paul Ryan (ed) "Never Apologise: The Collected Writings", Plexus, 2004, p.105</ref> from the other short stories by Shelagh Delaney. |
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==History and production== |
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The "first real day's shooting" was on 19 October 1965, and took about a month to complete.<ref>Sutton, p.140-41</ref> |
The "first real day's shooting" was on 19 October 1965, and took about a month to complete.<ref>Sutton, p.140-41</ref> |
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The two other planned sections of the film developed into |
The two other planned sections of the film developed into Richardson's ''Red and Blue'' (1967) and – Reisz having dropped out – [[Peter Brook]]'s ''[[Ride of the Valkyrie (1967 film)|Ride of the Valkyrie]]'' (1967), neither of which are related to Delaney's work. Of these, only ''The White Bus'' received a theatrical release in the UK.<ref>Sutton, p.146</ref> |
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== Critical reception == |
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''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "It emerges as a curiously muddled film, an interesting and ambitious experiment whose very diversity is ultimately its own undoing. The main problem is one of perspective. On a superficial level the film is about alienation, and a familiar alienation – that of the returning native ... If the tour which the girl joins is meant to be a generalised attack on the prim self-satisfaction of provincial officialdom, we are surely entitled to something with a harder edge than the patronising attitudes which the film seems to be striking. Arthur Lowe's Mayor is a telling caricature of bumptious officialdom, but since it is a caricature we can hardly be expected to accept at face value (as the film seems to want us to do) the facile jibes at soulless provincialism which Anderson makes by juxtaposing official statements with visual comment."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1968 |title=The White Bus |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305826877/60E8D3AD2D774F02PQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=35 |issue=408 |pages=175 |via=ProQuest}}</ref> |
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''[[Kine Weekly]]'' wrote: "The film appears to be an attempt to explore a phase of loneliness, while it laughs at civic pomposity. It is all rather obvious, confected with gimmicky photography and flashes of harsh colour, and the humour consists of a few intellectual giggles among feet of humdrum sightseeing around a town hardly worth seeing. As the lonely girl Patricia Healey looks suitably agog with disinterest throughout."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=13 July 1968 |title=The White Bus |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2585311858/69AAF76AC3064395PQ/1 |journal=[[Kine Weekly]] |volume=613 |issue=3170 |pages=11 |via=ProQuest}}</ref> |
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*Victor Henry - Transistorite |
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*[[John Savident]], [[Fanny Carby]], Malcolm Taylor, Alan O'Keeffe - Supporters |
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*Jeanne Watts, Eddie King - Fish Shop Couple |
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== Notes == |
== Notes == |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*{{IMDb title|id=0061181|title=The White Bus}} |
*{{IMDb title|id=0061181|title=The White Bus}} |
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*[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/white-bus-the/ ''The White Bus''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets] |
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{{Lindsay Anderson}} |
{{Lindsay Anderson}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:White Bus, The}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Bus, The}} |
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[[Category:1967 films]] |
[[Category:1967 films]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:1967 drama films]] |
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[[Category:British films]] |
[[Category:British drama short films]] |
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[[Category:Films directed by Lindsay Anderson]] |
[[Category:Films directed by Lindsay Anderson]] |
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[[Category:Films set in Manchester]] |
[[Category:Films set in Manchester]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Films shot in Greater Manchester]] |
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Revision as of 10:24, 7 March 2024
The White Bus | |
---|---|
![]() Frame from the film | |
Directed by | Lindsay Anderson |
Screenplay by | Shelagh Delaney |
Based on | a short story by Shelagh Delaney |
Produced by | Lindsay Anderson |
Starring | Patricia Healey |
Cinematography | Miroslav Ondříček |
Edited by | Kevin Brownlow |
Music by | Misha Donat |
Production companies | Woodfall Film Productions Holly Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 46 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The White Bus is a 1967 British short drama film directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Patricia Healey.[1] The screenplay was jointly adapted[2] with Shelagh Delaney from a short story in her collection Sweetly Sings the Donkey (1963).[3] It was the film debut of Anthony Hopkins.[4]
Plot
The main character, only referred to as 'The Girl' leaves London, goes north on a train full of football fans and takes a trip in a white double-decker bus around an unnamed city she is visiting (although clearly based on Manchester, near Delaney’s hometown of Salford). The Mayor, a local businessman, and the council's ceremonial macebearer happen also to be taking the trip while they show the city to visiting foreigners.
Cast
- Patricia Healey as the girl
- Arthur Lowe as the mayor
- John Sharp as the macebearer
- Julie Perry as conductress
- Stephen Moore as young man
- Victor Henry as transistorite
- John Savident as supporter
- Fanny Carby as supporter
- Malcolm Taylor as supporter
- Alan O'Keeffe as supporter
- Anthony Hopkins as Brechtian
- Jeanne Watts woman, fish shop couple
- Eddie King as man, fish shop couple
- Barry Evans as boy
- Penny Ryder as girl
- Dennis Alaba Peters as Mr Wombe
Production
The film was originally commissioned by producer Oscar Lewenstein, then a director of Woodfall, as one third of an anthology feature entitled Red, White and Zero (1967), with the other sections supplied by Anderson's Free Cinema collaborators Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz[5] from the other short stories by Shelagh Delaney.
The "first real day's shooting" was on 19 October 1965, and took about a month to complete.[6]
The two other planned sections of the film developed into Richardson's Red and Blue (1967) and – Reisz having dropped out – Peter Brook's Ride of the Valkyrie (1967), neither of which are related to Delaney's work. Of these, only The White Bus received a theatrical release in the UK.[7]
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "It emerges as a curiously muddled film, an interesting and ambitious experiment whose very diversity is ultimately its own undoing. The main problem is one of perspective. On a superficial level the film is about alienation, and a familiar alienation – that of the returning native ... If the tour which the girl joins is meant to be a generalised attack on the prim self-satisfaction of provincial officialdom, we are surely entitled to something with a harder edge than the patronising attitudes which the film seems to be striking. Arthur Lowe's Mayor is a telling caricature of bumptious officialdom, but since it is a caricature we can hardly be expected to accept at face value (as the film seems to want us to do) the facile jibes at soulless provincialism which Anderson makes by juxtaposing official statements with visual comment."[8]
Kine Weekly wrote: "The film appears to be an attempt to explore a phase of loneliness, while it laughs at civic pomposity. It is all rather obvious, confected with gimmicky photography and flashes of harsh colour, and the humour consists of a few intellectual giggles among feet of humdrum sightseeing around a town hardly worth seeing. As the lonely girl Patricia Healey looks suitably agog with disinterest throughout."[9]
Notes
- ^ "The White Bus". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ Hedling, E: "Lindsay Anderson: Maverick Film-Maker", Cassell, 1998, p.62
- ^ Shelagh Delaney "Sweetly Sings the Donkey", New York: GP Putnam, 1963; London: Methuen, 1964
- ^ "Sir Anthony Hopkins – Welsh actor".
- ^ Lindsay Anderson, Paul Ryan (ed) "Never Apologise: The Collected Writings", Plexus, 2004, p.105
- ^ Sutton, p.140-41
- ^ Sutton, p.146
- ^ "The White Bus". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 35 (408): 175. 1 January 1968 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "The White Bus". Kine Weekly. 613 (3170): 11. 13 July 1968 – via ProQuest.
External links
- The White Bus at IMDb
- The White Bus then-and-now location photographs at ReelStreets