Country: GB
Technical: col 68m
Director: David Gladwell
Cast: Largely uncredited
Synopsis:
A rural Suffolk village lies in the path of a new development, and the cemetery caretaker, who lives on an Ipswich housing estate, recalls the inhabitants of his youth, not least his spouse and wedding day, and other less savoury sexual transgressions.
Review:
Categorised as a rustic horror, Gladwell's BFI production is anything but: its villagers returning from their graves is the closest it gets to such a qualification. It is rather a lament for a vanished way of life, with carters, blacksmiths and harvest labourers seen performing their artisanal duties. David Fanshawe's music no doubt consciously emulates that of local boy, Benjamin Britten, and Walter Lassally provides some additional cinematography. Exteriors are fine, but lack of available light for the interiors, particularly the church, results in muddy focus. Dialogue is barely audible, or thickly accented, or both, and clearly the film, which has a certain reputation, must be judged according to the ghettoised standards of 'non-professional' and 'local interest'.
Country: GB
Technical: col 68m
Director: David Gladwell
Cast: Largely uncredited
Synopsis:
A rural Suffolk village lies in the path of a new development, and the cemetery caretaker, who lives on an Ipswich housing estate, recalls the inhabitants of his youth, not least his spouse and wedding day, and other less savoury sexual transgressions.
Review:
Categorised as a rustic horror, Gladwell's BFI production is anything but: its villagers returning from their graves is the closest it gets to such a qualification. It is rather a lament for a vanished way of life, with carters, blacksmiths and harvest labourers seen performing their artisanal duties. David Fanshawe's music no doubt consciously emulates that of local boy, Benjamin Britten, and Walter Lassally provides some additional cinematography. Exteriors are fine, but lack of available light for the interiors, particularly the church, results in muddy focus. Dialogue is barely audible, or thickly accented, or both, and clearly the film, which has a certain reputation, must be judged according to the ghettoised standards of 'non-professional' and 'local interest'.
