743 British Cinema : A Personal View

First  viewed :  19  March  1986

As  part  of  British  Film  Year  ( which  was  actually  1985 ) ITV  commissioned  three  notable  British  directors  to  make  an  hour's  documentary  film  giving  their  thoughts  on  the  industry.
I  only  saw  the  middle  one. Sandwiched  between  Alan  Parker  and  Richard  Attenborough  was   Lindsay  Anderson  , director  of  This  Sporting  Life  and  If. 

Anderson  was  incensed  by  a  comment  from  David  Puttnam  that  the  British  film  industry  was  now  essentially  an  adjunct  to  Hollywood  and  judged  that  the  best  counter-argument  would  be  an  account  of  his  own  career  as  a  pioneer  of  the  Free  Cinema  movement in  the  fifties  and  beyond. As  an  example  of  making  yourself  the  hero  of  your story  it  would  be  hard  to  beat . Nevertheless  it  was  an  interesting  tale  and  Anderson  was  a good  raconteur. He  concluded  by   offering  his  1982  political  satire  Britannia Hospital  as  the  apogee  of  his  art, not  an  assessment  many  would  agree  with.