John Betjeman is filmed at different London locations introducing and reciting four of his poems. The film was Ken Russell's first for television and was commissioned by Huw Wheldon, the head of the BBC's Monitor arts programme. Betjeman is shown visiting locations including Vauxhall Park, Aldersgate Street station (now the Barbican), Camden Town and Hatfield. He recites his poems 'Monody on the Death of Aldersgate Street Station', 'Business Girls', 'The Olympic Girl' and 'Hertfordshire'.
An illustration of various mechanical instruments, from the musical-box to 1950s electronica.
Orson Welles talks about his work as actor, director, film-maker with extracts from his films "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons". Introduced and edited by Huw Wheldon.
Shelagh Delaney, the author of A Taste of Honey, looks at Salford, where she grew up and where the action of her plays takes place.
First transmitted in 1960, Huw Wheldon visits Henry Moore at his home in the run-up to a major exhibition of his work at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Wheldon tries to uncover deeper meanings and motivations in the artist's work, but Moore freely admits that he doesn't want to examine himself too thoroughly in case it inhibits his ability to create. 'I hate talking about my work,' said Moore. 'You can't explain a year's work in five minutes; and in any case all you do is to release your tensions and talk them away. All the same, there are things that can and perhaps should be said on a programme like Monitor.'.
Todays theme is Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill.
Ken Russell's stylish and playful 1962 film on the Young British Artists of the day who were pioneering the Pop Art movement features the works of four friends and colleagues. Peter Blake explores his passion for pop icons, Peter Phillips is featured with his cool companions, Derek Boshier voices his concerns with the American influence on British life and culture, and Pauline Boty, Britain's great female pop art painter who was to die only four years later, performs in a short dramatic dream piece.
The Preservation Man is set in a series of object-strewn settings, but here they're part of the artist Bruce Lacey's collection of random junk, and their original function is irrelevant. Sensibly, Russell and commentator Huw Wheldon keep analysis to a minimum, preferring to use the film as an excuse to spend quarter of an hour in Lacey's amiable company.
A partly dramatised account of the life of Sir Edward Elgar classical composer. Huw Wheldon narrates the life story over backdrops of beautiful mountain scenery, especially memorable is the image of young Elgar riding his horse around Malvern Hills.
The first section of the programme features Joe Tilson, who became one of the leading figures associated with the British Pop Art movement during the 1960s. The artist talks about gaining inspiration for his work from the modern world around him; including neon signs, advertising hoardings and posters. The second half of this episode featured an interview with theatre director Peter Brook.
Philip Larkin talks to fellow poet John Betjeman in 1964 about his life, his poetry and the city of Hull where he lived and worked as university librarian.
Todays theme is Bartok.
A group of actors follow their daring director as he tries to make sense of Claude Debussy's life. Clearly influenced by Fellini and the classic 81/2, Russell reconfigured the Debussy story as a commentary on actors, onset romances, and the hedonist attraction to art and artists. Oliver Reed is fantastic as the composer, using his obvious sexual swagger to suggest all manner of pent up emotions and ideas. The main theme that many of these films explore centers on the lack of success, the inability to gain sponsorship, and the various addictions that derive from same. As with many of his subjects, Russell appears very interested in the idea of lust, from both a personal and professional angle. Much of Debussy also finds the fictional director Vladek Sheybal bedhopping with Reed's various conquests, the fame whoring element of said women front and center. It makes for a wonderfully dense and delightful experience.
Always On Sunday is a bio-pic on Le (Henri) Douanier Rousseau, a French naive painter.
