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United Kingdom released, Blu-Ray/Region A/B/C DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Linear PCM ), French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), French ( Dolby Linear PCM ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Booklet, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Documentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Short Film, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: First released in 1965, Primitive London is a once shocking mondo-style documentary that sets out to reflect societal decay through the sideshow spectacle of 1960's London depravity. Here, the camera finds mods, rockers and beatniks, an obscure band called The Zephyrs, seedy Jack the Ripper enactments, flabby men in the sauna, sordid wife-swapping parties and more. Shot just as the sixties was really starting, Primitive London shows a Britain trying to find a way of transiting from the post war depression of the 1950's and the shiny brave new world of the mid 1960's. ...Primitive London (1965) (Blu-Ray)
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This kind of shock-doc was a bit of a staple of early 60s cinema, the opportunity to show the odd nipple or two getting by under the pretence that these movies were educational rather than merely prurient. So under the unconvincing pretext that we are looking at how the utamed beast that is man still lurks under the veneer of civilisation, we have a series of bizarrely random featurettes that are purport to show how the caveman is still extant on the streets of contemporary London. A baby is born in queasy detail. Strippers. Mods buying clothes. More strippers. Two women get their hair styled. A city gent being fitted for a bowler hat. A fashion parade of 'Topless Swimsuits' Rockers at the Ace Cafe. Beatniks listening to a blues combo. a pop group at a club. A series of completely incomprehensible comedy inserts set at a radio station featuring a young Barry Cryer. And so on. It's all pretty interesting, more because of the period detail than the subject matter, this vision of a knackered postwar society determinedly dragging itself into consumer capitalism.
Great old-school 'Balham-Gateway to The South' stylee voiceover, a great booklet featuring an essay by Iain Sinclair, and some nice extras on the DVD. Music fans might be tempted by the fact that 60s composer and electronic music pioneer Basil Kirtchner does the soundtrack.
Great old-school 'Balham-Gateway to The South' stylee voiceover, a great booklet featuring an essay by Iain Sinclair, and some nice extras on the DVD. Music fans might be tempted by the fact that 60s composer and electronic music pioneer Basil Kirtchner does the soundtrack.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Though it probably attracts more attention masquerading as a soft porn film, "Primitive London" is a bizarre snapshot of the London of 1965, constructed of a series of practically unrelated scenes, some of them 'straight' documentary style (meeting Mods, Rockers and beatniks) along with staged reconstructions (a wife-swapping party, a radio voiceover recording). Some of the tenuous links between scenes are hilarious and inspired. Whether intentionally or not, it ends up being a great historical record of the fashions and excesses of the time.
However, though I'd recommend it to some people, it has to be pointed out how incredibly mysogynistic and hypocritical it is. The sometimes insane voiceover over the wife-swapping scenes describes it as "the death of love", yet the same filmmaker has no problem with continually returning to show yet another scene at a strip club. Even for the time the sexism is excessive- comments like "and women tend to get what they want" occur throughout. If you can tolerate this you're left with a curious alternative piece of 60s memorabilia.
Blu-Ray extras are pretty good- three totally unedited contemporary interviews, some more relevant to the main feature than others, and an additional 25-minute black and white mini-feature along the same lines but 'grittier'.
However, though I'd recommend it to some people, it has to be pointed out how incredibly mysogynistic and hypocritical it is. The sometimes insane voiceover over the wife-swapping scenes describes it as "the death of love", yet the same filmmaker has no problem with continually returning to show yet another scene at a strip club. Even for the time the sexism is excessive- comments like "and women tend to get what they want" occur throughout. If you can tolerate this you're left with a curious alternative piece of 60s memorabilia.
Blu-Ray extras are pretty good- three totally unedited contemporary interviews, some more relevant to the main feature than others, and an additional 25-minute black and white mini-feature along the same lines but 'grittier'.
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