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Winstanley (DVD + Blu-ray)

Kevin Brownlow , Andrew Mollo    Parental Guidance   DVD
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Price: £10.50 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Winstanley (DVD + Blu-ray) + It Happened Here [1964] [DVD]
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Product details

  • Directors: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo
  • Format: Dolby, PAL
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Bfi
  • DVD Release Date: 27 Feb 2012
  • Run Time: 92 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0079IGK9Q
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 44,848 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

WINSTANLEY

A film by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo

1649. With poverty and unrest sweeping England, a group of impoverished men and women form a settlement to cultivate and share the wealth of the common land but are met with crushing hostility from local landowners and government troops.

With Winstanly, filmmakers Brownlow and Mollo (the creators of It Happened Here) have produced a powerful, moving story of one extraordinary man s vision.

Special Features

  • New restoration by the BFI National Archive
  • New filmed interview with Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo (40 minutes)
  • It Happened Here Again (Eric Mival, 1976, 13 minutes) the making of Winstanley
  • 9 Dalmuir West (Kevin Brownlow, 1962, 13 minutes), a record of the last weekend of Glasgow trams
  • Fully illustrated 32-page booklet with contributions by Marina Lewycka (author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Eric Mival, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Tom Milne, and David Robinson; plus biographies and credits

UK / 1975 / black and white / English, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles /92 minutes / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1

Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p /24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit)

Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital 2.0 (320kbps)

Product Description

United Kingdom released, Blu-Ray/Region A/B/C DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Linear PCM ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Black & White, Blu-Ray & DVD Combo, Booklet, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Making Of, Remastered, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: 1649. With poverty and unrest sweeping England, a group of impoverished men and women, the Diggers, form a settlement on St George's Hill, Surrey. Inspired by the visionary leadership of Gerrard Winstanley, they attempt to assert their right to cultivate and share the wealth of the common land. Brownlow and Mollo (the creators of It Happened Here) have produced an astonishingly authentic historical film and a powerful, moving story of one extraordinary man's vision. ...Winstanley (Blu-Ray & DVD Combo) (Blu-Ray)


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Achievement 15 Jan 2002
Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brownlow and Mollo's film 'Winstanley' is a faithful recreation of a forgotten episode in English history. A few months after the execution of Chalres I, after seven years of bloody Civil War, England was in a state of upheaval: a fecund ground for new ideas, new attitudes and new actions.

Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers were pioneers of 'direct action', claiming back common lands for the poor and dispossessed. The actions of the Diggers attracted the hostility of wealthy local lords, and their commune was many times raided.

This film conveys the hardships through which the Digger went. Miles Halliwell's portrayl of Winstanley is sympathetic; he almost IS Gerrard himself. I also enjoyed the scenes with the Ranters (seventeenth century hippie-types), which marvellously conveyed the mad anarchy of their beliefs, and also captured the bewilderment of Diggers themselves. Real-life activist Sid Rawle played his part with aplomb.

The film's sympathies lie clearly with the Diggers, but the directors do not flinch from showing us the adversity under which the Diggers laboured. Much of this is revealled through the words of their opponents, particularly the nasty Parson Platt, whose wife was entranced by the power of Winstanley's books. Yet not only people made life difficult for the Diggers. A harsh Nature is starkly captured in monochrome, though monochrome also captures the light admirably, which gives us a glimpse of hope, of redemption. Indeed the black and white cinematography--a result partly of aesthetic, partly financial reasons--gives the film a tangible historical edge. The dialogue is likewise authentic, much of Halliwell's narration derived verbatim from Winstanley's writings.

As the documentary at the end of the film shows, it was made on a shoestring, independent of big studios, and acted by amateurs. Its achievements are thus all the more admirable.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars a faithful step back in time 23 Feb 2001
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape
Black and white gives a real historical feel to this heart-rendering story. The Diggers were idealists who rightly saw land as a crucial issue during the English Civil war. Sid Rawle - seventies squatter - plays the leader of the Ranters who disrupt the Diggers peaceful mission, Winstanley himself is played by Miles Halliwell, excellent casting in both cases. Though the film was made on a shoestring budget it's a must for anyone fascinated by the history of ideas or who wishes people today treated the earth as 'a common treasury for all'.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It's all happening here! 23 Aug 2009
By Reduman
Format:Blu-ray
If someone had asked me several months ago whether I'd seen "Winstanley", I'd have probably answered "Who? I've never even met the guy!" Now I know better. This cinematic gem is a recent discovery for me. In fact, the BFI's recent Blu-ray releases of British filmic treasures have opened up these seldom shown films to a whole new audience. If you want to watch something more than your average formulaic Hollywood fare, then you've come to the right place.
This is the story of a mid-17th century band of peasant farmers, inspired by Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard, to establish a self-sufficient commune on a piece of common land known as St. George's Hill, Surrey. It is a story of hope and promise, but also of brutal resistance to new ideas and the powerful interest in maintaining the status quo. It is a moving and powerful movie, the likes of which you are unlikely to see again anytime soon. This newly restored, high definition version, with its stark black and white cinematography looks just fantastic, the quality of which belies its humble origins. Attention to detail, from clothing and uniforms to farming implements and even extending to the use of rare breeds of farm animals is astonishing. It is even more amazing for a production budget, which in today terms would proably just about pay for a few day's catering on any big blockbuster set!
I would maintain that the story of the making of this film [on a laughably tiny shoestring budget] is just as fascinating as the feature itself. Therefore, the inclusion of Eric Mival's 1976 contemporary 50 minute "making of" documentary on the Blu-ray disc is a real boon. It title "It Happened Here Again" playfully invokes the independent, non-commercial spirit of Kevin Brownlow's and Andrew Mollo's earlier cinematic collaboration in recounting a fictional tale of a Nazi occupation of Britain in "It Happened Here". There is also a 40 min new interview with Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, with their old collaborator from the BFI Production Board, Mr. Mamoun Hassan included as a worthy supplement. The fully illustrated 36-page booklet with essays and reviews on the production rounds off another superb BFI Blu-ray package.
Finally, for those who may still have not got enough of "Winstanley" you might like to find out even more in Kevin Brownlow's recent book account [April 2009] of the film's making ["Winstanley, Warts and All" , a UKA Press Book ISBN 9781905796229]. Whatever you plump for, film or book, or at best both, you will not be disappointed!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars 9 Dalmuir west
Not mentioned in other reviews is the truly excellent 9 Dalmuir West, short film of 1962 by Kevin brownlow. Featured here as an extra. It covers the last weekend of glasgows trams. Read more
Published 19 months ago by meeky
4.0 out of 5 stars good could have been brilliant
I have been interested in left wing activism most of my life with particular interest in the new Model Army and its politics. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2011 by Mr. Kerry J. Trubee
4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy Winstanely
Here's the synopsis bit: in the political and social ferment following the English Civil War a pamphlet called The New Law of Righteousness, was published by Gerrard Winstanley... Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2011 by Jan Mecir
5.0 out of 5 stars Olde England, timeless ideas
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's minor classic - a sort of pastoral Spartacus that develops into a chilly Mosquito Coast - regards the 17th century reformist-activist leader... Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2010 by R. J. Harvey
4.0 out of 5 stars Great to see everyone again
It was great to see this again at the LFF. To hear Kevin speak about its making and then to see it on the screen! Read more
Published on 27 April 2010 by C. Gower
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I really wanted to like this. Culturally, politically, historically... about any way you could think of, I should have liked it.

But I really didn't. Read more
Published on 18 April 2010 by J. W. Treadaway
4.0 out of 5 stars revolutionary cinema
A beautiful understated evocation of a Leveller commune in post civil war C17th England, seen no doubt through the eyes of filmmakers influenced by post 1968 utopian ideals - the... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2009 by HJ
4.0 out of 5 stars When Adam Delved and Eve Span ....
Courtesy of the BFI, here's a film about a form of Christian communism in puritan England. Not the first choice for a featurefilm, you might think.
Think again. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2009 by Green Knight
3.0 out of 5 stars Bizarely magnificent.
I rented this dvd by error, but glad I did. It is a mix of rank amateur cock up blended with some of the most wonderful black and white shots I have ever seen. Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2009 by Mr. S. R. Jackson
4.0 out of 5 stars Christian Communism And Other Big Ideas
Film portrayals of dissidents have always been big indie business - Ignored by the big film studios, these individuals are cast in their own Motion Pictures possibly as they... Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by Brady Orme
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