British Film
Institute
R2 DVD
Mondo Carne (1962) created a new genre in
documentary filmmaking, the Mondo film or shockumentary. This unique form of
film used the guise of documentary filmmaking to explore subjects which were,
at the time, taboo. They began in
relatively harmless fashion unusually exploring unusual tribal customs coupled
with occasional nudity, for educational purposes, of course ! Much of the action was staged,
even though the film makers usually claim “all the footage” was real. As time
went on the Mondo genre gave birth to more controversial titles such as the
Mondo death documentaries such as Faces of Death and The Killing of America.
Many of the earliest Mondo
films are more quaint than shocking and are fascinating as both a historical
snapshot of the given period and the obsessions of the viewing public. Arnold
L. Miller’s London in the Raw is an unusual film which was made in 1964 and
while compared to Mondo Carne focused on what he perceives to be the shocking
truth about London. However, since Miller was a low budget filmmaker, his take
on the exploitation film is now not only tame but quite hilarious.
The central theme of London in the Raw is the significance
of appearances and Miller tries to offer a commentary on the various strands of
London society. The problem is that his commentary, even for the time, is
overloaded with attempts at humour, bizarre observations and quirky, if not at
times, unfathomable references, this makes the documentary seem even more silly
than it already is.
Miller starts by exploring the upper classes and
their need to look good and uses this as an entry point to focus on fitness
clubs, beauty treatments, hair transplants for me and new forms of bras. The
cinematography is perfect exploitation style filmmaking using strange angles
and swinging sixties music to try and show the woman working out in the fitness
club from the worst possible perspective.
Of course as soon as he has ridiculed the need to
look good we move into the main course, which is entertainment. We are
introduced to all manner of clubs from the young and trendy to the down and
dirty, the cabaret and strip joints to various ethnic clubs. Since he has a
limited budget he obviously padded the documentary out with as much club
footage as he could get hold of.
Along the way we also get a social conscience
presentation on alcoholism and drug addiction. This is a rather fun, strange
and quaint presentation of early Sixties “Mondo” filmmaking, made on a low
budget using commentary and music to make up for any real explosive content.
London in the Raw is from the British Film
Institute’s Flipside series, a collection of “weird and beautiful” British
films. It is presented in two versions – a longer 75-minute version and an
alternative 47-minute version, which had been cut but also contains footage not
seen on the longer version.
In addition to London in the Raw, the BFI have also
included three short films from the same era – Peter Davies’ Pub (1962),
Staffan Lamm and Peter Davies’ Chelsea Bridge Boys (1966), and Staffan Lamm,
Peter Davies and Don DeFina’s Strip (1965).
The presentation of London in the Raw is nothing
short of astounding, it has been transferred to High-Definition from original
elements kept in the BFI archive and looks like it was made yesterday. The
colours are bright and clear, there is not a scratch to be seen and the sound
is as clear as a bell. This is the way to see any Mondo film ! There s also a
superb illustrated 38 page booklet with an essay, reviews, promotional
materials for the film and information on the short films also found on the
DVD.
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This
review will appear in Volume 2 No.4
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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