Full of smoke, casual sexism and happy punters, a series of nostalgic films about pubs leaves Nicholas Lezard mourning our lost sense of community
The low point in Roll Out the Barrel: The British Pub on Film (BFI), a 2-disc collection of corporate and promotional films about pubs, comes about halfway through the second disc, in a 21-minute film from 1972 extolling the alleged virtues of Bass Charrington Ltd. After a dismaying montage of modern architectural horrors that apparently hoped to trade as licensed premises, and boosterism about the new popularity of lager (cue shots of endless cans of Tennent's rolling off the production lines; in one unintentionally amusing set-piece, a French cognac magnate is poured a tin of Carling Black Label by way of hospitality), the mouthpiece for the corporation confidently says that what Bass is doing is "giving the public what they want".
Usually, when one comes across something like this,...
The low point in Roll Out the Barrel: The British Pub on Film (BFI), a 2-disc collection of corporate and promotional films about pubs, comes about halfway through the second disc, in a 21-minute film from 1972 extolling the alleged virtues of Bass Charrington Ltd. After a dismaying montage of modern architectural horrors that apparently hoped to trade as licensed premises, and boosterism about the new popularity of lager (cue shots of endless cans of Tennent's rolling off the production lines; in one unintentionally amusing set-piece, a French cognac magnate is poured a tin of Carling Black Label by way of hospitality), the mouthpiece for the corporation confidently says that what Bass is doing is "giving the public what they want".
Usually, when one comes across something like this,...
- 6/29/2012
- by Nicholas Lezard
- The Guardian - Film News
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