Boulting
Brothers’ films always have something to say about contemporary society. The trick for us now, over half a century
later, is to work out what it is they are saying to their intended audience. I have often sat and wondered exactly where
their political allegiances lay, if indeed they had any. Sometimes they appear to be mocking socialism
and the Labour movement. But then
something happens to make you think that they are simply despairing at the way
the ideology is being implemented, and that people are just not taking into
account basic human nature. Take, for
example, ‘I’m Alright, Jack’, where they take a shot at trade unions. Are they against trade unionism as a concept,
or just exasperated at the people running them?
No doubt many people will have a point of view about this and either
side could form a convincing argument.
‘Heavens
Above’ (1963) presents a further thought provocation. Taking the film at face value, it is an often
hilarious showcase for some of Britain’s finest comic actors. Peter Sellers heads the cast as a prison
chaplain, who is accidentally given the parish of Orbiston Parva. This is a fantastic piece of acting from
Sellers, who plays the vicar as a gentle Brummie, willing to think the best of
everyone. He takes in the dodgy Smith family, who are in the process of being
evicted from a patch of waste ground which has been earmarked for an extension
of the local factory. The Smiths are
delightfully played by Eric Sykes, Irene Handl, Miriam Karlin, Roy Kinnear and
assorted children, each one bringing their own little highlight to the film. I
must also put a little word in for Joan Hickson in her role as “Housewife” – a
series of three or four little vignettes which never failed to elicit a laugh out
loud moment for me.
At the
beginning of the film, I sensed that there was going to be an attack on the
Americanisation of Britain. An American
voice-over takes us on a tour of Orbiston Parva, showing us a town that has
eschewed godliness for Westerns on the telly and Charlton Heston at the
cinema. An old building advertises that
it is to be demolished in favour of a shiny new Woolworths store. But this
turned out to be something of a red herring. Instead of being criticised for
embracing the material pleasures in life, local residents are shown as just
following human instinct – which is essentially selfish. It is the men of God who
come in for the criticism. They are out
of touch, they cause nothing but confusion and they fail to grasp basic human
instinct from the lofty heights of their moral high ground. The vicar’s idea of redistribution of wealth
causes at first delight, then total collapse of the local society. His socialist attitude to his work is a
disaster. What is not so clear is
whether this is a round condemnation of the church as a bunch of soppy
incompetent lefties, or just a call for fresh, modern thinking. I would personally go for the latter option,
given that after state intervention, the vicar is made Bishop of Outer
Space. I think it is a call for the
church to look at where modern Britain seemed to be heading at that time and to
use imagination to take on the new challenges it would bring. Its survival
depended on it.
The film was
made in 1963. This was an important year
for societal change – if you take notice of Philip Larkin and his poem “Annus
Mirabilis”. If this poem is a true
document of that year, this is when the balance finally tipped. No longer was church-led tradition the
lifestyle choice for the majority – it was time for godless self-fulfilment to
be the goal and the pursuit of pleasure to hold sway. ‘Heavens Above’ supports this point. It comes out in support of a future where
people are allowed to follow and not suppress their instincts. It shows us as we are now, just in our
infancy.
The Kind Hearted Man Killer by Sarah Miller Walters is available as an Amazon Kindle download for 77p. For a taster visit:
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