Film at Harbour Lights - Slade in Flame

The film 'Slade in Flame' has just been re-released. Not a great success when it was first released 50 years ago - yes that long ago - but now seen as a prescient view of the music industry.

Here's a trailer for the film on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJv_DDOKe0

Here's a rough description of the film :- Slade in Flame – which is getting rereleased in UK cinemas in May – depicted a fictional band, Flame, who are formed from two squabbling clubland bands in 1967, and attract the attention of a London-based businessman (Tom Conti) who sees the opportunity to package and sell them, as he says, like cigarettes. As they become successful, their thuggish former agent tries to reclaim them. Realising their own lack of agency, the band choose instead to split.
The actors in the band are all members of Slade.

Definitely worth a watch - and a great trip down memory lane, including the fashions and the music of the 1960's!

I've got seat F2 booked if you'd like to sit in the same row or nearby. The film starts at 5.45pm

There is some free parking at Harbour Lights cinema but you do need to ask staff to put your vehicle number plate on the pad in order to avoid a fine.

Slade in Flame is a movie whose reputation has grown over the decades since its release. Initially even the band didn’t much care for it but slowly it has gained respect for its authentic approach. The four members of Slade take on the roles of the four members of fictional band Flame. Though they have character names and the story is not autobiographical they have since admitted that the idea was to play versions of themselves. They wing it well, given a minimum of dialogue and a chance to put over their personalities they convince in a way that actors playing these roles would not. Thus the film is full of brief exchanges, often on the move and a matey vibe which turns sour when Flame become increasingly successful at the expense of losing their identity.
Richard Loncraine makes his directorial debut though you’d never know he lacked experience. From a bold opening shot and good use of both shadow and ordinary light he fashions a surprisingly arty film given the subject matter. Whether catching the exuberance of pop success or the seedy downside of its business end, he presents each aspect so well. That opening establishes the house style- it may be a showy tracking shot but it is of a surburban wedding party and this mix of strong direction depicting ordinary goings on serves the story well. It owes much to the grittier Uk fare of the time and has some similarities with That’ll Be the Day in which fellow pop star David Essex starred. However the focus here is musical than rites of passage and this film is more enjoyable even if Essex was the better actor.