This September, The Screening Room announced their “Bad Brits” classic film series, running until Oct. 8, which consists of British films from the ’50s to the ’80s and centers around the idea of “badness.”
The series includes Alexander Mackendrick’s The Ladykillers, Joseph Losey’s The Servant, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Black Narcissus, and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.
In an interview with The Journal, the theatre’s owner and series curator, Wendy Huot, discussed its inception and the meaning behind these “Bad Brits.”
“The genesis was just the need to play A Clockwork Orange,” Huot said. “I couldn’t believe we hadn’t played that yet,” she added, highlighting the legacy these films still have today.
Huot knew the series would end with A Clockwork Orange, so the challenge was to come up with one central idea that could be traced throughout the other films. Huot based the theme on British productions and the characters’ bad behaviour.
“We had this long list of British films and noticed there was a darkness [and] edge to them,” Huot said.
Though, this was not simply an excuse to show ultraviolence.
“When it comes to badness, there are many different flavours of it. Is it more internal or psychological? There is a difference between internal violence [and] darkness versus completely unrestrained sociopathic behavior,” Huot said.
While The Ladykillers and The Servant were picked for their recently released 4K restorations, others like Black Narcissus were curated because of how good the projection displays technicolor.
Alongside their themes of “badness,” Huot said there is also a loose chronology in how the series is structured, with “a bit of a transition from them being jokier to more provocative.”
When asked if any films were left on the cutting room floor, Huot spoke passionately about the idea of adding one more group.
“Something that’s missing from the series is Monty Python. We wanted to play Life of Brian, but we had done it 2 years ago.”
Some may feel like a Python film would stand out among the other films in this curation, but as Huot expressed, bad doesn’t mean evil.
Throughout their careers, the Python troupe were scrutinized by the British media for their provocative and satirical works that often touched on subjects like faith and religion. But, like true “Bad Brits,” they continued their work.
As Huot noted, the opportunity to show these classics to both fresh faces and returning viewers is always important when curating collections.
“The most fun and rewarding part of the movie theater is playing old films on the big screen,” Huot said.
Tags
British, Film, The Screening Room, Wendy Huot
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