‘From Liverpool to Russia, With Love: A Letter to Brezhnev and Cold War Cinematic Dissent in 1980s Britain’
2005; Routledge; Volume: 19; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13619460500080322
ISSN1743-7997
Autores Tópico(s)French Historical and Cultural Studies
ResumoAbstract This article examines British Cold War cinematic output of the 1980s. It first presents an overview of how British-made films covered Cold War issues and events during the decade. Thereafter it concentrates on one particular movie, the Liverpool-based A Letter to Brezhnev, released in 1985. Unique in calling for an end to the Cold War, this film combined criticism of Thatcherism with an unusually sympathetic portrayal of Russians. The article looks at why and how the film was made, the messages it carried, and its impact. In exploring the relationship between the filmmakers, songwriters and theatre directors, the article shows the scope that existed for dissent in British provincial popular culture during the latter stages of the Cold War. Acknowledgements Kathy Walker's help was invaluable in the research for this article. Notes [1] See, for instance, Andy Croft (ed.) A Weapon in the Struggle: The Cultural History of the Communist Party of Great Britain (London: Pluto, 1998); John Callaghan, Cold War, Crisis and Conflict: The CPGB 1951–68 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2003); Jonathan Schneer, Labour's Conscience: The Labour Left, 1945–51 (Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1988); Peter Weiler, British Labour and the Cold War (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988); Paul Byrne, The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (London: Croom Helm, 1988). [2] On these and other movies see Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (London: Harvard University Press, 1988); Stuart Samuels, 'The Age of Conspiracy and Conformity: Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956)', in John E. O'Connor and Martin A. Jackson (ed.) American History/American Film: Interpreting the Hollywood Image (New York: Ungar, 1979), pp.203–17; Richard Taylor, Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany (London: I.B. Tauris, 1999), pp.99–123; Charles Drazin, In Search of The Third Man (London: Methuen, 1999). [3] William J. Palmer, The Films of the Eighties: A Social History (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), p.21; Val Golovskoy, 'Art and Propaganda in the Soviet Union 1980–5', in Anna Lawton (ed.) The Red Screen: Politics, Society and Art in Soviet Cinema (London: Routledge, 1992), pp.264–74. [4] Martin Auty and Nick Roddick (eds.) British Cinema Now (London: British Film Institute, 1985), pp.8–12; John Hill, British Cinema in the 1980s (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999); Lester Friedman (ed.) British Cinema and Thatcherism: Fires Were Started (London: UCL Press, 1993). [5] Hill, British Cinema, Appendix 'Industry Statistics', p.245. [6] Monthly Film Bulletin, 48, 571 (Aug. 1981), pp.151–2; Phil Swern, The Guinness Book of Box Office Hits (London: Guinness, 1995), p.282. [7] Films and Filming, 339 (Dec. 1982), p.37. [8] James Chapman, Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films (London: I.B. Tauris, 1999), p.214. Though Never Say Never Again was made outside the official Bond series, it contained essentially the same ingredients as the Eon films and starred Sean Connery, who played Bond in six films between 1962 and 1971, as 007. [9] On the financial, institutional and artistic links between British cinema and television in the 1980s see Hill, British Cinema, pp.53–70. [10] Richard Paterson and Philip Schlesinger, 'State Heroes for the Eighties', Screen, 24, 3 (May/June 1983), pp.55–72. [11] Films and Filming, 374 (Nov 1985), p.40; Tony Shaw, British Cinema and the Cold War: The State, Propaganda and Consensus (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001), pp.15–16. On the revival of morally conservative, entrepreneurial, and militaristic themes in Hollywood films of the 1980s, including Red Dawn, see Palmer 211–13 and Andrew Britton, 'Blissing Out: The Politics of Reaganite Entertainment', Movie, 31, 2 (Winter 1986), pp.1–42. [12] Monthly Film Bulletin, 49, 582 (July 1982), pp.134–5. Other films that can be included in this anti-Soviet category, though with one or two qualifications, are The Fourth Protocol (John MacKenzie, 1987) and Testimony (Tony Palmer, 1987). On the former see Monthly Film Bulletin, 54, 639 (Apr. 1987), pp.113–14, on the latter John C. Tibbetts, 'Shostakovich's Fool to Stalin's Czar: Tony Palmer's Testimony', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 22, 2 (June 2002), pp.173–96. [13] Films and Filming, 26, 5 (Feb. 1980), pp.32–3; Monthly Film Bulletin, 50, 590 (Mar. 1983), pp.68–9; Variety, 16 May 1984, p.132. Collected as a trilogy in 1982, le Carré's The Quest for Karla consisted of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974), The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley's People (1980). Adaptations of Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People appeared on BBC Television to great acclaim in 1979 and 1982 respectively. [14] Films and Filming, 335 (Apr. 1984), p.32. On cinema and television's fascination with British spies in the mid-1980s see Harlan Kennedy, 'Treasons of the Heart', Film Comment, 20, 4 (July/Aug. 1984), pp.9–13. [15] Monthly Film Bulletin, 54, 645 (Oct. 1987), p.303. Another black comedy based on a television series to appear at the cinema was Tom Bussman's Whoops Apocalypse (1987). This took an irreverent view of great power politics and nuclear arms developments. See Films and Filming, 390 (Mar. 1987), p.45. [16] Monthly Film Bulletin, 52, 612 (Jan. 1985), pp.19–20. Two other films that display ambivalence towards the Soviet Union and the Cold War are Gorky Park (Michael Apted, 1983) and The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987). On the former see Films and Filming, 353 (Feb. 1984), pp.36–7, on the latter Chapman, pp.233–9. [17] Variety, 21 May 1986, p.42. [18] John Baxter, Stanley Kubrick: A Biography (London: HarperCollins, 1997), pp.326–53. Full Metal Jacket was the ninth biggest-selling film at the British box office in 1987 (Swern, p.337). On the real and perceived role of the US media during the Vietnam War see Susan L. Carruthers, The Media at War (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp.108–20, 146–53. [19] Brian Neve, 'Fellow Traveller', Sight and Sound, 59, 2 (Spring 1990), pp.117–19; John Walker (ed.), Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2001 (London: HarperCollins, 2001), p.274. [20] Monthly Film Bulletin, 53, 635 (Dec. 1986), pp.359–61; Margaret Dickinson (ed.) Rogue Reels: Oppositional Film in Britain, 1945–1990 (London: British Film Institute, 1999), pp.42–3. [21] Monthly Film Bulletin, 54, 641 (June 1987), pp.188–9. On the John Poulson scandal see David Childs, Britain since 1945: A Political History (London: Routledge, 1997), pp.167–8. [22] Hill, British Cinema, p.147. [23] John Hill, 'Finding a Form: Politics and Aesthetics in Fatherland, Hidden Agenda and Riff Raff', in George McKnight (ed.) Agent of Challenge and Defiance: The Films of Ken Loach (Trowbridge: Flicks Books, 1997), pp.125–43. [24] Sight and Sound, 56, 4 (Autumn 1987), pp.288–9. [25] Hill, British Cinema, pp.147–53. [26] Author's correspondence with Chris Bernard and Frank Clarke, 21 Jan. 2004 and 29 Jan. 2004 respectively. [27] Jonathan Swain, 'From Liverpool with Love', Stills, 19 (May 1985), pp.53–5; Screen International, 290, 30 Mar. 1985, p.28; Screen International, 517, 5 Oct. 1985, p.16; Stage, Screen and Radio, Oct. 1994, p.20 (letter); Guardian, 1 Dec. 1984, p.9. [28] A Letter to Brezhnev press book, British Film Institute Library, London; Swain, pp.53–5; New Musical Express, 19 Jan. 1985, p.8; Guardian, 1 Dec. 1984, p.xi. [29] Swain, pp.53–5; Paul Nu Noyer, 'To Russia, from Kirkby', New Musical Express, 19 Jan. 1985, p.8; author's correspondence with Chris Bernard, 21 Jan. 2004; John Pym, Film on Four (London: British Film Institute, 1992), pp.17, 27–8, 31, 118; Sylvia Harvey, 'Channel Four Television: From Annan to Grade', in Edward Buscombe (ed.) British Television: A Reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp.92–117. A Letter to Brezhnev in total cost £379,000, of which Channel 4 financed £231,000 (61 per cent). [30] A Letter to Brezhnev (Chris Bernard, 1985). 91 mins. Available on DVD (PAL DVD 9, C'est la Vie, 2003). ASIN: B0000AZVIJ; Catalogue Number: CLV114. [31] Quentin Falk, 'How the Reds Scored Twine in a Fairytale Finish', Guardian, 26 Oct. 1985, p.11; author's correspondence with Frank Clarke, 29 Jan. 2004. [32] For a gendered reading of A Letter to Brezhnev see Hill, British Cinema, pp.178–81. 'It is the girls who make the running, who are predatory, who seduce the men and pay for them', Jill Forbes in Monthly Film Bulletin, 52, 621 (Oct. 1985), p.310. [33] Sara Cohen, Rock Culture in Liverpool: Pop Music in the Making (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), p.2; Peter Jenkins, Mrs Thatcher's Revolution: The Ending of the Socialist Era (London: Jonathan Cape, 1987), p.248. [34] Guardian, 26 Oct. 1985, p.11; Leslie Bennetts, 'Liverpool's Bleak Atmosphere Nurtures a Vibrant Movie', New York Times, 11 May 1986, pp.17–18; commentaries by Margi Clarke and Alexandra Pigg, A Letter to Brezhnev DVD (PAL DVD 9, C'est la Vie, 2003). The television situation comedy The Liver Birds was written principally by Carla Lane and ran on the BBC for ten series between 1969 and 1978. [35] Guardian, 26 Oct. 1985, p.11; New Musical Express, 9 Nov. 1985, p.20; commentary by Chris Bernard and Joan Bakewell's interview with Frank Clarke on BBC TV's Newsnight, undated but early 1985: A Letter to Brezhnev DVD (PAL DVD 9, C'est la Vie, 2003). For more on Liverpool's politics in the 1980s see Jenkins, pp.248–50. Representations of Liverpool provided the dominant images of the north in British films in the 1980s, 'a north now blighted by unemployment and poverty and that stands testimony to the corrosive effects wrought by the "two nations" policy of the Thatcher regime' (Hill, British Cinema, p.167). These included Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983), Business as Usual (Lezli-An Barrett, 1987), The Fruit Machine (Philip Saville, written by Frank Clarke, 1988), and Dancin' thru the Dark (Mike Ockrent, 1989). On TV, Channel 4's Brookside and the BBC's Boys from the Blackstuff were also set in Liverpool. A Letter to Brezhnev was in line with Liverpool writers like Alan Bleasedale, Willy Russell and Jimmy McGovern in terms of working-class milieu and dialogue. See Bob Millington, 'Boys from the Blackstuff (Alan Bleasedale)' in George W. Brandt (ed.), British Television Drama in the 1980s (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp.119–39. [36] New Musical Express, 9 Nov. 1985, p.20; Leslie Bennetts, 'Liverpool's Bleak Atmosphere Nurtures a Vibrant Movie', New York Times, 11 May 1986, pp.17–18; Time Out, 794, 7 Nov. 1985, pp.21–2. [37] Nora Henry, Ethics and Social Criticism in the Films of Erich Von Stroheim, Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001), pp.53–97; Shaw, p.173. The Russian women were played by Greta Garbo and Katherine Hepburn respectively. [38] For an overview of earlier Cold War representations of the Russians in American and British films see Nora Sayre, Running Time: Films of the Cold War (New York: Dial Press, 1982) and Shaw, especially pp.63–90. On British television news' xenophobic views of the Soviet Union in the 1980s see British see Brian McNair, Images of the Enemy: Reporting the New Cold War (London: Routledge, 1988). [39] Robin Denselow, When the Music's Over: The Story of Political Pop (London: Faber & Faber, 1989), pp.203–32; Andrew Collins, Still Suitable for Miners: Billy Bragg – The Official Biography (London: Virgin, 1998). [40] Time Out, 794, 7 Nov. 1985, pp.21–2; Paul Du Noyer, Liverpool: Wondrous Place – Music from the Cavern to Cream (London: Virgin, 2002). As well as calling A Letter to Brezhnev 'the definitive Liverpool film' (p.151), Du Noyer also cites ex-Beatle George Harrison: 'the film has revitalised my image of the Liverpool people' (p.238). For full details of the film soundtrack, which was released on London Records, see Monthly Film Bulletin, 52, 621, Oct. 1985, p.310. On Frankie Goes to Hollywood see http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/frankie_goes_to_hollywood/bio.jhtml. On The Communards' political activism see http://www.stereosociety.com/communards.html [41] Sunday Times, 1 Sep.1985, p.30; Mail on Sunday, 13 Oct. 1985, p.37; Time Out, 794, 7 Nov. 1985, pp.21–2; commentary by Margi Clarke, A Letter to Brezhnev DVD (PAL DVD 9, C'est la Vie, 2003); Hollywood Reporter, 18 Mar. 1986; author's correspondence with Chris Bernard, 30 Jan. 2004; Pym, pp.64–5, 164. [42] http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/cont/awards/awards85.html [43] The Times, 8 Nov. 1985, p.7. [44] Mail on Sunday, 12 Oct. 1985, p.37; Daily Express, 8 Nov. 1985, p.38. [45] Evening Standard, 7 Nov. 1985, p.24. [46] Financial Times, 8 Nov. 1985, p.23; Sunday Telegraph, 10 Nov. 1985, p.16. [47] Spectator, 16 Nov. 1985, p.41. [48] Guardian, 7 Nov. 1985, p.13. [49] Morning Star, 8 Nov. 1985, p.4; New Socialist, Jan. 1986, p.24. [50] Washington Post, 24 May 1986. The Soviet scientist and human-rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov had been exiled to the closed city of Gorky in 1980. He was released from by Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1986. [51] Glasgow Herald, 23 Nov. 1985, p.8; Observer, 10 Nov. 1985, p.23. [52] Time Out, 794, 7 Nov. 1985, p.49. [53] Author's correspondence with Chris Bernard, 30 Jan. 2004, and with novelist Peter Turner, 26 Jan. 2004. [54] Hollywood Reporter, 291, 46, 6 May 1986, p.5; Washington Post, 23 May 1986; L.A. Weekly, 13 June 1986; Boxoffice, July 1986. [55] See, for instance, Anthony Aldgate and Jeffrey Richards, Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994). [56] See Shaw, especially Chapter 7. [57] The British Board of Film Censors changed its name to the British Board of Film Classification in 1985. Additional informationNotes on contributorsTony Shaw Tony Shaw is Reader in International History at the University of Hertfordshire. Correspondence to: Dr Tony Shaw, Reader in International History, University of Hertfordshire, de Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK. Email: a.t.shaw@herts.ac.uk Tony Shaw is Reader in International History at the University of Hertfordshire. Correspondence to: Dr Tony Shaw, Reader in International History, University of Hertfordshire, de Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK. Email: a.t.shaw@herts.ac.uk
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