Or is it called just 'Flame'? In a 1970s mood our double-bill continues with a cynical, realistic and gritty look at the music business - an unusual decision really for a teen fanbase pop group, but good for them - after all, they themselves were being exploited by the industry being in this film at the height of their fame. Andrew Birkin (Jane's brother;
Perfume, The Cement Garden, The Name of the Rose) and Dave 'additional dialogue' Humphries (
Quadrophenia) wrote it, and it's even darker than I remember at the impressionable age when it was released. (According to Noddy, Birkin's script didn't feel 'real' enough, so he and Loncraine went on tour with the band in the US for two weeks to experience the real thing.)
BBC4 chose to show us a cropped version of the Panavision, which is unfortunate (Peter Hannan shot it).
The band acquit themselves well - Noddy Holder, Don Powell (a Bresson actor in the making), Jim Lea - less so Dave Hill. With Alan Lake (rather good as original singer), Tom Conti, Johnny Shannon and Kenneth Colley (thus reuniting these two from
Performance), Anthony Allen, Sara Kee. I like Ken Colley. His mates should have called him 'Rough'. Ha ha. Ha ha. Susan Tebbs as Conti's wife familiar from somewhere (
The Kids From 47A?) as are Jimmy Gardner and Sheila Raynor. Tommy Vance is the DJ!
'How Does It Feel?' good theme song. Hillsborough in Sheffield stands in for Wolverhampton.
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