Abstract
The ‘cinematic urban archaeology’ approach provides the starting point for the exploration of material from Battersea films alongside the Survey of London’s (SoL) research, in an attempt to answer the question raised by Raban; how do feature films reveal the ‘soft’ illusions, myths, aspirations and nightmares of city dwellers? Directors and cinematographers use space to express character and atmosphere; interiors and exteriors are selected, lit and shot to communicate the cultural environment incisively. How are Battersea and its people depicted? Locations also speak for themselves, recording people’s homes and how they inhabit them, the iconic elements emphasised by set decorators. They show public buildings, centres of commerce and entertainment, and the flow of people and traffic. The two volumes on Battersea published by Yale University Press by the SoL (2013) offers a counterpoint perspective on the films under consideration.
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Notes
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- 2.
British Nationality Act 1948: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/56/contents.
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Films
Amelie 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeanet, [film], France/Germany.
Blow Up 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni, [film], UK/ITALY/USA.
Brannigan 1975, Douglas Hickox, [film], UK.
Children of Men 2006, Alfonso Cuarón, [film], USA/UK.
Cosh Boy 1953, Lewis Gilbert, [film], UK.
Cosh Boy 1957, Lewis Gilbert, [film], UK.
Helsinki Forever 2008, Peter van Bagh, [film], Finland.
London 1994, Patrick Keiller, [film], UK.
Los Angeles Plays Itself 2003, Thom Andersen, [film], USA.
Maybe Baby 2000, Ben Elton, [film], UK.
Melody 1971, Waris Hussein, [film], UK.
Mix Me a Person 1964, Leslie Norman, [film], UK.
My Beautiful Laundrette 1985, Stephen Frears, [film], UK.
The Optimists of Nine Elms 1973, Peter Simmons, [film], UK.
The Lavender Hill Mob 1951, Charles Crichton, [film], UK.
Poor Cow 1967, Ken Loach, [film], UK.
Sabotage 1936, Alfred Hitchcock, [film], UK.
Sitting Target 1972, Douglas Hickox, [film], UK.
Stroom 2005, Jord den Hollander, [film], Netherlands.
Sitting Target 1975, Douglas Hickox, [film], UK.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire 1961, Val Guest, [film], UK.
This Happy Breed 1944, David Lean, [film], UK.
This Is My Street 1964, Sidney Hayers, [film], UK.
Up the Junction 1965, Ken Loach, [BBC TV ‘Wednesday Play’], UK.
Up The Junction 1967, Peter Collinson, [film], UK/USA.
Villain 1971, Michael Tuchner, [film], UK.
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Penz, F., Reid, A., Thomas, M. (2017). Cinematic Urban Archaeology: The Battersea Case. In: Penz, F., Koeck, R. (eds) Cinematic Urban Geographies. Screening Spaces. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46084-4_11
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