The Cardinal & The Corpse (1992, Documentary / Drama, Iain Sinclair & Chris Petit)
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- C4, 1992 (this rpt 25/01/1998): "Exec-produced by Keith Griffiths, producer of Radio On, The Cardinal and the Corpse marks the beginning of Petit's loose partnership with writer Iain Sinclair. There's a nod towards narrative here involving a book-search launched by graphic novelist Alan Moore and a dealer (the dapper but barking Driffield), but it's little more than an excuse to showcase a number of authors and other miscreants. Former aristo turned crime writer Robin Cook (aka Derek Raymond) sets the tone ('All life is ultimately about death. It's what I call the general contract') while Michael Moorcock ('Moorcock schmoorcock,' mutters a Charing Cross Road dealer) casts doubt on Driffield's claim that a pulp novel, The Cardinal and the Corpse by Stephen Blakesley, is actually the work of Flann O'Brien. Petit and Sinclair's film is a deliberately jarring, oddly engaging rogues' gallery that even makes room for Tony Lambrianou, a former associate of the Krays ('I don't like the word gangster: I feel embarrassed when people use that word')."
Not my copyright, just sharing found ephemera.
I've worked in the book trade for 38 years and this is the best film I've ever seen about books. I caught it when first aired and was delighted to find it here again a year ago, fantastic. In the time between first seeing it and last year, I'd read all the featured and named writers here who I hadn't read by 92.
Thanks indeed. The irony is that this film has probably been searched for longer and harder than it's fictional titular subject.
Channel 4 used to be great.
This is so true!
God bless you! I've been looking for this for nearly thirty years after seeing its first and probably only screening. Channel 4 used to put out such wonderful, idiosyncraic stuff in its first ten years or so. If you like this film read Iain Sinclair's novel, Landor's Tower, which features the character Driffield.
I’m actually in Landor’s Tower in that Sinclair based the Ketamine Kreeps on me and a friend of mine. My friend was Bad News Mutton and I was Davy Humpp - so called on account of my affinity for nitrous oxide, of which the renowned scientist Sir Humphry Davy was a famous enthusiast.
We first got to know of Sinclair when my friend, who was a guitar player, recorded with Martin Stone in Paris, and Martin told him about his being in this film. Martin is also a character in Sinclair’s novel White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings.
Alas, both Martin and my friend are now dead.
@@johnhannon8034 It's amazing to hear from the real person, John. I knew that Stone had passed away in the last three years or so, and I'm sorry about your friend.
Thank you! I've been wanting to see this for 15 years.
I caught most of this on V.H.S when it was screened on Ch.4 but I'd missed the first 15 minutes or so. Thanks for Posting, it's great to see it complete. R.I.P Martin Stone...and Emmanuel Litvinoff.
And, most of all, the great Robin Cook, a darker writer than Alan Moore and Moorcock combined. He is much in need to being 'rediscovered'.
Derek Raymond! Thank you so very much!
Great to see this eccentric little gem again. Many thanks.
Many thanks, I missed it at the time. Good old Channel 4, at least in the old days, adventurous. I was involved with the campaign for Channel 4. As a member of the ACTT working at Granada and doing independent stuff (or at least applying for grants..) and part of the lobby I was at a gathering where Jeremy Isaacs was checking us out. ''What do you think of this independent business then? My daughter was asking me." ''There'll be more variety'' I said . ''hmm, '' and he wandered on asking questions. I like to think I made a difference. Mr Sinclair is back from his Peruvian trip, another book or two and a film, we're told on BBC's Free Thinking..www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008w7r
2:27 Alexander Baron, amongst his fascinating life and career he should be known for the superlative script 'Scandal in Bohemia' in the dramatisation of casebook of sherlock holmes with Jeremy Brett for the ITV.
Thank you so much for posting this!!! Fantastic!!!!
Love, love, love this film. I'm a writer and book collecter myself and I know people this.
Driff’s Guide brought me here. WAD.
Channel 4 used to be so esoteric and had room for everything.
Been looking for this for ever, ta
Is that sculptor guy the inspiration for the sculptor mentioned in Derek Raymond's Factory novels, the one who lost his hearing after being bombed in the Spanish civil war?
I feel like Krusty the clown after watching 'Worker and Parasite':
"What the hell was that?"
I love this film as a work of cinematic art, but love/hate the world it depicts. Now it has vanished and I assume everyone is dead. I worked part-time in a second-hand bookshop, John Thornton, in Fulham for six years during this period, and Drif Field, a constant leitmotif through this film, came into the shop occasionally and was always extremely unpleasant, his trademark. Today it would be called narcissistic personality disorder. Everyone is treated with calculated contempt, unless you are the sort of glamorous person whose friendship he cultivated. I met a lot of other book-dealers at that time and they were often bewilderingly unpleasant. Drif Field based himself at Nigel Burwood’s Any Amount of Books in Charing Cross Road, where Pete was manager, and you see him here coming into the shop, flamboyantly dressed, and talking to Pete as if he owns the place. But this arrangement came to an end when Drif Field, reportedly, stole money from the shop and was never seen again. No one seems to know where he is these days or what became of him. The film gives a good picture of London at that time, the sub-text. No mobile phones.
I've worked in new books for 39 years and although I've had many, many pleasant experiences with book dealers, I would say that the ones running actual shops can afford to be rude as they are usually sole traders and not corporate. The customer is always wrong seems to be their credo. Reading Orwell's 'Bookshop Memories' essay, this is understandable... great comment.
But was most of the street rubbish artfully arranged? It sure looks like it. Given that, London was a far scummier place then than it is now.
John Baxter mentions this film in his book, "A Pound of Paper - Confessions of a Book Addict". Not a bad read if you are similarly afflicted.
What a cast!
Brilliant
1:08 - Beckton Gasworks
Interesting. Many of Sinclair's preoccupations writ large here. The great Derek Raymond aka Robin Cook is a much greater writer than his appearances here would suggest. An Ian Rankin from Hell.
I want my rare book, straight away!!!!
The first thing is, you just gotta wait.