A time capsule that reveals what the wrecking ball in 'Withnail & I' was busy tearing down. I wonder what contemporary audiences made of it.
The end credits state that the production dates from 1967 not 1969, only deepening the sense of dislocation that permeates this documentary, which shows the remnants of Victorian London being swept away wholesale by Sixties developers. The faceless modern buildings being erected at the time have themselves now been woven into the fabric of London (I think one shot is of the then new, but empty-for-years Centre Point).
James Mason is our unlikely guide, and notable in his narration is both a lament for the old and lost, and the sensible reminder that it was mostly pretty dreadful in the past, that the new is the conduit for improvement.
The film wisely opts to focus on the smaller scale details: The public urinals (Peeing is something of a repeated theme), a street market, a rail yard, a cemetery, a ruined music hall, a single house, a deli, an eel and mash café, a Sally Army hostel, and then adds colour to these locations by including characters for whom (in every sense) time is running out: Street buskers, market traders, the on-their-uppers flotsam for whom meths drinking has actually become an option. Hearing them speak, we hear the reality of being down-and-out at a time when National Assistance and the National 'Elf could not be relied on to turn lives around. It's the old story, rents go up, poor people suffer. Times change.
And for the average Eastender, scraping a crust from selling on street markets, or another long-gone trade? Popular and bustling Mark's deli has disappeared into oblivion, following the Grand Palais Yiddish Theatre, which leads onto another aspect inadvertently captured in the timing of the film: Demographic replacement. Look at the faces of the elderly in the Whitechapel slums, or the kids in the Tower Hamlets playgrounds, and what do you see? Something you would never see today.
Today, Jewish life is all but driven out from Spitalfields and Brick Lane. There is a scene towards the end where a man in a wide brimmed hat repeats that he had tried to improve things for himself, but it hadn't worked out. He then proceeds sings a moving hymn, in Yiddish, which for me was the most poignant of all the individual voices on camera, heard over scenes of children's faces and the wrecking ball pulverizing bricks and mortar, confirming, as the final sequence playfully suggests, that the End Is Nigh, but no-one cares.
Note: One great song made famous in the 1930's by Leslie Sarony plays over an earlier scene of derelict Victorian graves and statuary, entitled 'Aint it Grand to be Bloomin' Well Dead?"
19 Reviews
Where to see this film.
mcb4621 February 2008
This is a good film to see if you're into this sort of thing: history, local culture, hidden meanings and so on. A number of people he mentioned the difficulty in accessing the film, but it can be seen at the British Film Institute on the Southbank for free, six days a week in their Mediatheque. It's well worth a visit as you can see other similar movies too, grouped by genre, location and so on. As i happens, the St. Etienne film, 'Finisterre' (2006?), was based on this film i think. It can also be seen a the BFI! Enjoy... It says I need to write some more to submit. The narration is really well done, and creates a sinister feel. However in this viewer's opinion it's perhaps a little overblown: the images and interviews speak for themselves, and don't need the colouring of his style of narration. Londoners will enjoy drawing parallels between the London of the film and the city of today, and I suppose that's one of the most enjoyable aspects of watching the film 40 years on - the opportunity to identify consistent London themes that run and run regardless of the particular fashions and stylings of the time.
Unique images of a lost London
pdmb2 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The London Nobody Knows - based on the book of the same name by Geoffrey Fletcher - is a 45 minute snapshot of the underbelly of late 1960s London and is a fascinating time capsule of the remnants of a bygone age, before the extensive redevelopment of the late 60s and 70s.
The actor James Mason guides us away from the London everybody knows (Trafalgar Square, Madame Tussauds, Oxford St, etc.), and instead takes us on a tour of the hidden gems on the capital: crumbling and deserted theatres, street markets, jellied eels and mash stalls, the last remaining gas lamp lighters, street escapologists, strange and now long-defunct industries (egg breaking plants?), ornate Victorian toilets, etc. It also shows a seedier and sadder side of London; poor souls who are doomed to occupy Salvation Army hostels and doorways for the rest of their days, without hope of breaking free of the shackles of poverty, alcoholism and mental illness. Some these images are heartbreaking.
While fascinating, informative and often funny, it leaves you lamenting a lost London (is Marks', the wonderful Jewish deli still there?), while at the same time making you glad that the drabness and the kind of grinding poverty seen here are consigned to the dustbins of history. This isn't available on DVD or video, so you're going to have to hope that BBC4 find it in one of their cupboards and reshow it. With the Beeb currently in the grip of Betjemania, this seems as good a time as any to broadcast it again.
The actor James Mason guides us away from the London everybody knows (Trafalgar Square, Madame Tussauds, Oxford St, etc.), and instead takes us on a tour of the hidden gems on the capital: crumbling and deserted theatres, street markets, jellied eels and mash stalls, the last remaining gas lamp lighters, street escapologists, strange and now long-defunct industries (egg breaking plants?), ornate Victorian toilets, etc. It also shows a seedier and sadder side of London; poor souls who are doomed to occupy Salvation Army hostels and doorways for the rest of their days, without hope of breaking free of the shackles of poverty, alcoholism and mental illness. Some these images are heartbreaking.
While fascinating, informative and often funny, it leaves you lamenting a lost London (is Marks', the wonderful Jewish deli still there?), while at the same time making you glad that the drabness and the kind of grinding poverty seen here are consigned to the dustbins of history. This isn't available on DVD or video, so you're going to have to hope that BBC4 find it in one of their cupboards and reshow it. With the Beeb currently in the grip of Betjemania, this seems as good a time as any to broadcast it again.
Should be seen by anyone interested in the Britain of the past
tomgillespie200214 June 2011
In stark contrast to the colourful, "swinging" imagery of 1960's London we are all too familiar with, The London Nobody Knows, displays the dying, decaying underbelly of old Victorian values, practices and architecture. We are shown proto-delboy's hawking goods in now-dead street markets. Bizarre buskers and street performers act out their defunct acts to grey, bewildered onlookers. Old forgotten men pay 6 shillings a week for bed and breakfast in Salvation Army hostels, the memories of the war lingering in their haggard faces.
Written by Bolton-born artist and art critic, Geoffrey Fletcher, based on his own book of the same name, he illustrates a world that is fundamentally changing. A mournful tome to the decrepit, and disappearing 19th century city. James Mason narrates; he informs of historical anecdotes, and guides us through the multitude of eccentrics, losers, and hopeless characters cluttering the streets, and displays their almost archaic interests and habits.
The London Nobody Knows is a perfect artifact of a Britain before the almost complete Americanisation of its streets, industries and culture, that as to come in the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's. Like the Free Cinema movement of the '50's (headed by the likes of Lindsay Anderson), and the British transport film, and GPO documentaries, this represents a view of a very different, almost alien Britain to the one we live in now. Beautiful, horrifying, insightful, strange, and even emotional. A film that should be seen by anyone interested in the Britain of the past.
www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
Written by Bolton-born artist and art critic, Geoffrey Fletcher, based on his own book of the same name, he illustrates a world that is fundamentally changing. A mournful tome to the decrepit, and disappearing 19th century city. James Mason narrates; he informs of historical anecdotes, and guides us through the multitude of eccentrics, losers, and hopeless characters cluttering the streets, and displays their almost archaic interests and habits.
The London Nobody Knows is a perfect artifact of a Britain before the almost complete Americanisation of its streets, industries and culture, that as to come in the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's. Like the Free Cinema movement of the '50's (headed by the likes of Lindsay Anderson), and the British transport film, and GPO documentaries, this represents a view of a very different, almost alien Britain to the one we live in now. Beautiful, horrifying, insightful, strange, and even emotional. A film that should be seen by anyone interested in the Britain of the past.
www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
Wonderful film of Geoffrey Fletcher's book.
DavidDevant27 September 2003
If you enjoy the "off the beaten track" walks and can see beyond the banality of an everyday street, "The London Nobody Knows" is for you. Based on Geoffrey Fletcher's book of the same name, it follows a path round London's more seedy and incongruous locations. Despite being made in 1967 many of the locations visited still remain today, while some are sadly gone forever. This film makes a viewer want to go out and explore their own "town/city nobody knows" and realise that there is always a lot more around them than first meets the eye. Narrated and presented by James Mason, this film really should be seen by fans of Psychogeography.
A documentation of London at the cusp of the changes that revolutionised London in the late 1960's
algreen9 November 2005
A brilliant and pretty obscure look at the flip side of swinging sixties London. Narrated by a rather sardonic and sometimes scathing James Mason, we are taken on a tour of the underbelly of London. The film is artfully edited and offers straight factual history with real life characters/ street performers/ vendors who seem very unaware of the camera. The documentary has extremely surreal and quite tragic scenes by turn and encapsulates a London undocumented in the media of the time. The film is too short and could easily have been extended to a series of particular areas of London. The film has occasional screenings in art-house cinemas and should be seen by anyone interested in the history of London and documentary makers.
The London Nobody Knows
Prismark1010 August 2022
I watched this slightly off beat documentary many years ago. A nostalgic trip of a forgotten London.
Made in 1967, it was before my time. Much of this London was gone by the time I visited the city for the first time in the mid 1970s.
James Mason is slightly uncomfortable as a presenter. Who cares, it is his silky voice that we want. He is also a Yorkshireman, then again the documentary is based on a book by a Lancastrian.
Mason starts off in a decaying music Hall theatre that was once home to the likes of Marie Lloyd. Haunted by Dr Crippen's wife that he murdered.
Mason hoped that the theatre would be pulled down rather than it continue to rot. It eventually did get knocked down.
I hoped that such a cold hard hearted view would continue. Mason flip flops too often. Such as when he gazes at St Paul's Cathedral and then looks at all the post war reconstruction. Most of it was horrid in his opinion.
There were buskers which was seen to be a dying breed in the 1960s. Now it is a growth industry in modern London.
Same with the homeless. On the up since 1979. Although it was notable that the homeless and the underclass were always present in London. Mason talks to people living in a Salvation Army hostel, they were the elite of the poverty class.
The documentary is also whimsical. There is a sketch about egg breaking, there are the market traders with their patter and plenty of eels.
It is dated, it is about London that was disappearing. Mason acknowledges that some aspects of Victorian London was ghastly.
Made in 1967, it was before my time. Much of this London was gone by the time I visited the city for the first time in the mid 1970s.
James Mason is slightly uncomfortable as a presenter. Who cares, it is his silky voice that we want. He is also a Yorkshireman, then again the documentary is based on a book by a Lancastrian.
Mason starts off in a decaying music Hall theatre that was once home to the likes of Marie Lloyd. Haunted by Dr Crippen's wife that he murdered.
Mason hoped that the theatre would be pulled down rather than it continue to rot. It eventually did get knocked down.
I hoped that such a cold hard hearted view would continue. Mason flip flops too often. Such as when he gazes at St Paul's Cathedral and then looks at all the post war reconstruction. Most of it was horrid in his opinion.
There were buskers which was seen to be a dying breed in the 1960s. Now it is a growth industry in modern London.
Same with the homeless. On the up since 1979. Although it was notable that the homeless and the underclass were always present in London. Mason talks to people living in a Salvation Army hostel, they were the elite of the poverty class.
The documentary is also whimsical. There is a sketch about egg breaking, there are the market traders with their patter and plenty of eels.
It is dated, it is about London that was disappearing. Mason acknowledges that some aspects of Victorian London was ghastly.
A must see for anyone interested in the gritty historic fabric that was London in the sixties.
philcald5 July 2002
A thought provoking and funny (at times) documentary. James Mason makes the narration of the documentary all the better.
In this production you see facets of London life long since forgotten. Street markets and their entertainers, residential slums, you witness the toughness of what it is to be homeless in a time where financial aid was not available as easily as it is today.
The scene of the egg breaking plant was strange at first but it does show the strange sense of humour that people had in this decade. The vibrant mix of people that occupy London is shown fully in the short fifty three minutes.
It can be rather sad at times to see people at their lowest but gratifying to see some of those people trying to make their lives a little better in any way they can.
James Mason makes a valid comment on the new buildings sprouting in and around London and makes the point that the demolition of old buildings is something that should not be mourned as the same fate awaits the new buildings in years to come.
I think in this he meant to say that change is inevitable and can be for the good sometimes. Overall I think the production was excellent, I give it ten out of ten.
In this production you see facets of London life long since forgotten. Street markets and their entertainers, residential slums, you witness the toughness of what it is to be homeless in a time where financial aid was not available as easily as it is today.
The scene of the egg breaking plant was strange at first but it does show the strange sense of humour that people had in this decade. The vibrant mix of people that occupy London is shown fully in the short fifty three minutes.
It can be rather sad at times to see people at their lowest but gratifying to see some of those people trying to make their lives a little better in any way they can.
James Mason makes a valid comment on the new buildings sprouting in and around London and makes the point that the demolition of old buildings is something that should not be mourned as the same fate awaits the new buildings in years to come.
I think in this he meant to say that change is inevitable and can be for the good sometimes. Overall I think the production was excellent, I give it ten out of ten.
I remember it well
malcolmgsw10 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I was familiar with a number of the sites shown in this fascinating if at times eccentric documentary. I remember well travelling on the 68 bus passing the dilapidated and disused Bedford Theatre in Camden Town, eventually to be torn down to make way for a building society.
I went to a very early film event at the Roundhouse featuring Harold Lloyd and his films.
I well remember the buskers who used to entertain cinema and theatre crowds in the West End.
The bonus for this film is that is narrated by James Mason wandering around the various venues. Whilst a lot of Victorian London there is still many interesting buildings surviving.
I went to a very early film event at the Roundhouse featuring Harold Lloyd and his films.
I well remember the buskers who used to entertain cinema and theatre crowds in the West End.
The bonus for this film is that is narrated by James Mason wandering around the various venues. Whilst a lot of Victorian London there is still many interesting buildings surviving.
A fascinating, fantastic piece of work
simonhall3 January 2000
Factual. This is really a film version of a guided walking tour around some arcane bits of London in 1967. James Mason plays his part very well, but the script and the locations the film makers dig out are what make this such a valuable document. Just about all the places this film mentions are massively changed / disappeared now. You'll do well to ever see this film 'though - it's a real rarity.
Compelling in places where James Mason features ...but uneven and too 'Trippy' in others !
biffot2 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This short documentary looks at the unknown side of mid sixties London and clearly benefits alot from the presence and narration of James Mason - even if he gets a few facts incorrect (the fault of the script writer not Mason of course)
....however the portions of the film where Mason is absent rather wanders off into a 'Trippy' style observation of people with buskers, egg breakers, strange songs about death, wriggling eels, and close ups of locals eating and the sad sight of the lower class unfortunates drinking their lives away....
the film seems disjointed and uneven during the periods Mason is absent only notably picking up upon his return to the screen - it always felt to me as if the film makers couldn't afford him full time !
I rate it 7 out of 10 purely for the James Mason features...
- indeed a shorter edited version concentrating purely on Mason's contribution would, for me, make for a much better film as these are both fascinating and compelling as Mason wanders across the fast changing landscape then with remnants of a long bygone era ranging from the derelict Bedford Theater Camden, to the pre music venue Roundhouse and even the scene of a Jack the Ripper murder....and makes observations of the changing nature of the city...
....however the portions of the film where Mason is absent rather wanders off into a 'Trippy' style observation of people with buskers, egg breakers, strange songs about death, wriggling eels, and close ups of locals eating and the sad sight of the lower class unfortunates drinking their lives away....
the film seems disjointed and uneven during the periods Mason is absent only notably picking up upon his return to the screen - it always felt to me as if the film makers couldn't afford him full time !
I rate it 7 out of 10 purely for the James Mason features...
Forgotten places, forgotten people
enochsneed27 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is a fascinating (every reviewer seems to need to use this word and I'm no exception) tour of some hidden corners of London which were about to disappear forever (a crumbling music hall where Marie Lloyd once trod the boards) or survived to rise again. The Roundhouse became a successful venue for live performances - The Doors made their only UK appearance there a year after this film was released.
More important perhaps are the views of ordinary people going about their daily lives, market shopping, eating eel pie and mash in a café (note the prices 'Potato 6d' a portion - that's 2.5p!). These are faces I remember from my childhood, old people with toothless mouths (after living through the 1930's with no National Health Service).
Most moving are the people living in the Salvation Army shelter, those who have run out of options and have nowhere to go. I find the final interview in the film incredibly moving: an old man in an old overcoat and homburg hat which are too large for him explains how he has tried to make something of his life. "I have tried very hard... in many ways... to become something of myself... very hard indeed..." he says staring forlornly ahead of him. You just know, looking at him, that things won't work out - he is just one of life's unfortunates. He finishes by singing a Hebrew prayer (presumably he was Jewish) watched by a group of children.
Thankfully the film finishes on a humorous note as a religious speaker tells a group of half-a-dozen people "The End Is Nigh". They drift away and the man packs his things and follows them.
This is a an incredible little film, beautifully shot, and leaves you wishing it had been twice as long.
More important perhaps are the views of ordinary people going about their daily lives, market shopping, eating eel pie and mash in a café (note the prices 'Potato 6d' a portion - that's 2.5p!). These are faces I remember from my childhood, old people with toothless mouths (after living through the 1930's with no National Health Service).
Most moving are the people living in the Salvation Army shelter, those who have run out of options and have nowhere to go. I find the final interview in the film incredibly moving: an old man in an old overcoat and homburg hat which are too large for him explains how he has tried to make something of his life. "I have tried very hard... in many ways... to become something of myself... very hard indeed..." he says staring forlornly ahead of him. You just know, looking at him, that things won't work out - he is just one of life's unfortunates. He finishes by singing a Hebrew prayer (presumably he was Jewish) watched by a group of children.
Thankfully the film finishes on a humorous note as a religious speaker tells a group of half-a-dozen people "The End Is Nigh". They drift away and the man packs his things and follows them.
This is a an incredible little film, beautifully shot, and leaves you wishing it had been twice as long.
A rewind to a 60's London that has almost been forgotten
sellery4 September 2007
An excellent and all too short documentary on post-war London. Made in 1967 and narrated by James Mason, it shows the side of 60's London that most commentators either conveniently forget or more likely are blissfully unaware of.
A strange documentary nonetheless. I never had James Mason pegged as one to go wondering around the back streets of Spitalfields (where, then, some were still alive who could remember the Ripper murders....), old theatres in Camden, and Salvation Army hostels interviewing the unfortunates there.
A must-see if you have any liking of London history and the 60's in particular. Watch and see the past once more, and learn how much has changed, and how certain modern preoccupations (how areas improve and sometimes gentrify) remain with us still today. Very hard to believe today that some parts of London were so different in character a mere 40 years ago.
A strange documentary nonetheless. I never had James Mason pegged as one to go wondering around the back streets of Spitalfields (where, then, some were still alive who could remember the Ripper murders....), old theatres in Camden, and Salvation Army hostels interviewing the unfortunates there.
A must-see if you have any liking of London history and the 60's in particular. Watch and see the past once more, and learn how much has changed, and how certain modern preoccupations (how areas improve and sometimes gentrify) remain with us still today. Very hard to believe today that some parts of London were so different in character a mere 40 years ago.
dated yet wonderful
wilkinson-529 March 2006
this film is essential for anyone with a love of London. it explores some areas which were a bit down at heel at the time and are now rather better off... touring the capital from the Roundhouse in Camden down to the Thames (and an 'Egg Breaking factory'), through The Bedford Theatre and into the markets in Edgwarwe and Islington, it shows a London that has largely now gone, or else been gentrified into something else. James Mason's commentary is interesting, tho quite (accidentally) amusing at points, as is the shock on the street market shopper's faces at seeing a star in their midsts. this was screened as a companion piece to Finisterre at the ICA in London - a great double bill... difficult to find, but there are copies to be found out there on DVD.
Essential Time Capsule
nigel_hawkes9 August 2022
I caught this (2022) on UK's wonderful, free Talking Pictures channel. It's from 1967 BTW not 1969. All reviewers here comment fully on its thoughtful, gritty, sad look at the underbelly of London.
There's an obvious and unavoidable nostalgia at viewing this sort of work, even though much of the human conditions here are dire; if only London has "improved" from those 1960s days-sadly not.
I like James Mason's neutral commentating.
Good to view as a companion piece to the ITV series "Disappearing London" from 2006/7 fronted by the Madness member Suggs.
There's an obvious and unavoidable nostalgia at viewing this sort of work, even though much of the human conditions here are dire; if only London has "improved" from those 1960s days-sadly not.
I like James Mason's neutral commentating.
Good to view as a companion piece to the ITV series "Disappearing London" from 2006/7 fronted by the Madness member Suggs.
Mason Takes Us on a Tour
richardchatten25 September 2022
Like most films of the sixties, we begin with the then obligatory shot of the Post Office Tower.
The title of Jeffrey Fletcher's original book was deeply ironic since, as earlier viewers have already observed, from the moment this film hit screens it became as much a piece of history as the bygone world whose passing narrator James Mason laments; recalling the era when older residents of Spitalfields still remembered Jack the Ripper and the sixties destruction of Victorian London which began with the destruction of the Euston Arch was already well advanced (and has continued to this day).
Recalling that the East End of London in the sixties "is still recognisable as the world of Sickert", Mason seems genuinely concerned with the problems of the locals. While making no secret of his disdain for modern architecture and admitting that "most Victorian architecture was pretty hideous", he still hold out the hope that the sixties development of London was finally going to rid us of the Dickensian squalor the film sometimes graphically shows (such as a couple of winos fighting over a bottle of meths). But that was before a certain Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, and her political heirs continue to be determined turn back the clock even as I write.
The title of Jeffrey Fletcher's original book was deeply ironic since, as earlier viewers have already observed, from the moment this film hit screens it became as much a piece of history as the bygone world whose passing narrator James Mason laments; recalling the era when older residents of Spitalfields still remembered Jack the Ripper and the sixties destruction of Victorian London which began with the destruction of the Euston Arch was already well advanced (and has continued to this day).
Recalling that the East End of London in the sixties "is still recognisable as the world of Sickert", Mason seems genuinely concerned with the problems of the locals. While making no secret of his disdain for modern architecture and admitting that "most Victorian architecture was pretty hideous", he still hold out the hope that the sixties development of London was finally going to rid us of the Dickensian squalor the film sometimes graphically shows (such as a couple of winos fighting over a bottle of meths). But that was before a certain Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, and her political heirs continue to be determined turn back the clock even as I write.
Not So Swinging London
BinkieHuckaback17 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I was 7 when this film was made and grew up in East London with working class immigrant parents.
I found the film rather saddening, realising that this was the world that my parents had to deal with rather than that of my childish and nostalgic memory.
Very little to save you if you got 'down on your luck' like the people in the Salvation Army hostel.
This and many, many more glimpses of the real London are an excellent contrast to the cheery optimistic Look At Life type films of the period.
I found the film rather saddening, realising that this was the world that my parents had to deal with rather than that of my childish and nostalgic memory.
Very little to save you if you got 'down on your luck' like the people in the Salvation Army hostel.
This and many, many more glimpses of the real London are an excellent contrast to the cheery optimistic Look At Life type films of the period.
A Tour of Forgotten London ... or is It?
l_rawjalaurence15 December 2015
Several reviewers have pointed out how many of the locations and rituals portrayed in Norman Cohen's 1967 documentary have now vanished for ever. The Bedford Theatre in Camden High Street, once Britain's oldest music-hall, has now been torn down and replaced by an anonymous office-block. The Round House, once used as a train shed, now operates as a performance venue. The Victorian slums around Camden have now been torn down and replaced by anonymous- looking tower blocks. The old gas-lamps (and the lamplighter who went round each night), if they exist at all, are simply there to attract tourist photographers. And rarely do we ever see a horse and cart plodding along the streets.
On the other hand there are some rituals that continue to flourish. The street-markets are still vividly alive, even though the customers are far more multicultural than they were nearly half a century ago. The Salvation Army plies its trade, and poverty is still rife throughout the city; beggars line the streets, just as they did a century and a half ago. Buskers still ply their trade in the streets (try going to Covent Garden to find out), even though their acts are different now. Watching THE London NOBODY KNOWS is an experience in savoring change and continuity.
James Mason looks faintly uncomfortable as a presenter, his shiny shoes and expensive cap contrasting with the genteel poverty of many of London's citizens. Sometimes he fluffs his lines; and we wonder why more of the people around him do not stare when they see the presence of an international celebrity within their midst. On the other hand his narration is but a peripheral presence in a documentary that packs so much visual incident into its 40-minute or so running time that it could easily have been extended into twice its length.
On the other hand there are some rituals that continue to flourish. The street-markets are still vividly alive, even though the customers are far more multicultural than they were nearly half a century ago. The Salvation Army plies its trade, and poverty is still rife throughout the city; beggars line the streets, just as they did a century and a half ago. Buskers still ply their trade in the streets (try going to Covent Garden to find out), even though their acts are different now. Watching THE London NOBODY KNOWS is an experience in savoring change and continuity.
James Mason looks faintly uncomfortable as a presenter, his shiny shoes and expensive cap contrasting with the genteel poverty of many of London's citizens. Sometimes he fluffs his lines; and we wonder why more of the people around him do not stare when they see the presence of an international celebrity within their midst. On the other hand his narration is but a peripheral presence in a documentary that packs so much visual incident into its 40-minute or so running time that it could easily have been extended into twice its length.
One-of-a-kind documentary
Leofwine_draca15 December 2022
I really enjoyed seeing this one-of-a-kind documentary that looks at a forgotten London circa 1967, presented by James Mason, no less. Our Hollywood star tours around various derelict sites, many of them ripe for demolition, and reminisces about the old days of Victorian music halls, egg-breaking factories and the like. We see the grim face of poverty, meths-drinkers brawling in the street, and plenty more besides. This is a documentary all about character with London itself being the character. It has wonderful touches of surreal humour as befitting the era of Eric Sykes and the Pythons, and the footage is quietly awesome.
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