Small Town Story (1953)

[GlacierTuba]

Thought to post a little something here as I got this Blu Ray a while back and looked here for other peoples thoughts and saw that no sod had posted anything about it. That's a shame.

Anyway. Here's some sub-par thoughts on a disc you really should think about nabbing. It's dirt cheap and quite good fun as well as being a bit of a miraculous restoration.

From a previous Letterboxd entry in my viewing diary:

[Show spoiler]

Another 'I swear I'm not shilling I promise' Network Blu. This time it's a blind buy, but upon further investigation, a seemingly special film. This is the 1953 film Small Town Story, and until recently it was assumed to be lost forever. The film was on a lost films list from the British Film Institute (BFI) in the hopes that someone may be able to discover a print somewhere.

Amazingly a copy showed up. Unfortunately not in the greatest condition, which Network do make pains to point out in the sleeve notes. There are problems noted with the first reel, notably print damage and scratches that couldn't be repaired. Also there are dropped frames sprinkled throughout the 69 minute run time. With that said though, this is a restoration of quite literally the only copy of Small Town Story in existence in the entire world. In fairness, what's presented on this disc is nothing short of remarkable, Considering the condition of the negatives and that there is nothing else in existence for anyone to work with. The reels they found are it. Nothing more.

The disc is no frills. You get a choice of subtitles on or off, and a small image gallery which is taken from the lovely recreated press booklet that is packed in with this release. Network booklets are some of my favourites, up there with Indicator imho. That's it though, so it's on with the film.

Small Town Story is pretty brief at 69 minutes, but rather enjoyable. It's very British and very much about football (Sorry, soccer ) with a kidnap/love story loosely thrown around it. Essentially a Canadian football star who returns to the UK after the war wants to look up an old flame while playing football for Oldchester United (<scouse accent while drinking milk> "Oldchester United? Who are they? Exactly!" </scouse accent while drinking milk>) and also getting scouted by Arsenal, then called The Arsenal.

It's a little bit more than that though, as it turns out his old flame is an absolute trollop and her sugar daddy is a total c**t too. They end up stitching our hero up and a bit of action ensues with the help of a third party who looks suspiciously like Gordon Ramsay. It's a decent little caper but Jesus wept you can't help but think our hero is an absolute divvy for not realising yer wan is a complete slapper and that he could do loads better!

It should be noted that there's a short, but rather nice car chase sequence near the end too. It's obviously sped up, but I enjoyed it, as surreal as it was being wedged in to the film.

What I loved most though was the camera work on the pitch. There's some great dolly and tracking shots of the players. Squads from both Arsenal and Millwall (who's fans at the filming of the matches I'm shocked to discover didn't end up throwing chairs at each other or throwing a dart in someone's eye while yelling "I BLOODY LOVE YOU GUMBOOOOOO!!!") were involved in filming, including a few wooden acting sequences from starlet of the day Denis Compton, who's precious few scenes make Wayne Rooney look like a nuclear physician.

I hasten to add that there's some nice skill on show during the filmed matches. Some cheeky nutmegs, decent long balls and crosses, and also some of the worst play acting I've ever seen. It makes some of the dark arts that sadly litter our beloved sport today look like an episode of The Wiggles.

Small Town Story is a brief, breezy watch that shouldn't be taken seriously. There's some lovely hints of classics like Brewsters Millions in this film too, I should add. You can almost cast each role as Monty Brewster, Warren Cox, even Chuck Fleming from Action News is in this sort of!

This is definitely worth a watch if you get a chance. If only to see a film that was for the longest time in BFI's top 75 most wanted list and amazingly has been found and preserved forever. Now that is a feel good story that's just as good as the one in the film itself.

Yer man Regan though is still an absolute knobhead for thinking his old flame was a ride when it's quite clear she doesn't want anything to do with him. Move on son!


Notes:

I've added this as a supplementary as our good chums across the Atlantic may not be as enthused with the spectacle of FOOTBALL, not this 'soccer' business, whatever that is, with all respect (see video below as an example).

There's a great bit of transfer contract wrangling towards the end of the film between Arsenal and Oldchester United. It's made a done deal in less than 5 seconds with not a broken fax machine in sight! I didn't even spot Peter Odemwingie in his Range Rover outside the Oldchester United stadium, or Harry Redknapp pulling up in to camera shot with his arm out the window of a B reg Austin Montego to offer his opinion on deadline day. Unbelievable Jeff!



Notes 2 - The Revenge:

How times change. Nearly everyone in this film spends the entire 69 minutes drinking tea and smoking themselves to death. Especially Regan's trollop who goes through 20 Woodbine like George Best would go through a pint. Yet they can all still play 90 minutes without gasping for oxygen cannisters or ringing Thora Hird for a lend of a stairlift.

1982: US SOCCER Is OUT OF THIS WORLD | BBC News | Classic Sports | BBC Archive - YouTube