Your Account   Help   |   Your Basket Empty   Checkout

Follow MovieMail's Twitter
MovieMailMovieMail HomePicnic at Hanging Rock
Home > Contemporary Film > Drama > Private Road

 

 

 

Private Road DVD+Blu-ray, 1971

£17.99

RRP: £19.99
You save £2 (10%)

 

Availability
In Stock - should be despatched within 24 hours. Despatched from the UK. Delivery timesUsually 2-3 days to reach UK addresses. Europe takes around 2 days longer and International destinations take 1-2 weeks

Delivery
Free to UK customers!
Costs to other countriesWestern Europe: £2.50
Rest of the world: £3.75

Returns Policy
If you are unhappy with your purchase, you can return it to us within 14 days. More details

 

MovieMail's Review

Barney Platts-Mills followed Bronco Bullfrog with this 1971 film, starring Withnail and I's Bruce Robinson. Naturalistic yet visually polished, Julian Upton mourns the promise of a stalled career.

 

Shifting his focus from the working-class East End to middle-class Surrey and north London, Platts-Mills followed Bronco Bullfrog with Private Road, a tale of love in which a bored young secretary (Susan Penhaligon) takes off with a writer (Bruce Robinson of Withnail and I), only to find bohemian life turning stale.

Where Bullfrog was monochrome, primitive and ‘unprofessional’ (in the best sense), Private Road is sunnier (literally) and more visually polished. But in many ways it is a logical follow-on: it retains the highly naturalistic, improvised style of the earlier film – which also had a teenage elopement at its centre – and develops its themes of obstructed romance, personal freedom, compromise and responsibility.

There are echoes of early Ken Loach and parallels with Mike Leigh’s Bleak Moments, but Platts-Mills was very much his own man, and Private Road stands as a maturation of the promise that was evident in Bullfrog. It’s a pity his film career stalled after this; seventies British cinema was to miss out on a growing, individualistic talent.

 

Julian Upton on 13th December 2010
View all 136 of Julian Upton's reviews

Private Road Private Road

 

 

Film Information

Director - Barney Platts-Mills

Produced - 1971

Main Language - English

Countries & Regions - British Film

Cast - Susan Penhaligon, Kathleen Byron, Bruce Robinson

 

 

DVD+Blu-ray Details

Certificate: 15 Publisher: BFI Region: 0
Length: 89 mins Cat No: BFIB1065  
Format: DVD+Blu-ray Colour  

 

 

DVD+Blu-ray Extras

  • 2 discs
  • Two never-before-released extras, sourced from the BFI National Archive: St Christopher (1967, 48 mins): Barney Platts-Mills’ affecting observational documentary about the education of mentally handicapped youngsters and The Last Chapter (David Tringham, 1974, 29 mins): dark tale in which a successful middle-aged writer (Denholm Elliot) is unbalanced by an assured young fan (Private Road’s Susan Penhaligon)
  • Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
  • Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays and reviews.

 

 

Film Description

Barney Platts-Mills' stylish and compelling follow-up to Bronco Bullfrog relocates the youthful struggle for social and personal freedom to 1970s Boho London, suburban Surrey and rural Scotland. When Peter, a handsome author pausing from finishing his first novel (and played by Bruce Robinson who would go on to write and direct Withnail & I) shacks up with sugar-sweet receptionist Ann (Susan Penhaligon), sex, drugs, and some rigorous rural living ensue, to the dismay of Ann’s well-to-do parents. Soon, however, they are forced to choose between domestic conformity and individual fulfilment.

 

 

Related Genres

 

 

Film Stills

Private Road Private Road

View all 2 film stills in full size

 

 

Customers who liked this also liked...

Duffer / Moon Over the Alley

1971; 1976, Joseph Despins, William Dumaresq, DVD+Blu-ray

 

£17.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £2

Duffer / Moon Over the Alley

An intense and bizarre study of obsession that is by turns lyrical and disconcert...

More Details

Bronco Bullfrog

1970, Barney Platts-Mills, DVD+Blu-ray

 

£17.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £2

Recommended Bronco Bullfrog

Barney Platts-Mills made Bronco Bullfrog for just £17,000 back in 1969, using kids from the East ...

More Details

Good Morning / I Was Born, But...

1959, Yasujiro Ozu, DVD+Blu-ray

 

£9.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £10

Recommended Good Morning / I Was Born, But...

A pairing of films from Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu -Good Morning (1959) and ...

More Details

 

 

Customer Reviews

Share your thoughts - write a review

 

 

 

Also Available from Director Barney Platts-Mills

Bronco Bullfrog

1970, Barney Platts-Mills, DVD+Blu-ray

 

£17.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £2

Recommended Bronco Bullfrog

Barney Platts-Mills made Bronco Bullfrog for just £17,000 back in 1969, using kids from the East ...

More Details

View all Barney Platts-Mills films

 

 

Also Available from the Cast

Susan Penhaligon

View all Susan Penhaligon films

Kathleen Byron

View all Kathleen Byron films

Bruce Robinson

View all Bruce Robinson films

 

 

MovieMail Latest

 

 

 

Subscribe to our
Email Newsletter

Email NewsletterThe best new films, latest offers and more. Enter your email address:

 

 

Special Offers

 

 

 

MovieMail Publications

June 2012 Film CatalogueFilm Catalogue
The Digital Edition of our June 2012 issue is out now.

 

 

 

Podcast MovieMail Podcast
Latest edition: Humphrey Jennings - The Heart of Britain

 

 

 

Twitter Twitter
Be first to know about new sales, reviews, news and more.

 

 

 

Films by Barney Platts-Mills

 

Films starring
Susan Penhaligon

 

Films starring
Kathleen Byron

 

Films starring
Bruce Robinson

 

 

 

Browse our Film catalogue: DVDs by Genre, DVDs by Country, DVDs by Director, DVDs by Actor

 RSS Feeds | Sitemap | Film Glossary | New Releases | Bestsellers | Recommended | Special Offers | MovieMail Latest

 

MovieMail use a Thawte certificate to ensure secure transmission of your information. Click here for for information  

 

 

For questions or assistance email us at info@moviemail-online.co.uk
or call us on 0844 376 0009 (UK residents) / +44 203 137 1461 (International)

© 1996-2012 MovieMail Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Payment by card or PayPal. Find out more about MovieMail