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

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.