The epic battle for the future of mankind is fought between an angel of light and an angel of death.The epic battle for the future of mankind is fought between an angel of light and an angel of death.The epic battle for the future of mankind is fought between an angel of light and an angel of death.
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Storyline
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- TriviaGideon wakes up in Gwen's car, having spent the night on the road to Oxford. The first thing he sees is the logo painted on the back of a red van, reading: «J.Ch. Simopoulos & Co. / Rolls - Stamps - Punches - Dies / Oxford». Gideon sums up for the viewer, "The life of a man!"
- Quotes
Library Scholar: [to Gideon Harlax] Young man! If you must fantasize, do so elsewhere!
- Alternate versionsAccording to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), no cuts were made to the DVD version (179:37) as it was presented for rating. However, it also informs that the DVD Distributor in 2007 cut 1m 47s from the broadcast precut version (181:24). This shorter version is due to copyright issues involving Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and Rear Window (1954), references and stills that were part of the finale.
- ConnectionsReferences Vampyr (1932)
Featured review
Remarkable
I just wrote 'I'm astonished it exists' while reviewing something else and it goes double for this. Others have already made better attempts to review it than I can, but I want to add it to my list for the sake of those who haven't heard of it.
I'm not even going to try to describe it, but here are some of the things I have exclaimed to people when failing to do so after watching it:
Sting is an Angel! Or perhaps some kind of alien! Hywel Bennett is in love with him! Or vice versa! Hywel Bennett descends into Hell or some kind of parallel world which is like Liverpool only they speak Estonian backwards and there's constant tannoy and posters warning you about crab monsters! There's a long-haired musical genius with this statue of a goddess who causes suicides all around him and is going to play a song that will end the world!
It's three hours long! They showed it without a break on the BBC at Christmas back when there were only three channels! And when TV was allowed to take risks.
It's not for everyone but for me the three hours passed in a flash. Some of it went over my head but at bottom it's a simple and powerful morality tale. Unlike some other reviewers I loved the poetic dialogue. It's worth watching for the bizarreness and unlikeliness and grandiose ambition alone - the joyous sense that you can do anything you damn well like in art and that some people have done - but it has far more going for it than that.
I recommend watching the writer David Rudkin's fantastic Penda's Fen first as an introduction to his world.
I'm not even going to try to describe it, but here are some of the things I have exclaimed to people when failing to do so after watching it:
Sting is an Angel! Or perhaps some kind of alien! Hywel Bennett is in love with him! Or vice versa! Hywel Bennett descends into Hell or some kind of parallel world which is like Liverpool only they speak Estonian backwards and there's constant tannoy and posters warning you about crab monsters! There's a long-haired musical genius with this statue of a goddess who causes suicides all around him and is going to play a song that will end the world!
It's three hours long! They showed it without a break on the BBC at Christmas back when there were only three channels! And when TV was allowed to take risks.
It's not for everyone but for me the three hours passed in a flash. Some of it went over my head but at bottom it's a simple and powerful morality tale. Unlike some other reviewers I loved the poetic dialogue. It's worth watching for the bizarreness and unlikeliness and grandiose ambition alone - the joyous sense that you can do anything you damn well like in art and that some people have done - but it has far more going for it than that.
I recommend watching the writer David Rudkin's fantastic Penda's Fen first as an introduction to his world.
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- Adrian Sweeney
- Jul 17, 2018
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- Also known as
- Artemis '81
- Filming locations
- Abersoch, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Wales, UK(The deserted beach coast known as Hell's Mouth.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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