GB
1968
1hr 50mins
Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Iain Quarrier and Anne Wiazemsky
A documentation of late 1960’s western counter-culture
This very odd musical-documentary is a typically abstract concoction from the famous French director, known as a composite film. It was originally titled One Plus One (or 1+1) by the film director and was distributed under that title in most of Europe, but not in the UK, where it was released as Sympathy for the Devil. The film chronicles The Rolling Stones recording of the same title in London’s Olympic Sound Studios, interwoven with seemingly unrelated political meanderings. Some scenes were shot in a scrapyard at Lombard Wharf on the south bank of the River Thames in Battersea, and in the background of one of these, a green Class 33 passes over Cremorne Bridge on a West London Line freight. One other freight train is seen here, but it has been edited in such a way to be barely visible, let alone identifiable.
