Exposed Reisz

Momma Don't Allow is a celebration by Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz of the free spirit of youth - particularly London's working class youth. The story was contrived to contrast the difference between 'Teddy Boys' and 'Toffs', with the sub-plot being that the 'Teds' were not the flick-knife wielding thugs they were made out to be in the press. The focus of the film is Wood Green jazz-club where Chris Barber, the maestro of 'trad' or 'stomp' jazz, is playing. In the mid-fifties trad jazz was the risqué underground sound of rebellion. Richardson and Reisz used it and its dive-bar image to drive the film along as the Teds see-off the late arrival of the Toffs by being better at socializing, drinking and dancing. The film was paid for by the BFI Experimental Film Fund and according the BFI records cost £425. Momma Don't Allow was Richardson's and Reisz's first contribution to the 'Free Cinema' movement.

Shot in and around a South London youth club during the summer of 1958 ‘We Are The Lambeth Boys’ is a sympathetic depiction of a group of teenagers found at work and during their own leisure time. By giving them space to express their frustrations and aspirations the film attempts to deliver a positive portrait of the lives of ordinary teenagers, departing from the usually violent ‘teddy boy’ stereotype, which is portrayed elsewhere.

Morgan Delt (David Warner) is a social misfit obsessed with Karl Marx, large primates and stopping his beautiful ex-wife (Vanessa Redgrave) from marrying his former best friend. But as Morgan roars through swinging London, his pursuit of both love and sabotage begins to take some very bizarre turns. Can one charming madman save the only thing in the real world that’s lived up to his best fantasies? David Warner and Vanessa Redgrave became overnight stars in this ‘60s British comedy classic directed by Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) that proves love is eternal, sanity is relative and nothing is more dangerous than a heartsick man in a gorilla suit. Anchor Bay