Red, White And Zero - 1967 - 6/10

Three experimental British shorts.
The first one, a silent with Zero Mostel, is an tedious farce. A bit like Benny Hill, though more forced and without Hill’s mischievous tone. Luckily this is the briefest, though I docked the series a point because of it.

Next is “The White Van” where an office girl hops a Manchester van to “see the city.”
Surreal, banal, funny, depressing.
Never dull, the tour is an odd, rather hypnotic journey.
The most mundane scenes of the everyday slice, mixed with color exotica.
No Swinging Sixties, this.
Director Lindsay Anderson would strike gold soon after with If …, O Lucky Man and Britannia Hospital.

Finally Vanessa Redgrave as a cabaret singer who goes through her day, pretty much in song.
She daydreams of past relationships (Michael York & Douglas Fairbanks Jr), sings to unappreciative punters in the nightclub, chases the ghost of happiness.
colors in this are vibrant, in contrast to the emptiness of her life.
Although the songs are beguiling, they lack hooks and are not especially memorable.