Mysteries appearances by brass bands in films are not uncommon, but they are perhaps not helped by the fact that the bands themselves do very little to record for posterity some of their more notable performances on celluloid.
A Kind of Loving
Take for instance the appearance of a brass band in the 1962 film, 'A Kind of Loving', which was featured in a BBC4 programme on Tuesday evening (September 14th) about the year 1960 in the North of England.
Battleaxe
The film featured actors such as Alan Bates and June Ritchie, as well as the brilliant Thora Hird as a battleaxe mother in law from hell.
Oscar winner
Directed by Oscar winning John Schlesinger, it is now regarded as one of the seminal films of the 1960s.
It tells the story of a young man, Vic Brown, (Alan Bates) trapped by convention and circumstance in a relationship and world he cannot break free of (a bit like Ken Barlow in Coronation Street although he doesn’t drink half pints of beer or pretend to read the Guardian newspaper).
The analogy of changing social attitudes is played out against the backdrop of such a band concert, where the only empty seats in a packed hall belong to him, his lover and mother in law4BR
Trombone player
He comes from a working class neighbourhood set in or around Preston, where his father plays trombone in the local brass band.
After getting his young lover pregnant, he has to live with his socially upwardly mobile in-laws – a family besotted with the new consumer age – and not with the traditions, such as the brass band concerts in the local Town Hall, he still clings to.
Analogy
The analogy of changing social attitudes is played out against the backdrop of such a band concert, where the only empty seats in a packed hall belong to him, his lover and mother in law.
They remain at home watching a vacuous television quiz show, as Vic’s father plays with tenderness, a trombone solo — a sign of things to come in the new television age.
Filthy pig
Although Vic Brown hates his new life, he also feels trapped by his old one too – the result of which sees vomit on the new carpet of his in-laws accompanied by Thora Hird memorably bellowing ‘..you filthy pig’ in his ear.
The band in question
So who was the band in the scene in the film?
They were a proper brass band by the looks of it too, as the players certainly don’t appear to be actors mimicking performing. Even the old father, played by Geoffrey Brown, knows how to handle a trombone.
Despite a bit of digging around, nobody seems to know.
Any ideas?
Can anyone enlighten us of the mystery and tell us just who that band was, or will yet another appearance of a brass band in a film years before ‘Brassed Off’ be consigned to history?
