14 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Deconstructing London

zorilla from , 24th April, 2008

London Nobody Knows is a snapshot of London at the point of it's most radical changes. The war was over, rationing was at an end, The Beatles ruled the airwaves, old slums were being knocked down and new ones erected though they didn't realize it at the time. This was a brave and exciting new world of high rise flats and council estates and that's the voice of this little curiosity. Today a film like this would celebrate what was left of the past, but in 1967 the past was a bad thing and the future was the place to get excited about. Aboce and beyond the chance to see some interesting architecture as it was being demolished, James Mason also gets to speak to some down and outs on the streets and in a Salvation Army mission. He quickly passes over the tragedy of their lives, but we are left with indelible images of some sad and lost people. The poignancy of those scenes is truly heartbreaking. Les Bicyclettes... is one of the most horrible, sugary confections you can imagine. It is totally without charm, reason or logic. If anybody wishes they were around in the Swinging 60's they should spend 15 minutes with this film (it's only saving grace is it's brevity) and they'd realize that the 60's was as crass, tacky and tasteless as any other moment in our history

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Not Really that good

BrendanR from , 17th April, 2008

I agree with the other reviews, The London Nobody Knows is interesting if not especially comprehensive, and it's certainly a good watch (also fun watching the thick microphone wire leading out of James Mason's trouser leg trail around- the days bofre radio packs!). It's quite similar-ish in style to the 'Look at Life' London disc, which has much more footage, based around different aspects of London's change in the 60s (coffee shops, high rise offices, supermarkets, scooters, etc...). I suppose the emphasis is on looking forwards not back in those, but the information in TLNK is so scattered it's more a document of the 60s than anything else. However, Les Bicyclettes De Belsize, aside from the quite-good rooftop intro really is nauseatingly awful, and entirely pointless flowery toss. It's very much aimed at soppy girls in 1967, and all the music is opressively cheesy (coming from a huge fan of late 60s British music and muzak). Usually when people say things are dated I think 'oh good, I'll soak up the atmos' but this a truly poor 'swining london' by ballads effort.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Captivating

A Customer from London, 5th June, 2008

This is a gem - a lost curio of a film based on the book of the same name by Geoffrey Fletcher. They say the past is another country and it's certainly true of London 40 years ago. Some parts of the city may have been swinging but this film captures the shabby underside of London emerging from the long years of postwar austerity. Dilapidated tenements giving way to smart new council blocks, rag 'n' bone men and old-style buskers plying their trade, decaying music halls, boisterous street markets, meths drinkers in a night shelter... all in a guided tour by the ineffably urbane James Mason - incongruous at first but whose sardonic wit and knowing looks make him the perfect companion for a charming and colorful stroll.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

'The London Nobody Knows / Les Bicyclettes De Belsize' (1967)

A Customer from Blackpool, 3rd April, 2008

Rather a poor dvd, could have included a lot more places of interest.I thought ,good actor as he was, James Mason was not realy interested in the subject and to me it apeared an effort for him to be there.Having seen many of his movies though this laboured style is typical of him. Les Bicyclettes, this film appears to be the background for the pop songs of that time, there is nothing else in the movie of interest. Very dissapointing.

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A Tale of Two Cities

GlaceFox from , 15th July, 2009

Two short films from 1967/8 which would have supported major releases in cinemas.Both capture the sights and sounds of a London that has long vanished.... and in the case of Les Bicyclettes probably never existed. Beyond that they are very different indeed. In 'The London that Nobody Knows', we accompany a dapper but slightly sardonic James Mason on a tour of the un-loved (at the time) remnants of a Victorian legacy... crumbling music halls, street markets and public toilets. Along the way we meet the people of Camden and Spitalfields, including street entertainers, Salvation Army residents and the last lamp-lighter. The film is part social history (60's London certainly wasn't swinging for everyone) and part 'Restoration' style look at vanishing buildings and re-development. A few scenes appear to be staged for the camera but today's film-makers are not beyond such tricks and Mason anchors the narrative well. As he says, perhaps we shouldn't get too sentimental about the changes taking place, Les Bicyclettes De Belsize by contrast is pure fantasy. A 30 minute pop musical consisting of five original songs (which some people will hate). The story is paper-thin. Young man makes his tuneful way around leafy Hampstead village on bicycle with very small wheels (possibly due to very long yellow scarf). A collision with an advertising poster starts him dreaming about a fashion model called Julie. Meanwhile, Julie (played by the gorgeous Judy Huxtable) is only streets away, dreaming about true love and hair conditioner. Julie is trapped in the kind of drudgery that only a photographic model knows, but could that be about to change? Besides it's oddball charm and innocence, what saves Les Bicyclettes is the way it looks. Obviously inspired by Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) it opens with an incredibly ambitious tracking shot across the roof-tops, and throws in just about every visual trick to convince us that Hampstead in the 60's was THE place to be. I loved em both for different reasons!

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The London Nobody Knows / Les Bicyclettes De Belsize' (1967)

Prora from , 4th April, 2009

Very disappointing. The London section, maybe because of its age, was a quite inadequate coverage of a fascinating subject. The Bicyclettes film was pretentious nonsense. I deemed the whole thing as a waste of time.

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3 stars for London, 0 for bicyclettes

A Customer from New Malden, 21st January, 2009

I had heard The London Nobody Knows (odd title, as the residents of these areas know about them) referred to in articles about London, and it was a very interesting, nostalgic look at a London that has now largely gone. It was made in 1967, so I can just about remember some elements of it. It was fun to try to recognise locations before James Mason identified them and in some cases, it made me want to research further. It reminded me of another similar film Hue and Cry, which features areas of Docklands and around the present Tate Modern. On the whole, an enjoyable stroll down memory lane. It would be improved by deleting the stupid and irrelevant egg-breaking scene (don't ask....). The scenes of homeless dossers drinking meths are very saddening. However, worth a look if you are interested in London or the non-swinging side of the late sixties. Bicyclettes de Belsize. Oh dear. A big jessie cycling around on pavements around Hampstead, getting in people's way and singing the kind of songs they would reject from Eurovision. Just don't waste the 15 minutes this lasts, or you'll feel a sense of loss when you eject the disc.

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dreadful

A Customer from Charlton, 23rd November, 2008

I'd give 'The London...' one star for trying to be interesting, but 'Les Bicyclettes...' less than zero - it is a sixties musical of the very worst kind. Forget the likes of 'Head' - this is a musical featuring songs that sound as if they were too bad for Eurovision. The whole thing stinks like Stiltern cheese after three months out of the fridge.

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