FEATURES
RADLEY FILM SOCIETY IN THE 1950S & 60S “In 1952, some boys asked Warden Wilkes if they might form a society to watch films.” This sentence opens a special supplement in The Radleian, 1967, written by John Barneby (1963, A) the then Secretary of the Radley College Film Society. The Film Society was re-founded (an earlier iteration apparently existed in the 1930s) by Radleians Richard Langstaff and Illtyd Lewis (both 1951, H), under Warden Milligan in 1954. Richard and Illtyd became the first secretaries of the Society, which was overseen by don, Kenneth Brookman, and their intention was to hold six meetings a year at which films would be shown. The first meeting took place in March 1955; John Huntley, film historian and member of the British Film Institute, gave a talk about ‘The Growth of Humour in the Film’, complete with film extracts to illustrate the discussion. The first film shown was The Wages of Fear (1953), a French thriller in which four desperate men drive two trucks loaded with highly volatile nitro glycerine over mountain roads in order to win a much-needed pay check. Encouraged to make films, as well as show them, the Film Society and Kenneth Brookman went on to create a number of productions, initially using an archaic hand-cranked camera from the early 1920s. There was a flurry of titles over the following years, some of which gained impressive commendation:
RADLEY FILMS • 8 Oars to Henley (1955) – a documentary about the 1955 Radley 1st VIII. •W e Remember Those Years (1955) – a documentary film about Radley life, which was shown on ITV’s ‘Children’s Hour’ and resulted in an offer to commission six further films, though this was turned down due to time constraints. •R eflections on the 139th Psalm (1956) – a visual accompaniment to the psalm which won the Oliver Bell Trophy for the best serious amateur film of the year, the British Film Institute’s award for the Best School Film, and was shown on the BBC. •D own (1959) – a thriller in which the villain, Kenneth Brookman, falls to his death off the Mansion fire escape. This film reached the finals of the Schools’ Film Competition in 1959. •T he Lord’s Prayer (1960) – a ‘sequel’ to Reflections on the 139th Psalm which did not achieve the same critical acclaim. •R adley 1962 (1962) – a documentary film about the College. •T he Scholar Gipsy (1967) – a film adaption of Matthew Arnold’s poem.
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the old radleian 2023
Radley don, Ken Brookman, with the 1957 Athletics Team.
The Radleian, May 1955.
The Radleian, March 1956.
The Radleian, February 1957.
