The White Bus
The White Bus is a 1967 British short drama film directed by Lindsay Anderson. The screenplay was jointly adapted[1] with Shelagh Delaney from a short story in her collection Sweetly Sings the Donkey (1963).[2] The White Bus was also the film debut of Anthony Hopkins.[3]
| The White Bus | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lindsay Anderson |
| Screenplay by | Shelagh Delaney |
| Based on | a short story by Shelagh Delaney |
| Produced by | Lindsay Anderson |
| Starring | Patricia Healey |
| Cinematography | Miroslav Ondříček |
| Edited by | Kevin Brownlow |
| Music by | Misha Donat |
Production companies | Woodfall Film Productions Holly Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 46 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
The main character, only referred to as 'the girl' (Patricia Healey) leaves London, goes north on a train full of football fans and takes a trip in a white double-decker bus around an unnamed city she is visiting, although it is clearly based on Manchester; Delaney was born and grew up in nearby Salford. The Mayor (Arthur Lowe), a local businessman, and the council's ceremonial macebearer (John Sharp) happen also to be taking the trip while they show the city to visiting foreigners.
Cast
- Patricia Healey as The Girl
- Arthur Lowe as The Mayor
- John Sharp as The Macebearer
- Julie Perry as Conductress
- Stephen Moore as Young Man
- Victor Henry as Transistorite
- John Savident, Fanny Carby, Malcolm Taylor, Alan O'Keeffe as Supporters
- Anthony Hopkins as Brechtian
- Jeanne Watts, Eddie King as Fish Shop Couple
- Barry Evans as Boy
- Penny Ryder as Girl
- Dennis Alaba Peters as Mr Wombe
Production history
The film was originally commissioned by producer Oscar Lewenstein, then a director of Woodfall, as one third of an anthology feature entitled Red, White and Zero, with the other sections supplied by Anderson's Free Cinema collaborators Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz[4] from the other short stories by Shelagh Delaney.
The "first real day's shooting" was on 19 October 1965, and took about a month to complete.[5]
The two other planned sections of the film developed into Richardson's Red and Blue and — Reisz having dropped out — Peter Brook's Ride of the Valkyrie, neither of which are related to Delaney's work. Of these, only The White Bus received a theatrical release in the UK.[6]
Notes
- Hedling, E: "Lindsay Anderson: Maverick Film-Maker", Cassell, 1998, p.62
- Shelagh Delaney "Sweetly Sings the Donkey", New York: GP Putnam, 1963; London: Methuen, 1964
- "Sir Anthony Hopkins – Welsh actor".
- Lindsay Anderson, Paul Ryan (ed) "Never Apologise: The Collected Writings", Plexus, 2004, p.105
- Sutton, p.140-41
- Sutton, p.146