Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (film)
Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London is a 1967 documentary film by Peter Whitehead. It includes sequences of “Swinging London” with accompanying contemporary pop music, concert and studio performances by musicians including the Rolling Stones and the first professional footage filmed of Pink Floyd,[1] and several interviews. It is notable for showing footage shot inside the short-lived UFO Club, the British counter-culture night club in the basement of 31 Tottenham Court Road, and at The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream multi-artist event held in the Great Hall of the Alexandra Palace, including John Lennon. The film also shows scenes of soldiers parading in scarlet jackets and bearskins, London street scenes, a protest march, psychedelic patterns being painted on a semi-naked girl, the arrival of Playboy Bunny girls by plane, and guests including Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate, Terence Stamp, and Jim Brown arriving at the premiere of Polanski’s film Cul-de-sac.
Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London | |
---|---|
Directed by | Peter Whitehead |
Written by | Peter Whitehead |
Produced by | Peter Whitehead |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Whitehead |
Edited by | Peter Whitehead |
Music by | |
Production company | Lorrimer Films |
Release date | 1967 |
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
The film has been described as "what for many critics was the definitive document of swinging London, a white-hot crucible of music, fashion and film."[2]
Synopsis
The film self-describes as a “Pop Concerto for Film” and is divided into seven themed sections or “movements” with a prelude and a coda.
Pink Floyd – "Interstellar Overdrive"
1. Loss of the British Empire
- Marquis of Kensington – "The Changing of the Guard"
- Michael Caine interview (part 1)
2. Dollygirls
- Twice as Much – "Night Time Girl"
- "Dolly Girl” interviews
- Chris Farlowe – “Out of Time"
- Edna O'Brien interview
3. Protest
4. It’s All Pop Music
- Pink Floyd – "Interstellar Overdrive" (reprise 1)
- Andrew Loog Oldham interview (part 1)
- Vashti – "Winter Is Blue"
- Andrew Loog Oldham interview (part 2)
- Vashti – "Winter Is Blue" (reprise)
- Rolling Stones – "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?”
- Mick Jagger interview
- Rolling Stones – "Lady Jane”
5. Movie Stars
- Julie Christie interview
- Michael Caine interview (part 2)
6. Painting Pop
- Chris Farlowe – "Paint It, Black"
- Alan Aldridge interview
- David Hockney interview
7. As Scene from U.S.A.
- The Small Faces – "Here Come the Nice"
- Victor Lownes interview
- Lee Marvin interview
- Pink Floyd – "Interstellar Overdrive" (reprise 2)
- Allen Ginsberg – "Tonite Let's All Make Love in London"
- Pink Floyd – "Interstellar Overdrive" (reprise 3)
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 6 reviews.[3]
The film was shown at the 1967 New York Film Festival, where The Daily Telegraph reported it was the “hit of the festival”.[4]
Kim Newman described the film in Empire magazine as “An interesting and amusing documentary that captures the icons of the time in candid interviews and performances from the biggest bands around.”
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album with the same title was released on LP in 1968.
Sources
- "Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967)". BFI Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- Glynn, Stephen (7 May 2013). The British Pop Music Film: The Beatles and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230392243. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- Genzlinger, Neil (19 June 2019). "Peter Whitehead, 82, Swinging-'60s Filmmaker, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
References
- Chibnall, Prof. Steve; Alissa, Clarke. "THE LONG READ: Peter Whitehead obituary". De Montfort University. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- Sweeting, Adam (13 June 2019). "Peter Whitehead obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- "Tonite Let's All Make Love in London". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
- Obituaries, Telegraph (20 June 2019). "Peter Whitehead, documentary maker whose work captured the essence of the Swinging Sixties but who abandoned films to become a falconer – obituary". The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
External links
- "Tonite Let's All Make Love in London". www.imdb.com. Retrieved 5 November 2022.