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OLD GLORY, July 2007
‘Engine family’ film re-released
One of the best-loved films to feature steam traction engines is now available for home viewing following the brand new release of the film The Moon and the Sledgehammer on DVD.
Vaughan Films has released this much-loved 1972 film, which has been digitally re-mastered to the highest standard.
A summer of the late 1960s found young film maker Philip Trevelyan in East Sussex. Philip, who had spent the last five years honing his craft making documentaries for the BBC and Granada Television since leaving the Royal College of Art’s Department of Film and Television, heard of the Page family through a mutual friend at an engineering works and decided to spent the summer with the family in their six-acre woodland home, cut off from society and progress, for the purpose of recording their outmoded self-sustaining lifestyle to film.
The Page family consists of Mr Page, his two sons Peter and Jim and his two daughters Nancy and Kathy. Their seemingly eccentric lifestyle shows a family at one with nature, but at odds with society and each other. And for all their eccentricities they ably demonstrate that they are remarkably successful at looking after themselves in a way few of us are today.
The Pages live in woodlands in East Sussex, in the heart of the commuter belt, about 20 miles from London. They have no gas, electricity or running water and manage to sustain a self-sufficient lifestyle; shooting game, keeping chickens and growing vegetables, and if cash is ever needed, undertaking mechanical work for local farms.
One passion of the Pages is steam engines. Their land is littered with gigantic spanners, rusty iron carcasses, parts of old engines and disemboweled car bodies, but most spectacular of all are the traction engines (a Fowler and an Allchin, the latter of which is now in Ireland with Fred Jenkinson) that the men tinker with, discuss endlessly, compare merits of different engines and drive them thunderously around the woods to no apparent purpose, apart from the sheer enjoyment of it.
The isolation of their location has allowed them to grow as individuals, where they can freely develop their own ideas about the world around them. Many of these ideas seemed somewhat eccentric when the film was originally released, but today seem like prophetic warnings from the past. Peter discusses the merits of steam power over oil, saying: ‘England ought to be run by steam. It’s all wrong to have motor power because the oil has got to come across the sea, and that’s too costly. Steam will beat the price of petrol. Steam will come back because it will get so that we shan’t be able to get no oil and petrol later on. That’s when steam will come in then.’
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Mr Page talks of the dangers of television and radio, work and food, pros and cons of different pets, and tells us of the time he saw a sea scopium which he attempted to catchThe director skillfully allows the Pages to air their views on many issues, ranging from sledgehammers to the moon, so that a picture of their life and lifestyle slowly emerges, reminding us of a bygone time before we became part of today’s homogenized society. In fact, filming took place before the moon landing, which is quite an important point and makes sense of what Mr Page says about man getting to the moon.
The film showed at the London and Berlin Film Festivals to great critical acclaim. In film making terms it defied established boundaries - only natural lighting was used, there was no voice-over and the director allowed his subjects to tell their own story, having no previous agenda other than to bring this family’s lifestyle to film. In many ways it is counted among the first ‘reality’ documentaries. In an interview with The Sunday Times Trevelyan says: ‘As a film maker you are bound to honour your material. You must tell the true story that emerges – and that takes time. It’s the only way, though. If you go in with a cut and dried brief all you are doing is raping the subject.’
The Moon and the Sledgehammer was produced and distributed by Vaughan, a well-known and much loved entrepreneur of the film scene, who had a unique flair for publicity. Among his many claims to fame was that he discovered Andy Warhol. He also distributed works by many other underground and political film makers but it was through the Warhol connection that The Moon and the Sledgehammer came to be distributed.
The Rank Organisation, at that time the UK’s largest cinema chain, wanted the new Warhol feature film Flesh in its cinemas. Through skilful negotiations Vaughan used this leverage and was able to secure a national release for The Moon and the Sledgehammer. It went out with Rentadick – Britain’s answer to the public’s growing demand for the removal of censorship. The coupling of these two films must surely have been one of the strangest in film history. However, as Rentadick was destined to be hugely popular, it meant that The Moon and the Sledgehammer was viewed by a large sector of the British public.
If you weren’t around to see The Moon and the Sledgehammer first time round you can now purchase your own DVD. It’ a film that can be watched many times on many levels. There is always some new gem to be uncovered with each viewing.
Running time 65 minutes, colour. Price £16.99
The DVD also comes with an eight-page booklet of filming notes and two postcards. Orders can be made via the film’s official website at www.themoonandthesledgehammer.com
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