The inaugural static Reel Tour took place on a cold Thursday afternoon in the basement Bistro of Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre on Hope Street. A street, it turns out, that is a scene of many a film set. The ideal place for our host, Gary, to start the film tour either on the walking tour that has been running since March 2018 or this cosy static tour that begins with a welcome bowl of soup and a sandwich included in the £15 ticket price. (The bar is also open before and during the interval of the show)
The set-up is quite simple. Photographic images and film sequences of Liverpool film locations interspersed with actual film clips and stills are projected onto a screen while Gary narrates from a microphone stand and points with a Harry Potter style wand. Gary, however, is no dry film curator. What follows is nothing short of a two-hour hilarious insight into the long history of film making in the city and into the encyclopaedic mind of Liverpool John Moores University film studies graduate Gary, ‘I’ve done a Ken Dodd and gone on too long’. Time whizzed by as film-making history took us from the Lumiere brothers through 'The 51st State' and 'Harry Potter' to Peaky Blinders; from the first tracking shot ever filmed in 1897 to the latest Keira Knightly blockbuster, 'Official Secrets', due for release in 2019. Never has Liverpool looked so good or bad, doubling for 1940s Brooklyn to war torn Iraq to streets turned into Peaky Blinders Birmingham. Gary links films through personal (and actor) anecdotes and a city tour taking in Liverpool’s theatres, (Charles Dickens made his only acting performance in the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre) to the docks and the Three Graces, The Cavern Club in Matthew Street, circling to the Town Hall, Rigbys pub and ending on Lime Street on the steps of St George’s Hall. Buildings and landmarks are pointed out together with sculptures and the favourite hangouts of visiting film stars. Everything is linked in some way to film and filming. Find out why James Bond films producer Barbara Broccoli visited Liverpool recently, how Madonna sang at the Town Hall and where Tom Hardy always heads for breakfast when he’s in town.
Each stop along the way covers fascinating film facts sprinkled with local knowledge and a few tales that make you want to reach for the remote control and re-watch films just to check out the locations and look for some of Gary’s insights. I will definitely be revisiting Willy Russell’s 'Dancing Through The Dark', set in Casa Italia opposite Tommy Steele’s Eleanor Rigby statue.
Points are humorously handed out for film buffs on their toes and not a few people were quickly scribbling down old film titles recommended as worthy of watching. Thoroughly enjoyable, the tour, suitable for all ages, is for film makers, anyone who is interested in films and television, and/or Liverpool architecture and its history. A wonderful and different way to spend time enjoying the city for local people and visitors.
Reportage - Barbara Sherlock
on - 1/11/18
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