Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5308 (Master Record)
Title | Year | Date |
CLUB SPIRIT | c.1964 | 1961-01-01 |
Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 9 mins 6 secs Credits: Halifax Cine Club |
Summary This is a film made by Halifax Cine Club, including club member Charles C. Thomas. The film won the West Riding Ten Minute film competition for the year it was made, 1963 or 1964. It is a whimsical film with a witty commentary about members of the Club getting somewhat inebriated and seeing a pink elephant. The rubber elephant which appears is ta ... |
Description
This is a film made by Halifax Cine Club, including club member Charles C. Thomas. The film won the West Riding Ten Minute film competition for the year it was made, 1963 or 1964. It is a whimsical film with a witty commentary about members of the Club getting somewhat inebriated and seeing a pink elephant. The rubber elephant which appears is taken back to the Club to become a subject of a film, eventually becoming a member proving impossible to get rid of.
The film opens with a comical...
This is a film made by Halifax Cine Club, including club member Charles C. Thomas. The film won the West Riding Ten Minute film competition for the year it was made, 1963 or 1964. It is a whimsical film with a witty commentary about members of the Club getting somewhat inebriated and seeing a pink elephant. The rubber elephant which appears is taken back to the Club to become a subject of a film, eventually becoming a member proving impossible to get rid of.
The film opens with a comical title page by the “British bored and tired censors”.
The Halifax Cine Club Presents – Club Spirit
The film proper begins at the Fleece Inn where a group of men are standing and chatting at the bar over their drinks. One of them puts down his empty glass of beer and rubs his eyes as his vision becomes blurred. They all begin to see a small pink elephant arrive, followed by some smaller “8 mm” elephants. They have to come up with an idea for a film, and the pink elephant gives them one. One of them picks up the pink elephant and takes it along to the next meeting of the Cine Club where it is examined by the other members who deride their idea. It is introduced to the President, John, and is made a member of the Club, with his membership slip pinned to his bottom. The elephant pushes in the tea trolley, and enjoys a cup of tea and a cigarette. He is joined by his 8 mm friends who stage a formation display on the chequered tablecloth to the tune of the Colonial Bogey March.
The members of the Club try to write a film script with the elephant, which they end up covering with ticker tape. Then one of the members, dressed as an archetypal African Safari hunter, goes after on the elephant with a shotgun, crawling amongst the furniture. But just as he is about to shoot the elephant, he himself gets shot. They then title the elephant, ‘Big ‘Ed’, using a hammer and chisel on the back of his head. One of the members tries to dispose of the elephant, first by trying to post it, and then throwing it over a garden wall, only to get it returned. He wanders down a shopping street with the elephant tucked under his arm. He tries leaving it on the street for someone else, only to have it returned again. He boards a bus (numbers 69 and 35) and tries to leave it for a passenger, but he too throws it back. He drops it on a “Safety Zone” (a zebra crossing), but a lady stops in her Riley Elf Mini and again returns it. Finally, exasperated, he takes it home and pours himself a Martini. He sees a small elephant in his glass and tries to drown it in soda. The film comes to an end with a wink from the elephant.
Title – The End
Context
The dangers of drinking take on a surreal turn as one of the pink elephants seen by our inebriated hero materializes and thwarts all attempts to get rid of her, even a safari hunter.
The hallucinatory delights of drunkenness come to life here in this award winning whimsical film made by members of the Halifax Cine Club in 1964. Having spirited up, Dumbo style, a pink elephant, our bacchanalian protagonist finds himself lumbered with his apparition, which even becomes a member of the club....
The dangers of drinking take on a surreal turn as one of the pink elephants seen by our inebriated hero materializes and thwarts all attempts to get rid of her, even a safari hunter.
The hallucinatory delights of drunkenness come to life here in this award winning whimsical film made by members of the Halifax Cine Club in 1964. Having spirited up, Dumbo style, a pink elephant, our bacchanalian protagonist finds himself lumbered with his apparition, which even becomes a member of the club. Halifax had an especially prolific and inventive amateur Cine Club, which still remains active. The film won the West Riding Ten Minute film competition for the year it was made, 1963 or 1964. It has been claimed that the first recorded use of the term ‘seeing a pink elephant’, as relating to the effects of alcohol, was by Jack London in his autobiographical John Barleycorn 1913. The character may well have been inspired by the Pink Elephants on Parade scene from Disney’s 1941 film Dumbo. This Halifax Club film just predates the psychedelic era when hallucinations were much more associated with illegal drugs, and Timothy Leary suggested that people ,"Turn on, tune in, drop out." |