Morris: A Life With Bells On

[andrews]

Today I was listening to an interview on the radio with Sir Derek Jacobi, who was enthusing about this film. It was really low budget and has been shown in Church Halls and the like. It has been a struggle to have the film distributed on General release, and that has now happened - the film hits the cinemas on 27th September. It's (apparently) going to be as huge a hit as The Full Monty or Billy Elliot.

Morris dancing film becomes cult hit.

A film about Morris dancing, described as "The Full Monty with bells on", has become a cult hit after struggling to secure a release in cinemas.

Morris: A Life With Bells On, a documentary-style comedy following the fortunes of a group of dancers, has generated intense excitement on the internet and on a regional tour of town and village halls in the south west, where it is set.

It stars high-profile British actors including Derek Jacobi, Naomie Harris, Greg Wise and Harriet Walter. Its makers believe it could become a British 'sleeper hit' in the tradition of The Full Monty or Billy Elliot.

Chaz Oldham, who wrote, produced and appeared in the picture, admitted that its quirky subject matter may have deterred nervous studio executives from taking a gamble.

He said: "It's The Full Monty with bells on – a nice film about good people that celebrates the best things about England. It gets huge smiles out of every audience. We're proving the studios wrong. It's just gone nuts – we haven't spent a penny on advertising yet we have thousands of people demanding it be shown."


So no free screenings for us, but this comedy might be a light-hearted change.

Trailer: http://vodpod.com/watch/1589863-morris- ... on-trailer

[Ms Thrifty]

This does now seem to be getting some publicity: it was one of the items on R4's "Front Row" yesterday evening and I also read a newspaper article. The radio programme trail described it as "Spinal Tap Meets Strictly"!

Edit: just seen "Coming Soon" poster for this outside nearest cinema, so it looks as though the masses are to be invited to join the cult...