''Les Bicyclettes de Belsize'' is a 1968

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

musical

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

(30 mins) starring

Judy Huxtable Judy Huxtable (born 4 July 1942) is a British actress. Early life and career Born in Surrey, England, to wealthy parents, Huxtable was initially a society débutante and then became a fashionable figure in 1960s "swinging London" and, as a mode ...

and Anthony May. It was directed by

Douglas Hickox Douglas Arthur Hickox (10 January 1929 – 25 July 1988) was an English film and television director. Biography Hickox was born in London, where he was educated at Emanuel School. He started in the film industry at age 17, working at Pinewood ...

, and played on cinemas as a supporting feature to

Roy Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

's controversial horror film ''

Twisted Nerve ''Twisted Nerve'' is a 1968 psychological thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Hywel Bennett, Hayley Mills, Billie Whitelaw and Frank Finlay. The film follows a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Geor ...

''. The two films also shared a soundtrack release, with each score occupying one side each of a 1969

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

album (Polydor 583 728).Schhh, high camp, and Mr Sloane The Guardian 25 Feb 1970: 8. It tells the story of a young man cycling around the Hampstead (NW3) area of London on a Raleigh RSW16. After crashing into a billboard he falls in love with a fashion model depicted on it. Despite the title, the

Belsize Park Belsize Park is an affluent residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London), England. The residential streets are lined with mews houses and Georgian and Victorian villas. Some nearby localities ar ...

area does not actually feature. There is almost no spoken dialogue, and the soundtrack to the film is heard virtually throughout. The title song of the film, written by Les Reed and Barry Mason, has been a hit for

Mireille Mathieu Mireille Mathieu (; born 22 July 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide. Biography and career Early years Mireille Mathieu was born on 22 July 1946 in A ...

and Engelbert Humperdinck (a top ten hit in the UK and a top 40 hit in the USA) amongst others, though the version in the film is sung by Johnny Worth (aka songwriter

Les Vandyke John Worsley (21 June 1931 – 6 August 2021), more widely known under the pseudonyms Les Vandyke and Johnny Worth, was an English popular music songwriter from the 1950s to the 1980s, who started his career as a singer. As "Les Vandyke", he wr ...

). The score also includes "'Gentlemen Of The Park", performed by

Episode Six Episode Six were an English rock band formed in Harrow, London in 1965. The band did not have commercial success in the UK, releasing nine singles that all failed to chart, but they did find minor success in Beirut at the time. Group members I ...

and featuring future Deep Purple members

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

and

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

. The title is derivative of the

French film French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary influ ...

, ''

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young ...

''; apart from a musical theme there is no other obvious link.

Plot

The film opens from a vantage point over the

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of te ...

tops, showing some of the morning occurrences through the windows of the houses. An unnamed young man ( Anthony May) dressed in a fashionable mod style prepares for the day from his

rooftop A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

flat and cycles around to the theme song. He then takes his bicycle and descends to the streets of the leafy suburbs. Cycling down some steps he crashes into the bike of a little girl (Leslie Goddard) and is knocked unconscious. She stands over him showing her

pigtail A woman with long pigtails and braids. In the context of hairstyles, the usage of the term pigtail (or twin tail or twintail) shows considerable variation. The term may refer to a single braid, but is more frequently used in the plural ("pi ...

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples ...

and braces and gazes at him, clearly besotted. The man awakes and asks the girl's name. She tells him she is called Kate. He bids her farewell and cycles off, she follows behind. As he cycles the man sings a song about how he does not envy the responsible, monotonous lives of older people. The girl blows a raspberry as she passes a queue of people at the bus stop; this starts a disagreement between the people at the stop which ends with a

food fight A food fight is a form of chaotic collective behavior, in which foodstuffs are thrown at others in the manner of projectiles. These projectiles are not made nor meant to harm others, but to simply ignite a fight filled with spontaneous food ...

. Cycling into a park, the man looks back to see if Kate is still following him, and loses control of the bike, running away down a hill and crashing through a large

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

hoarding Hoarding is a behavior where people or animals accumulate food or other items. Animal behavior ''Hoarding'' and ''caching'' are common in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will a ...

. Climbing out, he is struck by the face of a model, "Julie" (

) on the poster advertising Raleigh bicycles. He sings a song professing his love for her and picks flowers to give to her image. Kate tries to attract his attention but he is transfixed by the beautiful model. He eventually rouses himself from his stupor and cycles away. Kate blows a raspberry at the poster then follows him. The man arrives at his workplace, a printer's, opens the

post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

which has arrived, and finds one parcel is a

photographic portrait Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...

of Julie. He sits gazing at it, while the camera pans across the street. By coincidence, Julie is at a fashionable party in the building there. She sings a song about how pampered and cloistered her world is, and how she wants to find a true love. She walks out of the building, crosses the street and looks at the photo of her which has now been hung in the printer's window. The man is gazing at it still, and recognises her. She smiles at him uncertainly at first, but then with more self-assurance, and they kiss through the glass. Before the man can go outside and meet Julie, she is whisked away in a limousine to a fashion shoot where she poses in various '

groovy ''Groovy'' (or, less commonly, ''groovie'' or ''groovey'') is a slang colloquialism popular during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. It is roughly synonymous with words such as "excellent", "fashionable", or "amazing", depending on context. History The ...

' outfits on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

and Hampstead Heath, looking unhappy and distracted and wondering where the man she just met is. He cycles through the park looking for her and when he finds her sings his love song again. They walk off hand in hand. The little girl watches them from the hill and looks sad. Then a little boy (Barney Reisz, son of director

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Saturday Night and S ...

) cycles up, sees her, smiles and expresses his attraction for her and makes her smile. They cycle off together.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bicyclettes de Belsize 1968 films British short films Films set in London 1968 musical films Films directed by Douglas Hickox 1968 short films 1960s English-language films