Black Jack

In Yorkshire in 1750 the paths of Black Jack, a huge Frenchman who has survived his own hanging, and a boy called Tolly cross. Belle, about to be shut in an asylum, joins them. Ken Loach adapted Leon Garfield's novel and did something surprising: he made a period film in his own social realist language. The children are not professional actors and the accents are not smoothed out, so it plays less like costume drama than like a Loach film set in the eighteenth century. It was shot in North Yorkshire on a budget of around 450,000 pounds. Most of the financing came from the National Film Finance Corporation, and Goldcrest Pictures made its first film investment here, putting in 11,250 pounds for development. Stephen Hirst plays Tolly, Louise Cooper plays Belle and Jean Franval plays Black Jack. Chris Menges shot it and Bob Pegg wrote the music. It runs 110 minutes. It won the FIPRESCI Award at Cannes in 1979 and was nominated for the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. It played Toronto on 10 September 1979 and the New York Film Festival on 29 September. Who it is for: viewers looking for lesser-known Loach and an unusual approach to period film. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a clear plot. The narrative moves in episodes and the pace feels very slow now.