Featuring Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe with a backdrop of several Pet Shop Boys songs from their first two LPs, this surreal plotless film was directed by Jack Bond.
Joss Ackland, Barbara Windsor, Neil Dickson, and Gareth Hunt appear in multiple roles while Hot Gossip’s Arlene Phillips arranged the choreography.
Gareth Hunt (ex-New Avengers) first appears serving at a seaside kiosk (filmed at Clacton on Sea in Essex), dispensing opinions on all and sundry, with a special dislike for politicians.
A number of religious figures crop up along the way, including Joss Ackland as a blind priest trying to find the younger versions of Tennant and Lowe, plus some naughty dancing nuns.
A motorcycle gang don’t look too menacing, though a ventriloquist’s dummy encountered in a transport cafe is more worrying. There are several Peter Greenaway-inspired montages, such as a man walking down the street on fire and men who look like zebras and cows milling around on railway station platforms.
While the film was initially panned by critics as being too pretentious, it has achieved something of a cult following and was released on Blu-ray by the BFI in 2020.
Neil Tennant
Himself Chris Lowe
Himself Uncle Dredge/postcard seller/ventriloquist
Gareth Hunt Seaside landlady/Neil’s mother/French Maid
Barbara Windsor Priest/hitchhiker/murderer
Joss Ackland Pilot/car salesman/chauffeur
Neil Dickson
Director
Jack Bond
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Joss Ackland, Barbara Windsor, Neil Dickson, and Gareth Hunt appear in multiple roles while Hot Gossip’s Arlene Phillips arranged the choreography.
While the film was initially panned by critics as being too pretentious, it has achieved something of a cult following and was released on Blu-ray by the BFI in 2020.
