The First Skilled Footage of Pink Floyd Will get Captured in a 1967 Documentary (and the Band Additionally Gives the Soundtrack)

British movie­mak­er and nov­el­ist Peter White­head has been cred­it­ed with invent­ing the music video along with his professional­mo movies for the Rolling Stones within the mid-60s. Accord­ing to Ali Cat­ter­all and Simon Wells, authors of Your Face Right here, a examine of “British Cult Movie because the Six­ties,” White­head was “a belief­ed con­fi­dant of the Rolling Stones… and a mem­ber of the inside cir­cle.” In addi­tion to the Stones, White­head had entry to a sur­pris­ing num­ber of impor­tant fig­ures within the coun­ter­cul­tur­al scene of 60s Lon­don, includ­ing actors Michael Caine and Julie Christie, artist David Hock­ney, and a just-emerg­ing (after which unknown) psy­che­del­ic band known as Pink Floyd. All of those char­ac­ters present up in Whitehead’s 1968 doc­u­males­tary Tonite Let’s All Make Love in Lon­don. Cat­ter­all and Wells describe the movie thus:

If anyone movie tru­ly reveals “Swing­ing Lon­don,” it’s Peter White­head­’s lit­tle-seen doc­u­males­tary Tonite Let’s All Make Love In Lon­don (1968). Beau­ti­ful­ly shot, with a Syd Bar­rett-led Pink Floyd sup­ply­ing the sound­observe, it’s per­haps the one true mas­ter­piece of the peri­od, supply­ing a visu­al­ly cap­ti­vat­ing win­dow on the ‘in’ crowd. Reveal­ing, usually very per­son­al inter­views with the period’s prime movers — Michael Caine, Julie Christie, David Hock­ney and Mick Jag­ger — are inter­spersed by daz­zling photos of the ‘ded­i­cat­ed fol­low­ers of fash­ion’, patro­n­is­ing the golf equipment and dis­cothe­ques of the day.

Depart­ing from typ­i­cal doc­u­males­tary types, Tonite eschews neat nar­ra­tive pack­ag­ing and voice-over, and opts as an alternative for a some­occasions jar­ring mon­tage of scenes from the Lon­don golf equipment and streets, uncommon footage of per­for­mances by the Stones, the Floyd (in considered one of their first-ever gigs on the UFO membership), and oth­ers, and polit­i­cal ral­lies (with Vanes­sa Pink­grave singing “Guantanamera”)–all inter­minimize with the above­males­tioned inter­views. Top-of-the-line of the lat­ter is with a really younger and allure­ing David Hock­ney (beneath), who com­pares Lon­don to Cal­i­for­nia and New York, and debunks concepts concerning the “swing­ing Lon­don” nightlife (“you want an excessive amount of mon­ey”).

Over­all, Tonite Let’s All Make Love in Lon­don is a singular por­trait of the period and its ris­ing stars, and White­head­’s visu­al model repli­cates an insider’s per­spec­tive of watch­ing (however not par­tic­i­pat­ing) as a brand new cul­tur­al second unfolds. White­head, who “nev­er missed a 60s hap­pen­ing,” has a knack for document­ing such moments. His 1965 Whol­ly Com­mu­nion (see right here) cap­tures the spir­it­ed Albert Corridor Poet­ry Fes­ti­val in 65 (presided over by doyen Allen Gins­berg), and 1969’s The Fall doc­u­ments among the most incen­di­ary polit­i­cal motion of late-60s New York.

Josh Jones is a author and musi­cian based mostly in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at @jdmagness

Relat­ed Con­tent 

Pink Floyd’s Debut on Amer­i­can TV, Restored in Col­or (1967)

Pink Floyd Performs in Venice on a Mas­sive Float­ing Stage in 1989; Forces the Might­or & Metropolis Coun­cil to Resign

Quick Movie “Syd Barrett’s First Journey” Reveals the Pink Floyd Founder’s Psy­che­del­ic Exper­i­males­ta­tion (1967)

Pink Floyd’s First Mas­ter­piece: An Audio/Video Explo­ration of the 23-Minute Monitor, “Echoes” (1971)