Hang Up Your Brightest Colours (1973)

Directed by

Antony Thomas

Genre

documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 17m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Welsh filmmaker presents the story of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins through dramatic monologues. He performs quotes from historical figures as if they are speaking directly to the audience.

lecture-likepassionatehistoricalintimatetalkativeearnestpersonalreflective

What happens

Hang Up Your Brightest Colours is a 1973 film by Welsh actor and filmmaker Kenneth Griffith, about the life and death of Irish Republican leader Michael Collins. It was directed by Antony Thomas. Although usually classed as a documentary, the film more closely resembles a dramatic monologue, with Griffith frequently delivering quotes by key figures such as David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, and Collins himself, "in character". The film was commissioned by media mogul Lew Grade for transmission by ATV, the ITV region covering the Midlands he controlled at the time. Grade had, in fact, offered to fund whatever subject Griffith wanted to make, but when he viewed the finished film, he refused to show it. In his memoirs, Griffith claimed that Grade was unofficially instructed not to offer the film to the IBA for network transmission, so the Association would not have to reject it and thus be accused of political censorship. Griffith took legal action, received an out-of-court settlement and built his home, which he called Michael Collins House, in Islington with the proceeds. It was first broadcast on BBC One in Wales only in 1993, and networked across the United Kingdom by BBC Two the following year. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Michael Collins (1996)
• My Generation (2017)
• Metro-Land (1973)
• Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels (2017)
• Dylan Thomas (1962)
• The Treaty (1991)
• Before Hindsight (1977)
• Children at Work (1973)