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Rare chance to see classic Tolpuddle film
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent20 Apr 2009
The 175th anniversary of the Tolpuddle martyrs' struggle for union rights is to be marked this week with a rare showing of a classic film on the story.
Comrades, by Bill Douglas, is the epic tale of six Dorset farm workers who were arrested and transported to Australia after going on strike for better wages.
With a cast including Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Stephens, James Fox and Keith Allen, it won rave reviews when released in 1986 and ran for six weeks at the Curzon Soho. Yet it received only a limited release nationwide and on video, possibly because of its length at more than three hours and the subject matter.
Tomorrow, the first cinema screening in London for at least 13 years will be held in Islington - near Copenhagen Fields where 100,000 people gathered in 1834 to demand freedom for the Tolpuddle martyrs exactly 175 years earlier.
The British Film Institute will finally release the film for the first time on DVD this summer.
Comrades is at the Screen on the Green and will be shown again at BFI Southbank in July.
