Peter Whitehead – MRQE

The Fall

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

“The Fall” depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a very personal documentary, and Whitehead appears in a large number of scenes, and we hear his lengthy ruminations on the state of the United States and the war in Vietnam.

Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Peter Whiteheads disjointed Swinging London documentary, subtitled A Pop Concerto, comprises a number of different movements, each depicting a different theme underscored by music: A early version of Pink Floyds Interstellar Overdrive plays behind some arty nightclub scenes, while Chris Farlowes rendition of the Rolling Stones Out of Time accompanies a young womans description of London nightlife and the vacuousness of her own existence. In another segment, the Marquess of Kensington (Robert Wace) croons the nostalgic Changing of the Guard to shots of Buckingham Palaces changing of the guard, and recording act Vashti are seen at work in the studio. Sandwiched between are clips of Mick Jagger (discussing revolution), Andrew Loog Oldham (discussing his future) and Julie Christie, Michael Caine, Lee Marvin, and novelist Edna OBrien (each discussing sex). The best part is footage of the riot that interrupted the Stones 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert.

Charlie Is My Darling

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Charlie Is My Darling, directed by Peter Whitehead, was the first documentary film about The Rolling Stones. The movie was shot during the band’s two-day tour of Ireland on 3 and 4 September 1965, and was completed in the spring of 1966. It received only spotty release in 1966 before being withdrawn, and has seldom been seen since then.

Wholly Communion

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

A short film documenting what was referred to as “The International Poetry Incarnation”. It was billed as Great Britain’s first full-scale “happening”, with the world’s leading Beat poets together under one roof at the Royal Albert Hall on June 11, 1965, for an evening of near-hallucinatory revelry. It came to be seen as one of the cultural high points of the Swinging Sixties.