Richard Hamilton

Experimental film with Hamilton’s VO: "I don’t like art films…" Newsreel of Hollywood parade. Experimental film; shot of Marilyn Monroe at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, 1957 Cadillac advertisement, Hommage à Chrysler Corp, a painting by Hamilton inspired by 1950s American cars. Skyscrapers, Hamilton reading poetry ("In slots between towering glass slabs…") over, car and other advertisements from magazines. Film of Hamilton’s collage exhibit, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) for "The Face of Tomorrow" show, with slogans superimposed. Close video shot of Hamilton’s mouth as he speaks more poetry. Advertisements, images of sportsmen, astronauts, the police, etc. Video of Hamilton speaking. Strobe effect, extract, with John Baragrey and Patricia Knight, from Shockproof (1949); paintings. Hamilton VO says he like the fact that a painting represents a moment in time. Van Eyck’s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife (The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait) (1434) with the two people facing the viewer "across the void of time". Shockproof stills, extracts. Painting, Interior II (1964), based on film images. Hamilton VO says a film still also has the quality of spanning time as well as space. Extract. Painting.. Drawing. Extract. Hamilton talking about the isolation produced by the cinema experience, and the attempt to bridge the gap through the painting. Extract. Intermission advertisement for peanuts, an orange drink, ice cream, Pepsi Cola, hot dogs. Distribution leader for Eros Films, and trailer for The Desert Hawk (1950). Marilyn Monroe at Grauman’s, still and moving images of Monroe; her VO from River of No Return (1954). Collage, My Marilyn (1965), based on contact sheet marked up by Monroe; Hamilton’s VO commenting on the damage to the images. Collage of holiday-makers in the sea; film of people and pigeons in Trafalgar Square. Hamilton VO says he’s more concerned with literary ideas and pure conceptions than with paint for its own sake. Progress in mechanics of visual records giving a second-hand view of the world, and can make the images seem quite different to what they really are. Newsreel of Mick Jagger and others in Chichester at the time of his trial on drug charges. Footage of crowds of girls, policemen, prison van, etc.; newsreel commentary describes defendants’ clothes. Swingeing London ’67 series (1968 and later), processed and painted images based on still of Jagger and Robert Fraser shielding their eyes from camera flash bulbs. Newsreel continues. Coloured still of Bing Crosby from White Christmas (1954); negatives including image of Hamilton superimposed. Hamilton’s VO on his work I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas (1967) inspired by his first sight of a colour negative, the importance of the technical aspects of an artist’s way of thinking, and the different view the negative image gives of Crosby. Hamilton VO reading poem ("Mister Universe takes his place by Miss World…"). Credits.

Directed by James Scott
in collaboration with Richard Hamilton.
With Shanel as Miss World and
George Ferranti as Mr Universe.
Interview with Richard Hamilton by Christopher Finch;
Photography and Editing by Adam V Mill;
Additional rostrum work by Bill Forber,
Studio Film Labs Ltd.;
Acknowledgement to John Baragrey,
British Board of Film Censors,
Ford Motor Company,
ITN,
Mick Jagger,
Edwin Janss Jr.,
Patricia Knight,
Leslie Mitchell,
Movietonews,
National Gallery,
National Screen Services,
Pathe News,
Rank Organisation,
Universal Pictures,
Visnews,
Cornell Wilde.
Produced by Maya Film Productions Ltd.,
for the Arts Council of Great Britain.