A House in Bayswater

This is an extraordinary documentary directed by Ken Russell and the first shots of a ' new ' building being under construction shows clearly in one shot how the face of London has changed, and was changing in 1960. He shows the inhabitants of a typical older Bayswater house nearby ( apparently still standing ) and its inhabitants. We meet a woman who takes the rents and looks after the house, and within minutes meet the various occupants; a couple on the top floor who find the others more or less ' bohemian and thank goodness they are. I liked the photographer and especially the artist. And so we have a small mosaic of lives at a time when anyone could afford the cost of living in the UK capital. It is in retrospect a salutary comment on the way London has become, and Russell's trademark excess is wonderfully conveyed by a 1920's dancer teaching and producing ' shows ' of that era. It is hallucinatory and compelling to watch, and no spoilers but the ending has laughter and tears of a bygone time.

This is a relatively short film (Ken Russell's first), but it is just the right length for the audience to get to know the inhabitants of the house that is seen being destroyed both at the beginning and end.

The housekeeper introduces everyone in her own idiosyncratic way, and soon after (at least as soon as they wake up) the tenants recount their livelihoods - as brief as it may be we are still able to relate to their eclectic individualities, and thereafter we are bound to end up with a feeling of sad resignation as the house is pulled down, and along with it the characters soon disappearing.

It is about lives that may, and have existed - the little intricacies, and introspection that so often is lost to history. How people, both at the beginning and end of their lives, see the world through a little corner somewhere in London.