Les bicyclettes de Belsize

As a student, I was sent home on Wednesday afternoons to study. As I was on a media production course, I felt justified in spending the afternoon watching television - surely that constituted study! Channel 4 threw up this little gem one afternoon and being a lover of musicals, I was instantly transfixed. Luckily it was soon repeated in the same time slot and I was able to set the timer (I was working by then) to tape it.

It is a great 30 minutes of entertainment. Quirky chap sees his ideal woman on a billboard poster and falls in love. Woman is dissatisfied with her life because all she wants is love... so will they get together? I couldn't possibly tell you...

Judy Huxtable is so gorgeous and I love the song 'Julie'. The film was made before I was born but I still appreciate the fashions, cars and lifestyle portrayed on screen. I did write to Channel 4 a year ago to ask if they had any plans to show it again but apparently they no longer own the rights. What a shame. An absolute diamond.

This film has been shown on UK terrestrial TV - the last time being a Sunday afternoon in March 1990 when I recorded it onto videotape. My main reason for watching was the spellbindingly beautiful actress Judy Huxtable, who here represents the pinnacle of English Perfect Dollybird - at once sexy and vulnerable. The male lead is played by Anthony May, who also appeared in the film The Triple Echo. Skip Martin, probably best known for his role as Hoptoad in the film The Masque Of The Red Death, appears in a small role at a party which is still going on while other people are getting up for work! The songs are superb - I don't know who sings the title song as used in the film, but Englebert Hunperdinck also recorded it and had a hit single with it. Why hasn't this film been on TV in so long? Why isn't it available on DVD ? And why aren't I married to Judy Huxtable ?

No-one,that I know,has seen or heard of this beautiful film.It has been in my all-time favourites since I first saw it.I have only seen it once,on TV,but I have never forgotten it.A short film,yes,but a stunning evocation of late sixties attitude,love and London.Whoever has the rights to this film,please show it somewhere,anywhere!or even better bring it out on DVD.

Bogie and Bacall, Fred and Ginger, The Boy and The Girl - undoubtedly three of the great romances of 20th century cinema. Did ever a film hero have to contend with as much as The Boy to win The Girl? I mean, he had to search half of north London for her on a bicycle which was far too small and what about that huge Rolls with three bruisers on board, slamming the door in his face? Les Bicyclettes is a double romance, firstly of The Boy and The Girl, and secondly of beautiful Hampstead. I was in London last September with my bike and I cycled down the High Street (the King of Bohemia is sadly all too modern but happily, Chic is still a clothes shop) and along those other picturesque streets and stairways. Forget Star Wars et al and their hunger for special effects. This delightful Sixties short cinema has a magical, innocent and honest appeal. A simple script, minimal words and haunting music.Above all, it has charm. I think I saw The Boy and The Girl sitting in a cafe on the High Street, both now in their early 60s but still as fashionable and still in love. But why Belsize which is a good half mile down the road?

Saw this film a the British Film institute recently and was entranced by it. I live in Belsize Park, and recognise so many of the little streets and lanes such as New End Road and Pilgrims Lane.

I can't make them all out though...does anyone know if a 'Byclettes De Belsize' walking or cycling route exists? I want to follow his exact journey through modern day hampstead to see what's changed. It's quite haunting..all these years later I was walking down a path behind the Holly Bush and suddenly realised I was walking where he first bumped into the little girl! If anybody knows where it all starts and finishes though that would be great!