A long-lost movie set in Plymouth which launched the careers of screen stars Gary Oldman, Timothy Spall and John Altman is to be re-released - and anyone who was there when it was made is asked to contribute memories. Plymouth writer Johnny Mains has been asked to write the liner notes for the British Film Institute’s (BFI) Blu-ray release of Remembrance.
The movie was partly shot in Plymouth in November 1981 and featured scenes on the Hoe and in Union Street. Centred around the adventures of four young naval recruits before they head off on a six-month tour at sea, It even depicts a punch-up in the now demolished Two Trees pub.
The opening scene shows rain lashing the flagpoles on the Hoe. Others show a youthful Timothy Spall walking into the New Continental Hotel and waving his wife off on a train at Plymouth Railway Station. Another scene features Gary Oldman on the Torpoint Ferry.
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And Johnny wants to hear from anyone who remembers the filming, or was in the Royal Navy, or a frequenter of Union Street nightspots, in late 1981.
He has to submit his essay about the movie - to be called Bloody Navy, Bloody Union Street: Remembrance in Plymouth - to the BFI on May 10, so anyone who can help needs to contact him quickly by emailing mainsworkflow@outlook.com
“I’m trying to find everything I can on the film Remembrance being filmed in Plymouth,” said Johnny. “It is the movie about navy boys on the tear down Union Street. I’m writing the liner notes for the upcoming BFI release.
“I’d like to hear from anybody who was a naval rating, or had been in Union Street, in November 1981 when Remembrance was shooting, because I believe some were used as extras. My essay will be called Bloody Navy, Bloody Union Street: Remembrance in Plymouth and is looking at the making of the film, its themes and the Falklands war that happened almost straight after it.”
Remembrance is a rarely seen British film that follows a group of young Royal Navy sailors during their final 24 hours ashore before their ship sets sail on a six-month naval exercise. The ensemble drama, which came out in 1982, had a young cast, some of whom went on to become famous names.
It was the screen debut of Gary Oldman, who has become a huge star on both sides of the Atlantic, with dozens of credits including The Dark Knight, Dracula, Oppenheimer, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Sid and Nancy and Darkest Hour, for which he won a best actor Oscar playing Sir Winston Churchill.
Remembrance also starred Timothy Spall, who went on to star in a slew of major productions including Life is Sweet, Enchanted, The King’s Speech, and five Harry Potter movies, and won a Cannes Film Festival best actor award for his portrayal of the painter JMW Turner in Mr Turner.
Another of the young actors in Remembrance, John Altman, became a household name playing “Nasty” Nick Cotton in long-running TV soap EastEnders for 30 years. He was also in movies such as Quadrophenia, An American Werewolf in London and To Die For and even had his own spin-off TV show The Return of Nick Cotton.
Remembrance was made by a young film director, Colin Gregg, a graduate of Plymouth Art College, now called Arts University Plymouth. He was inspired by seeing Union Street thonged with young sailors and told a writer friend, Hugh Stoddart, who penned the script for Remembrance. The newly launched Channel 4 funded the production which went on to win the Grand Prize at the Taormina film festival in Sicily. The movie wasn’t screened after the 1980s until it was given a showing at the University of Plymouth’s Jill Craigie Cinema in 2017.
The BFI is now re-releasing Remembrance on Blu-ray and it can be pre-ordered, price £16.99, here.
